All
Hallows College proved an ideal setting. The grounds are beautiful,
the food good, and it is very conveniently situated between
the airport and the city centre.
The conference opened with an
address from Mrs Gillian Kingston (President of the Irish Council
of Churches). She gave a magnificent overview of Irish history,
culture and religion. By the time her session ended visitors
from overseas had a much clearer picture of the host country
and an appreciation of why it provided a perfect context for
the consideration of our topic.
Unhappily, Canon Flora Winfield
was unable to attend due to illness. Her place on Saturday morning
was taken by our Anglican Co-Moderator, Rupert Hoare, who presented
a most challenging Bible Study on Matthew 18,15-20. Jesus' instruction
to treat the offender as a Gentile and tax collector must be
understood according to how Jesus himself treated such people.
We must go on and on seeking reconciliation.
Dr Michael Trice (Evangelical
Lutheran Church of America) shared something of his special
interest in religious violence and reconciliation. In particular
he shared his idea that cruelty is a new area for theological
consideration of significance to both social and institutional
aspects of common humanity. A primary task will be to define
'cruelty' for, though across generations and cultures we have
never stopped talking about it, our common experience of cruelty
has never been properly defined. Using the experience of Job,
who accused God, 'You have become cruel to me', and other Biblical
material, Dr Trice invited the conference to consider the reality
of a cruelty which is essentially irrational in the intra-personal,
the interpersonal and the socio-institutional worlds and the
implications for reconciliation.
On
the Saturday afternoon a visit was arranged to Glendalough,
a wonderfully evocative site of St Kevin's Monastery, founded
in the sixth century and one of the major centres of learning
in Europe. Amongst other things we saw a high tower, built at
the time of the Viking invasions both as a bell tower and a
secure retreat. The journey enabled us all to appreciate the
beautiful Wicklow countryside.
On Sunday we attended Christ
Church Cathedral in Dublin for the morning Eucharist. The preacher
was our Lutheran Co-President, Bishop Jurgen Johannesdotter.
Then members of the Lutheran Church in Dublin took us off in
small groups for lunch and to show us their favourite parts
of the city. This enabled us to find out more about the life
of the growing Lutheran community in Ireland as well as getting
to know Dublin. Over supper everyone enjoyed sharing their different
experiences.
That
evening Prof Paul Leer-Salvesen (Agder University College, Norway)
shared some of his ideas about the roles of remorse, repentance,
guilt and resurrection in working for reconciliation. Using
examples from his encounters as a prison chaplain he suggested
that reconciliation can only genuinely begin when wounds have
been opened and acknowledged. People can only forgive 'from
a standing position', he said. For true reconciliation to happen
everyone involved must be right within themselves.
On the Monday morning Dr David
Toombs (Irish School of Ecumenics) introduced a session entitled
'Facing the Truth' exploring some of the issues involved in
seeking reconciliation following armed conflict. We watched
and encounter between a British soldier and the brother of a
man he shot, brokered by Bishop Desmond Tutu and two other mediators.
It illustrated a number of principles that had been unfolding
during the conference being put to use in a creative way. It
also showed how hard forgiveness can be to give and to receive.
Then
we set off for Armagh in Northern Ireland, stopping on the way
at Monasterboice to admire the ancient High Crosses and enjoy
a picnic.
In the Library at Armagh Cathedral
Dr Johnston McMaster (Irish School of Ecumenics) explained the
programme, Educating for Reconciliation, he and his colleagues
run in Belfast, and introduced us to five colleagues who had
been through the training and were now acting as catalysts for
reconciliation in the communities along the border between Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Their experiences helped
to 'earth' the conference sessions and illustrated how the work
of reconciliation can be done in all kinds of communities, homes,
workplaces, neighbourhoods and between nations.
That
evening the Conference Dinner took place in the Dining Room
at All Hallows College. The Most Rev John Neill (Archbishop
of Dublin) and his wife, the Very Rev Robert MacCarthy (Dean
of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin) and the Rev Corinna Diestelkamp
and her husband the Rev Dr Joachim Diestelkamp, Lutheran Pastors
in Dublin, were our guests.
Once again the Society was able
to offer two bursaries to assist theological students who are
members of the Society to attend. Three applied, all from Iceland,
and the committee decided that they should share the bursaries
between them.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable
and worthwhile conference. Extracts of some of the papers have
been published in The Window, September and December 2007 and
February 2008.
