[Church of Ireland] The Provincial Secretaries of the Anglican Communion gathered in Dublin at the weekend for their eighth periodic meeting. The conference got under way on Friday (28th August) in the Emmaus Centre in Swords and its theme was ‘Peace and Reconciliation’.

In attendance was the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Josiah Idowu–Fearon. The Archbishop of Dublin led a Bible study on the theme of Peace and Reconciliation and the Archbishop of Armagh gave a talk on Monday evening. The Archbishop of Canterbury [was scheduled to address] the Provincial Secretaries on Tuesday morning.

The Provincial Secretaries have travelled from across the globe to represent their provinces at the meeting. In all there are 38 autonomous national and regional Churches plus six extra provincial Churches and dioceses that make up the Anglican Communion. 

Archbishop Michael Jackson took as his text Ephesians 6.10–20.

This was the reading from the Christian Scriptures for this year’s National Day of Commemoration Ceremony in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. The act of worship at the ceremony involves three World Faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam and the occasion is attended by veterans of the Irish Defence Forces and the British Legion as well as the President, the Taoiseach, Government Ministers, ambassadors and citizens and other visitors.

The Archbishop referred to verses 13 and 14: ‘Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then …’

He stated: ‘Often we think of reconciliation somewhat romantically as breaking down the dividing walls of enmity, and this is good, but there are other considerations and to my mind this passage introduces us to the idea of standing as a significant part of reconciliation. Standing is a witness in itself and in the world of today we see every day those who stand and witness and die for their principles and for their faith.’

Read the full text of the Archbishop Jackson’s reflection on the Church of Ireland website.