Opinion

William Scholes: Ecumenical matters wrapped in tentacles of doom

William Scholes

William Scholes

William has worked at The Irish News since 2002. His areas of interest include religion and motoring.

'Careful now' is a wise approach to ecumenical matters
'Careful now' is a wise approach to ecumenical matters 'Careful now' is a wise approach to ecumenical matters

IT says something - and a not particularly complimentary something at that - about the state of theological education in Ireland, the land of saints and scholars, that Father Ted has probably made a greater impact on the public consciousness than all the colleges and seminaries put together.

For reasons too arcane to go into here, I had the surreal experience of being in the Church of Ireland's theological college on the February 1998 day that Dermot Morgan, the actor who played Father Ted Crilly in the sitcom, died.

Seizing the moment, a gentleman in training for the Church's ministry took it upon himself to solemnly lead all and sundry in prayer, as if a period of national mourning had been declared and he was its chief celebrant.

A stranger to self-doubt and indecision, he was undeterred by a number of gaps in his knowledge of the subject.

These included having never watched an episode of Father Ted and being unable to remember Morgan's name, both of which became excruciatingly apparent as he constructed increasingly contrived arias of grief around the actor's untimely passing.

Somewhere around the seventh or eighth minute of all this I began to doubt if he realised that Father Ted was not a real person.

My suspicions were confirmed as he ploughed on towards his crescendo and asked the assembled, and by now exhausted, congregation to remember "the parish priest popularly known as Father Ted".

One of the most celebrated Father Ted episodes is that in which Father Jack Hackett is coached to answer any difficult question with the stock response "that would be an ecumenical matter".

Ecumenical matters can indeed be thorny and contentious; that particular Ted episode was called Tentacles of Doom, which is apt.

In Ireland, we tend to mostly think of ecumenical relations as those between the Catholic Church on the one hand and the Protestant and Reformed Churches on the other.

These are in good shape in Ireland today, at least at an 'institutional' level; witness the encouragement Protestant leaders gave to calls for Pope Francis to visit Northern Ireland, or the friendship between the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland Archbishops of Armagh, Dr Eamon Martin and Dr Richard Clarke, or their counterparts in Derry, Dr Donal McKeown and Bishop Ken Good.

And as this newspaper reported yesterday, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Dromore, Harold Miller, and the Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Noel Treanor, jointly placed their hands on the new St Patrick's Cross in the grounds of Down Cathedral as a reminder of how the cross is the central symbol of Christianity. Does such cooperation weaken the commitment of either to their Church of Ireland or Roman Catholic traditions?

There is also 'ecumenism' between the Protestant Churches.

The Methodists and Church of Ireland, for example, have a covenant calling them to a "fuller relationship" and to grow "that unity may be visibly realised".

It is self-evident that all adherents of a particular Church do not always agree on everything.

A global debate is raging within the Anglican Communion, of which the Church of Ireland is part, essentially around whether the Bible or culture should be authoritative; but though the divisions may be stark, there is sufficient generosity and flexibility within Anglicanism to accommodate - at least for now - both sides.

The Irish Presbyterian split applies to the public, ceremonial relationship with the Scots but not to areas of 'mutual benefit', where doctrine presumably ceases to matter - a case of having your theological tray bake and eating it

The Presbyterian Church is more opaque on unity. Historically touchy about having anything to do with the Catholic Church - the

Westminster Confession of FaithOpens in new window ]

regards the Pope as "that antichrist" - it was at pains to stress that it welcomed the visit of Pope Francis.

It did this at least three times, stressing that its moderator would be seeing the Pope in a civil setting - a government reception at Dublin Castle and the Festival of Families in Croke Park - and that the visit was an occasion of great joy for its Catholic neighbours.

Such encounters are remarkably unremarkable for the Anglicans and Methodists, and it is a good thing if the Presbyterians are catching up; as Ireland, north and south, continues on its journey towards the secular, Christians of all stripes will increasingly find common cause on the issues that bring them into the public square.

This would also be consistent with the theme taken up by this year's moderator, the Rev Charles McMullen: 'Building relationships - Christ's love compels us'.

One does not have to be overly familiar with the contours of Presbyterianism to recognise this theme has already encountered rocky terrain.

On the same day that it agreed to the papal meeting, it also severed its link with its 'Mother Kirk', the Church of Scotland, over homosexuality.

For reasons yet to be adequately explained, this split applies only to the public, ceremonial relationship with the Scots but not to areas of "mutual benefit", where doctrine presumably ceases to matter - a case of having your theological tray bake and eating it.

Nor did it offer to establish structures to support the clergy and congregations in the Church of Scotland which would also be opposed to same-sex marriage, leaving other Presbyterians feeling abandoned.

Further evidence of this individualistic approach - let's call it denominationalism - came at the end of August when Union Theological College backtracked on an agreement with a neighbouring Church of Ireland congregation.

Union, which trains Presbyterian clergy and teaches Queen's University's theology degrees, had agreed in May to allow All Saints' - where this writer attends - to hire its premises for Sunday evening services.

But just weeks later Union changed its mind. It decided it couldn't after all support this particular gospel venture - an embarrassing position for a Presbyterian Church that talks much about outreach.

It also begs the question of who the Presbyterian Church in Ireland wants to build relationships with.

But that, Ted, would be an ecumenical matter.

'That would be an ecumenical matter' was the stock response of Father Jack Hackett, pictured bottom centre, to difficult questions
'That would be an ecumenical matter' was the stock response of Father Jack Hackett, pictured bottom centre, to difficult questions 'That would be an ecumenical matter' was the stock response of Father Jack Hackett, pictured bottom centre, to difficult questions