Respectful debate leads to General Synod reiterating traditional teaching on sexuality A well-attended and attentive General Synod gathered last Saturday, the final day of Synod, to debate the subject of human sexuality. On the first day of the Synod (Thursday), there had been three motions (8A-C), but the first had been challenged by the Dean of Cork, the Very Revd Nigel Dunne, who stated that it should [...]

Royal visit to St George’s, Belfast During their visit to Northern Ireland last week, the Prince of Wales and the duchess of Cornwall visited st George’s parish church in Belfast, on Thursday 27th April, some 21 years on from a visit to the same church by the Prince in very contrasting circumstances in 1991. Then, [...]

  Bishop Greg Venables in Shankill Church, Lurgan, last week, where he preached at the ‘First Things’ conference service Church of Ireland must stay together, Bishop Greg Venables tells Gazette The Bishop of Argentina and former Primate of the Southern Cone, the Rt Revd Greg Venables, a leading theological conservative in global Anglicanism, told the Gazette last week that, should the General Synod adopt [...]

Titanic Service at Belfast Cathedral A special service last Sunday (15th April) in Belfast Cathedral, on the anniversary of the loss of the Belfast-built Titanic, held in tension commemoration and celebration, remembrance and thanksgiving. The service included elements of the original memorial service held in the Cathedral in 1912, the Sunday after the liner sank. A ‘Titanic Funeral Pall’ was dedicated (see earlier report, Gazette, 30th March). In his address, the [...]

EU must reconnect with its citizens, Irish Council of Churches told The Irish Council of Churches – part of the Churches in Ireland Connecting in Christ grouping – held its 2012 Annual Meeting on 29th March at Taney Parish Centre, Dublin. An act of worship was led by the Revd Bernie Daly in the parish [...]

St Patrick’s above all a ‘house of prayer’ – Dean Stacey at Installation Preaching at his Installation last Saturday as Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, the Very Revd Victor Stacey,
taking words from I Kings 3:7 as the text of his sermon
(“I am but a little child”), compared himself in his new role to “that ‘little child’ making [...]

Anglican Covenant derailed in the Church of England   Last Saturday (24th March), the proposed Anglican Covenant failed to gain the support of a majority of Church of England diocesan synods and therefore will not return to that Church’s General Synod for final approval. The Covenant was intended to provide a way in which contentious [...]

Anglican-Roman Catholic relationship is  ‘certain yet imperfect’ – Archbishop Williams Earlier this month the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Rowan Williams, who last week announced that he will be stepping down as Archbishop at the end of this year to become Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, visited Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. Archbishop Williams [...]

Slieve Russell conference showed Church of Ireland’s ‘instinct for unity’, says Archbishop of Armagh Speaking at a press conference following last weekend’s much anticipated Bishops’ conference on ‘Human Sexuality In The Context of Christian Belief ’, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Alan Harper, said that the gathering had been a unique style of [...]