CTBI

more together less apart

Menu 
  • Home
  • About CTBI
    • What We Do
      • Our Work
      • Current Projects
      • Legacy Projects
      • Who We Are
        • CTBI History
          • Swanwick Declaration
          • Sharing of Church Buildings Act 1969
        • Membership
        • Our Vision
    • Communication
      • CTBI News
      • Contact
      • Events
      • Media Enquiries
        • Press Releases
      • Notes on admissions to Church Schools
    • Governance
      • Agencies
      • Bodies in Association
      • Constitution
      • Trustees
  • Witnessing Together
    • Social Issues
      • Asylum and Refugees
      • Child Protection
      • Criminal Justice
      • Economics and Poverty
      • Environment
      • Equality
      • Racial Justice
      • Social Justice
      • Trafficking
      • Together for the Common Good
    • Peace and Conflict
      • Arms Trade
      • Conflict
      • Peace and Reconciliation
    • In Action
      • Christian Aid
      • Council of Christians & Jews
      • ROOTS for Churches
      • Church Action on Poverty
      • Other Organisations
  • Spirituality & Reflection
    • Courses and Materials
      • Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
      • Advent
      • Creation Time
      • Lent Courses
      • Remembrance Sunday
  • Mission & Unity
    • More Together, Less Apart
      • Mission Theology Advisory Group
      • World Church
      • China
      • Thy Kingdom Come
      • HOPE
      • Digital Mission
      • Messy Church
      • Councils of Churches Worldwide
  • Theology
    • Discourse
      • The Church: Towards a Common Vision
      • Interfaith
      • Inter Faith Theological Advisory Group
      • The Forgotten Trinity
      • UK Bossey Network
  • Resources
    • Publications
      • Books
      • Reports
      • Studies
    • Other
      • Funding
      • Hardship Fund
You are here: Home / Communication / Featured Posts / Place of the Church in a post–Catholic Ireland – ICC annual meeting

Place of the Church in a post–Catholic Ireland – ICC annual meeting

April 4, 2017 By Editor

ICC logoAn outline of the challenges and opportunities for the Church in Ireland from secularisation was presented by Dr Gladys Ganiel to over 100 delegates at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Irish Council of Churches (ICC). Dr Gladys Ganiel is Research Fellow at the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.

In her keynote talk, Dr Ganiel suggested that there are sociological reasons why secularisation and anti-institutionalism should be seen as opportunities for the churches to flourish, not threats for them to overcome. She said that ‘Christians must understand that the choices they make about how they respond to secularisation and anti-institutionalism will determine the future of the Irish churches in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine.’

‘..it seems clear to me that churches that refuse to change in meaningful ways will be choosing their own extinction. Having raised the spectre of extinction, I’m convinced that the churches have life in them yet. The churches can help make this island a better place to live. If the churches make good choices, they may be able to witness to Christ’s love much more effectively than they have in the past’, she said.

She outlined lessons she had learned from people who are trying to grasp the opportunities:

  • Extra-institutional religion is better equipped than traditional religious institutions (especially denominations) to contribute to personal, religious, social, and political transformations.
  • A key task of extra-institutional religion could be transforming traditional religious institutions themselves, inspiring them to become more flexible and creative in their approaches.
  • Reconciliation needed to be promoted between groups: Catholics and Protestants on the whole island, Irish-born and immigrant, people of different religions, and within the institutional churches themselves.
  • The case for reconciliation needs to be made in both secular and religious terms.
  • No single expression of extra-institutional religion can sustain the activism necessary to effect large-scale religious, social, or political transformation so networks need to be created of groups and individuals, drawing on the skills and resources of both religious and secular citizens.

‘ICC could be considered to be well-placed to grasp the opportunities: it might even be considered an example of extra-institutional religion’, said Dr Ganiel. ‘The ICC is associated with ecumenism, and ecumenism has been – and remains – a minority sport among Ireland’s Christians… from a sociological perspective, sometimes the margins are the best place to be. While you may lack conventional power or influence, there is an important soft power in your ability to critique and offer alternative visions, and to move quickly to respond to pressing needs’, she argued.

Dr Ganiel has made the whole of her talk Do the Churches have a Place in a Post-Catholic Ireland? available online.

You can read the ICC’s report of the annual meeting on the ICC website.

 

 

 

It's only fair to share...Email this to someone
email
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Google+
Google+
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Print this page
Print

Filed Under: Featured Posts, National Ecumenical Instruments, News From External Sources

Stay up to date

Subscribe to the CTBI newsletter

Subscribe

Read the current newsletter

Emergency Appeal

Refugee

What’s Happening

  • CTBI News
  • News From the Churches
  • News From External Sources

Popular content

  • Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2018
  • Churches respond to the refugee crisis
  • Weekly Focus
  • A prayer for Syria
  • CTBI AGM and David Goodbourn Lecture 2018

Donate

You can donate to CTBI through CAF by clicking the button below.

Donate

Categories

Archives

About Us

  • About CTBI
    • Contact
    • Media Enquiries
    • Our Work
    • Site Map

Churches in the Nations

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX Tel: 0203 794 2288 Fax: 0207 901 4894

Search Archived Website

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

© Churches Together in Britain and Ireland 2015 · Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is a registered charity (registered charity no 1113299) and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (registered no 5661787) · Privacy Policy

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy