The Archbishop of Armagh in his synod address paid tribute to present and former staff at Church House, Archbishop Harper, Bishop Clarke and synod members.
The Archbishop said:
“In looking back over the past year, I would wish to pay a warm tribute to two of my former colleagues within the House of Bishops. First, my predecessor, Archbishop Alan Harper, who served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from early 2007 until the autumn of last year. His exemplary diligence and devotion to his task, coupled with a compassionate outlook and a real willingness to be of help to all in every situation, deserves our gratitude in abundance. We wish him and Helen every happiness in retirement.
“Bishop Ken Clarke of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh has not so much retired as been “re-invented” in a new manifestation as Mission Director for the South American Missionary Society in the United Kingdom and Ireland. His great gifts as a preacher, pastor and teacher, matched by a huge warmth of personality and capacity for friendship, will happily still be put to great use, but his immediate ministry will indeed be missed by his former diocese, by his episcopal colleagues and by us all. Thankfully we will of course still see plenty of him in the life of the Church of Ireland, as we wish him and his wife Helen well in the years to come in this new chapter of ministry.
“We look forward to the consecration of the Revd Ferran Glenfield as Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh at the end of this month and we pray for him and for the dioceses. As we continue to pray for the people of Meath and Kildare in their sadness at his time, we also remember the responsibilities given to them and to the whole Church in the appointment of a Bishop for those dioceses.
“I would like to thank those who provide such wonderful support for the life of the Church in the Church House offices in Dublin and Belfast. We welcome Mr Adrian Clements as our new Chief Officer and Secretary-General, and I very much look forward to working with him and supporting him in his new role. I also pay a sincere tribute to his predecessor, Mr Denis Reardon, who faced up bravely to huge financial and organisational challenges of the Church administration in a time of recession, with immense determination and conscientious thoroughness; he willingly confronted many very difficult tasks unflinchingly. We warmly thank him for this, and wish him and also Mr Philip Talbot, for many years a trusted and respected Head of Investments for the Representative Church Body, with their families, every happiness in retirement from the Representative Church Body.
“In thanking the staff of the Representative Church Body, I also urge them never to feel that they are ever taken for granted by all of us who rely heavily on their work and support. We welcome Ms Kate Williams and Mr Roy Asher as they begin their work heading the Finance and Investment departments respectively. I hope that all the staff of Church of Ireland Houses in Dublin and in Belfast are enabled to see their tasks as essential in empowering the Church of Ireland to be what it is called to be in the service of Jesus Christ. My thanks to our professional staff is coupled with gratitude to the many people who give so much of their time to committees of both the Representative Church Body and of the General Synod. Their expertise and generous commitment enables us to continue to function as an instrument of God’s love and goodness in the world, a delivery point of the Gospel.
“A number of former members of the General Synod have died since our last meeting. We give thanks to God for their work for the Church and pray for those closest to them who grieve their departure from this earth. There are three in particular to whom I believe I should refer in the context of the detailed work of General Synod.
“And so we remember with thanks before God a former clerical honorary secretary for the northern province, Dean Herbie Cassidy who died recently after a long and difficult illness. Dean Cassidy will be remembered for his competence, generosity of spirit, approachability and lightness of touch which permeated all that he did for the Church of Ireland, both here at central level and in his work as a Dean in two dioceses, as a priest and as a human being of great generosity and spirituality.
“Canon Brian Mayne will also be recalled with thanks to God for the massive amount of work that he gave to the Church. In particular, we remember his tireless and often unseen work as secretary to the Liturgical Advisory Committee at a crucial time of preparation for the Book of Common Prayer which has been such a wonderful asset to the worship of the Church.
“Archdeacon Philip Patterson, whose funeral is taking place this morning was a very active and energetically engaged member of the Standing Committee, the Representative Church Body and of the General Synod. In recent months he had been appointed to the Stipends Committee of the Representative Church Body. Formidable in debate, he always presented his arguments with care and with clarity, and for what he believed were the best interests of the Church. He was indeed a servant of the whole Church, in addition to being a much respected and diligent pastor in a more local setting.
“We give thanks to God for the life and witness of all God’s servants and we pray for their families and for all those whose earthly lives have been left so much the poorer for their passing to a greater light in the presence of God.”