ATmHE bassador ‘ So we are ambassadors for Christ...’ 2 Corinthians 5:20 THE MAGAZINE OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND - DIOCESE OF ARMAGH FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 Inside This Issue AROUND THE DIOCESE - Page 17 & 23 GFS - Page 22 AYAC - Page 30 CHURCH ARMY - Page 31 PRICE £1.25 THE Ambassador ‘So we are ambassadors for Christ...’ 2 Corinthians 5:20 Clergy Appointments 13TH DECEMBER 2020 Canon Shane Forster to be Dean of St The Rev’d Elizabeth Cairns to be On his appointment as Dean, Canon Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh and Archdeacon of Ardboe, with Forster will relinquish the Armagh Keeper of the Robinson Library. immediate effect. Diocesan Prebendal stall in the St It is anticipated that Canon Forster’s Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He will be Installation will be on Sunday 14th succeeded by February 2021. the Rev’d Malcolm Kingston, rector of St Mark’s, Armagh, as prebendary of Yagoe in the National Cathedral. Commenting on the appointments the and Dromore as well as here in Armagh. where St Patrick built his first ‘Great Stone Archbishop said: The Archdeacon is well known for her Church’. pastoral sensitivity and her cheerful I am delighted that Canon Forster has common sense. I look forward to working Rev'd Elizabeth Cairns commented: accepted my invitation to take up this with her as she takes up this important role I am deeply honoured to accept the senior position within the Cathedral and as an executive officer of the Archbishop Archbishop’s invitation to take up the role Diocese. Canon Forster has served his and a senior priest in the Diocese. of the Archdeacon of Ardboe. entire ministry in the Diocese of Armagh To say that it came as a total surprise is an and has acted in the senior role of The Rev’d Malcolm Kingston has also understatement, but one that I am Chaplain/Executive Chaplain to four served his entire ministry in the Diocese of extremely humbled to be offered. Archbishops. His faith formation took place Armagh and occupies a number of in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast and he is important offices within the Diocese and Rev'd Malcolm Kingston commented: familiar with the Irish Cathedral tradition. the city. It is a mark of the respect in which I would like to express my sincere As Keeper of the Armagh Robinson Library he is held by his clergy colleagues that he appreciation to the Archbishop for his very the new Dean will have an important part has been elected recently as one of the kind invitation to represent our Diocese on to play in the development of the Library as Clerical Honorary Secretaries of the the Chapter of St Patrick’s Cathedral, it adjusts to post-Covid life. I look forward General Synod. It is entirely fitting that he Dublin. I have had the pleasure of getting to having Shane, Kathleen, Timothy and should succeed Canon Forster as the to know the Dean of St Patrick’s through Emma as neighbours here on the Hill of Armagh Diocesan member on the Chapter serving together on the Church of Ireland Armagh. of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. Standing Committee and I look forward to meeting colleagues in ministry at Chapter Archdeacon Elizabeth Cairns, who was Canon Shane Forster commented: meetings as we contribute to the witness brought up in the parish of Milltown, in the Canon Forster said, “I am deeply humbled and mission of the Cathedral. I also would Diocese has over thirty years of ministerial and honoured to have been invited by the like to thank my family, as well as the staff experience, first as a Church Armagh Archbishop to be the next team and parishioners of St Mark’s, Evangelist and following ordination, as a Dean of Armagh. It is a great responsibility, Armagh, for their continued support and priest in the Diocese. She has assisted in and I am acutely aware of the historical encouragement as together we seek to and had the care of parishes in the significance of Armagh as the serve amidst times of distinct challenge Diocese of Connor, the Diocese of Down ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, the place and yet opportunity for Christ’s Kingdom. 