Celebrating religious differences and worshipping together

The establishment of a Presbyterian congregation at the 'epicentre of Irish Roman Catholicism' has occurred during a time of growing ecumenism, writes Patsy McGarry

A REMARKABLE thing happened at the Presbyterian General Assembly in Belfast last June.

Without any triumphalism, but fully recognising the symbolism involved, delegates formally established a Presbyterian congregation at Maynooth, Co Kildare, a location which for so long was synonymous with Ireland's majority Christian denomination.

Proposing the relevant memorial that made this development possible, the former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Rev Dr Trevor Morrow, spoke of his "great sense of joy and not a little excitement" at doing so.

Of all the places in Ireland where it might be expected a Presbyterian community would grow and thrive, the most unlikely was Maynooth, "the epicentre of Irish Roman Catholicism, home of the House of Catholic Bishops, from whose seminary men went out to become leaders of the Catholic world", he said.

The Presbyterian congregation at Maynooth is a satellite church of Dr Morrow's congregation at Lucan. In 2003, Rev Keith McCrory and some of the Lucan members who live in Maynooth were commissioned to establish a new church there.

Lucan was "simply bursting at the seams", Dr Morrow commented at the time.

"It was becoming too big to function as a community," he said. "The best option was to form a daughter church, established with a nucleus of members who were already living in the new location, but going to Lucan."

IN OCTOBER 2004, the then- moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Rev Dr Ken Newell, visited the fledgling congregation in Maynooth.

He and other Presbyterians were greeted with a reception hosted by seminarians at St Patrick's College - in a sign of healthy relations with the Catholic Church locally.

In a reciprocal gesture, Dr Newell invited the then Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady to attend his installation the previous June. It was the first time a Catholic primate had been invited, and attended, such an event.

Rev Ian Paisley, then moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, was not pleased and loudly picketed the event. But that was then.

It helps that Dr Morrow is one of the most widely respected members of the clergy on this island and across all denominations, while holding, gently, to his own brand of Protestant evangelicalism.

He is, in other words, an evangelical of positive hue, who has built up a vibrant and growing Presbyterian congregation in Lucan.

He has little time for "insipid" ecumenism, of the "niceness" variety. He prefers something "a little more substantial", robust even, where real difference is acknowledged and understood as just that, for starters.

Acknowledging those areas "of profound disagreement", Christians of the different denominations can go forth to build a rapport, he argues. It makes for "greater authenticity".

The result of such ecumenism can be seen in west Dublin where the four main Christian churches [Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist] worship alongside one another. This happens particularly at Advent, Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, when people go from the church of one denomination to another, commemorating and celebrating what they have in common.

It has culminated with agreement between the four churches to share one place of worship in the new west Dublin [and appropriately named in the context] Adamstown town centre.

At a reception in Dublin last January to launch the new town centre, Fr John Hasset, the Catholic parish development priest in Adamstown, said the idea had grown out of "the extraordinarily long-standing and integrity-filled ecumenical relationship in the Lucan area . . . It afforded us a new situation in a new Ireland with new communities, an opportunity to give witness alongside each other".

At the same event, Dr Morrow said the new shared place of worship "demonstrated the extraordinary level of unanimity [ between the churches] and the diversity of each as it was evident there were things we still cannot do together".

But he felt there was more they could do together "on social and moral issues".

BOTH MEN WERE quick to assert that their plan for a shared place of worship at Adamstown had the support of both the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, "100 per cent, at every step of the way".

Meanwhile, Presbyterian congregations in Drogheda, Malahide, Carlow and Kilkenny are enjoying unprecedented growth while €5 million has been spent on refurbishing a church and centre on Dublin's Adelaide Road.

It is all "very encouraging", says Dr Morrow.

In Northern Ireland, however, growth has been sluggish, with some expansion in Derry and Belfast congregations.

According to the official figures, there are approximately 361,500 Presbyterians in Ireland. Yet, according to figures produced in the Presbyterian General Assembly annual reports last year, there are approximately 260,000 members on its books across the island, a drop of 20,000 since 2000.

It would indicate that almost a third of those who classify themselves as Presbyterian on the island of Ireland do not practice.

The Give Me a Break and Con Text columns will return next week