Diocesan Synod Presidential Address 2025
Text of the address given by Bishop Ferran Glenfield to the Diocesan Synod of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh at the Bush Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon on Saturday 11th October 2025.
As we look out at the world of 2025 it is hard not to draw the conclusion that the world is in bad shape. War has ravaged the biblical lands of Israel, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. Although there is the prospect for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Middle East is still a tinder box.
In Eastern Europe, Russian forces pummel Ukraine daily. Then there are the forgotten wars: Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and the uneasy peace in places such as the Korean Peninsula and Kashmir. Many of the world’s peoples live under repressive regimes and face hardships unknown to us.
In the west, malevolent actors within and without are challenging democracy, the rule of law, targeting vital infrastructure and holding charities, governments and businesses to ransom through cyber-attacks.
In Ireland, public services are being stretched to the limit. Hospital corridors are filled with inpatients, food prices have soared, rental prices are exorbitant and the aspiration of many young people to own their own home is a pipe dream.
In Northern Ireland the uneasy stalemate just about holds, the legacy of the past hangs heavily on the present.
This is our world which is like a turbulent sea on which the Church of Jesus Christ charters. Our little boat, in this Church of Ireland Dioceses of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh is still afloat by God’s grace and providence.
The ship manifest (as it were) is found in the Book of Reports which is before you and is full of lists: of names, parishes, schools, personnel and finances. During this Synod we will have an opportunity to scrutinise and comment on these details. These facts and figures are only part of the story of what church is about. What happens on Sundays gives a more rounded picture of how our boat is faring. On Sundays around 2000 people regularly gather to worship Almighty God in around 80 parish churches. We meet to continue in the Apostles’ teaching, in prayer and fellowship and in the breaking of bread. Worship of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, fuels our boat. Each month in the pages of our Diocesan magazine, the Scribe, we read and see a vivid picture of church life in KEA.
One word summarises this picture: vitality, there is life going on. I want to acknowledge, thank and commend all of those who make this possible: our clergy, lay and parish readers, evangelists, Sunday School teachers, youth leaders, wardens and safeguarding panels. All are working together, all looking to Jesus Christ, the captain of our boat. In stormy days and turbulent seas, the presence of the risen Lord brings a calm and reassuring peace.
We look to Him, always.
The progress of our boat voyage is being hampered in part by the heavy hand of external regulation. As a charitable entity, the church is obliged by government to comply to rafts of regulation in the fields of governance (trustees), finance (CRA) child protection (Garda Vetting/Assess PSNI) and data protection (GDPR). All of these are necessary, but the unintended outworking of these measures impedes and is suffocating the life of the church. The net result is to weary pastors and to dissuade lay people from taking up responsibility in their local church, diocese or school. Please do not misunderstand what I am saying. I am not calling for the abolition of regulation but proportionate regulation.
In any human community, including the church, there are those who seek opportunity through their office or role to exploit children and vulnerable people, to bully and to defraud. We must always be aware of this and to stand against it and deal with it. At the same time as a caring community, we should generously and genuinely support the survivors of such exploitation. In the experience of the Church of Ireland such exploitation is rare and totally out of place, and as such, the current apparatus of regulation is overbearing.
Before I leave this point, I want to give you two concrete examples of what I have been highlighting in the area of governance and data protection. It is one thing to raise this and to beef about regulation; it is another thing to take practical steps to alleviate the effects of this over-regulation of church life. We need as Dioceses to be proactive in this, in particular with regard to CRA returns and the oversight of the vetting process. This will cost us in the short term, but in the long-term it will save us so much and hopefully prevent disengagement and disillusionment.
I hope that the Diocesan Council will rise to the challenge presented by regulation.
Our schools are places of learning, care and Christian faith formation. I commend all involved in the work of our National Schools: principals, teachers, support staff, Boards of Management and parents.
I am patron of the National Schools in our diocese. It is a pastoral and administrative role that I value and for which I work hard. Nationally, the Church of Ireland is proposing a patronage body for all our National Schools, to act as a buffer to the Department of Education and to provide professional support in the increasingly complex administration of our schools. Diocesan Bishops, like myself, will continue their pastoral and supportive role which is so vital.
Likewise, I want to highlight the tremendous role our secondary schools play. Recently, I attended a signing agreement with the Department of Education releasing up to €20 million of additional class accommodation and a sports hall for the Royal School Cavan. Sligo Grammar School continues to thrive under the leadership of the principal Michael Hall. I am currently chair of the Board of Directors of Wilson’s Hospital School which has been in the public eye for the wrong reasons. A new principal, Mr Noel Cunningham, has been appointed and I believe that under his leadership in partnership with the Board of Directors and Board of Management the difficulties of this past number of years soon be in the rear view mirror as Wilson’s moves on.
In conversations with our school chaplains: Mark Smith in the Royal School, Patrick Bamber in Sligo Grammar and Tammy Scott in Wilson’s, I was greatly heartened by their feedback. Small but growing groups of students are taking their place as a witness for Christ in their schools, making a difference in the classroom, the sports field and in social activities.