2 The Ambassador | February/March 2021 Cover Photo: THE Winter scene of the r Ambassador Palace Demense, o Armagh. Picture courtesy of Rev d Malcolm Kingston. a s Archbishop’s s a Letter b E m H Dear Friends, T Even in ordinary times it can be difficult to write something a few weeks in advance of publication A and for it still to say something vaguely relevant or worthwhile when it is read. I’ve found it even more difficult to do so during the pandemic, largely through concern that the situation will have COPY DEADLINE changed so dramatically in the intervening weeks that what I’ve written is not only out of date, but The deadline for the next edition of misleading. Who knows what further restrictions or (less likely) easing of restrictions will have “The Ambassador” (February/March) happened since I’ve written these words at the beginning of January. will be 12th March 2021. No items will be accepted after this date. On the other hand there is a sense in which nothing has changed. We are still having to react to the twists and turns of virus and, if we are honest, I think bewilderment, confusion, and in some Material will ONLY be accepted by e- cases real fear, persist. The development of two vaccines has undoubtedly been a remarkable mail to magazine@armagh. achievement and fully justifies the sense of jubilation being expressed by researchers and anglican.org as an attached ‘Word’ scientists. However I think we all know that it will take a long time-many months- before the effects document. of vaccination are widespread enough to allow for some kind of return to anything like normal social living. VIEWS EXPRESSED Views expressed in the Ambassador For believers the other factor that hasn’t changed is the goodness of God. Novel coronavirus and are those of the contributor and are the disease which it spreads have developed as the result of certain human actions and decisions not necessarily the views of the Editor across a very wide range of areas. For instance it is what is known as a “zoonotic” disease, which or the magazine committee. means that it spreads from animals to humans. It is human beings who have widened the range of foods that we feel are desirable to eat. Rather like our exploitation of the earth’s mineral ADVERTISING resources we have wanted to subject everything around us (including bats) to our own use and pleasure, often not appreciating (or not caring) what the consequences will be. All advertising enquiries should be directed to Mrs Pamela Hutton at: It’s as though we all have enough scientific knowledge or intuition to know that the earth’s animal, [email protected] vegetable and mineral resources are neither limitless nor infinitely manipulable but not enough 028 3752 7144 moral or ethical will to work through what the consequences of those limitations are. Church House Perhaps such careful ethical (or as we would say godly) living has ever been properly emphasised 46 Abbey Street by the Church. In the past there has been much theological discussion about, for instance, chastity Armagh in terms of our sexual relationships, but not very much about a chaste attitude to the created BT61 7DZ world; a restraint that respects the natural dignity of all created things. EDITOR To some degree the whole Jewish Sabbath is where this idea of our limitations is concentrated. Jonathan Hull In the Hebrew Scriptures it is not only people who are to have a Sabbath rest, but also the land itself, so that it is not exhausted by the human impulsion to get as much out of a thing or a person Tel: 0044 (0) 7703 821533 as is possible. It extended also to the practice of Jubilee, when debts that very obviously were not going to be paid were “written off” and where that most complete form of human exploitation and DESIGN & PRINTING domination ie slavery was mitigated. In the year of Jubilee slaves were released. The Ambassador is designed & printed in N. Ireland by In the Old Testament Israel was the nation and the people called by God to be a witness in the Graphic Answers world to his character, including his care for the creation. When the time was right God became 73-77 Market Street, Tandragee, a person and in doing so identified himself with that creation. In the Creed we recite week by Co Armagh, BT62 2BP week, that Jesus was true God of God...of the same substance of the Father..and was made T: 028 3883 0677 man..” means anything, it is that God is irrevocably bound into his creation and that he would E: [email protected] never abandon it. W: www.graphicanswers.co.uk Much emphasis has, quite rightly, been placed over the past ten months on how interconnected we are as a human race. That we have a responsibility for each other, including a responsibility to consider how what we do for our own benefit (and it may well be locally beneficial) affects Achill others who we will never meet. No purely economic or political system that history has known has PRIVATE APARTMENT No. 1 (Four Star: To Rent) ever been up to achieving that breadth and depth and length of vision. But it is the witness of the Island Hebrew prophets and belongs to the prophetic vocation of the Church.