I also want to acknowledge the role played by teams of clergy and lay people who roll out the Alpha course as part of the Transition Year programme in secondary schools in Longford and Sligo. I’m grateful for the support of the Catholic Bishops in this outreach venture.
As I wrote in October’s Scribe, there is something happening in Christianity in Britain. The “Quiet Revival”, so called, in Christian faith is raising comment, in the most unexpected of places. It appears that Gen Z (15-30 year olds) is ditching the libertine trends of the late 20th century: drink, sex, social life and atheism. These young adults are considering Christianity and attending church. Of course, there are many who dispute what is happening but the data and anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest that there is something significant going on. Secularism is a symptom of affluence.
As societies grow richer, religious belief and practice fade. Young adults are not growing richer. Many of them feel economically insecure and worried for their future. There is little or no comfort in secularism. Gen Z is poorer, lonelier and more anxious. Among young Christian converts there is an overwhelming sense of disaffection with and even contempt for the triviality and banality of secular society. They are looking for something meaningful, beautiful and awe-inspiring and Christ found them. If this is happening in Britain, what about Ireland?
In my conversations with clergy and engagement with young people in schools and in confirmation groups, there is an indication of an openness to the claims of the Christian faith. For some time, it was not cool to be a Christian, but now, Christian role models in sport, music and the arts are influencing many young and older people as well. In this coming season of the life of the church in this part of Ireland, I want us to be aware of what God is doing and to keep in step with the Spirit. Our God is a missionary God who reaches out to people in love and grace. Will we join Him? Or are we going to sit on the side
lines and miss God’s moment?
In order to encourage our participation in mission, I have invited Tim Wright, to be Canon Missioner for the Diocese. Tim was formerly Dean of Kildare and is currently chair of the Church of Ireland Council of Mission and Recruitment and Short-term Mission Manager, for the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) He brings a wealth of experience in ministry and mission. He has ministered in churches in Cyprus, France, Germany and the Netherlands. He will come from outside to encourage us to put mission on the agenda of our parishes and dioceses.
Ruth West will soon be leaving the Killesher Group of Parishes in Fermanagh, to become the rector of the Sligo Cathedral group of parishes and Dean of Elphin and Ardagh. Friday October 24 has been set for her institution and installation. In addition, the Rev. Simon Scott, rector of the Longford group and Rev. Edmund Smyth from Roscommon, will be installed as Prebendaries or Canons of Sligo Cathedral, the same evening. We also welcome Joshua and Victoria Pringle to Rosses Point in Sligo. They are third year ordinands and are doing their internship in the Sligo area. Michael Kenning is settling into his diaconate year in Cootehill, and Lucy Green, an NSM who has relocated to north Leitrim will also be joining our diocesan family. We congratulate Hannah O’Neill from the Sligo Centre of Mission, who was commissioned as a Church Army evangelist this summer. Gail McNeill and John Young will continue their course work in the OLM training. Sadly, Ed Lindsay, ordained deacon this summer, has had a health setback and intends returning to his studies and ministry once he is up and running again. Do remember Ed in your prayers.
Damian Shorten is stepping down as Lay Pastor of the Riverstown group of parishes this month after a decade of service. In addition, Damian was also involved in youth ministry across the diocese and in overseeing Safeguarding for us. We thank him for his service for Christ.
Since our last Synod, Archdeacon Ian Horner and his wife Jenny left for new ministerial opportunities in Mullingar and Meath Diocese. Rev. Simon Donohoe also left his pastorate in the Swanlinbar group of parishes. The departure of these experienced clergy leaves further clerical gaps in the diocese. Currently, five parish groups are without incumbents and that puts stresses and strains on pastoral cover and Sunday services.
I want to thank those who organise and fill the gaps and to ask for your prayers as we actively seek to find suitable clergy for our vacant parishes.
We are delighted to have the wise counsel and experience of Archdeacon Ian Berry for such a time as this. He will be installed on November 23rd as Archdeacon of Kilmore in Kilmore Cathedral.
We have been given notice to quit the Diocesan Office in Cootehill, due to a change of ownership of the property. Hopefully, this will not take effect until the new year. The Diocesan Council is currently working with the RCB to earmark the Gate Lodge of the Old See House in Kilmore, to be refurbished as the Diocesan Office. In the interim, the Royal School Cavan, has offered office space. Do pray for all concerned in this upheaval and particularly for Ann and Sarah play an invaluable role on our behalf.
David Roe has started his role as Diocesan Communication Officer. Please contact him about parish events that need to be covered and posted onto the KEA website.
In closing, I hope that you don’t just get a sense of what is happening today at Synod but that you would join with me in giving thanks to God for his protection and guidance of our little boat. I’ll finish my speech with a prayer of Sir Francis Drake one of the great sailors of discovery in the 16th century.
‘We ask you Lord to push back the horizons of our hopes,
And to face the future in strength, courage and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ’. Amen