I am so glad to return to Belfast. I was last here in 1994, and I sense in this city, and in the Province as a whole, a renewed sense of hope and expectation about the future.
Exactly eleven weeks ago, our world celebrated the beginning of the year 2000 AD. That event was marked in many ways and many contexts, but its true significance surely lies in the letters 'AD', Anno Domini, the year of our Lord.
I am delighted to be with you for this weekend and I thank your Archbishop for his welcome and indeed for his remarkable ministry, not only in this country and the United Kingdom generally, but for his outstanding leadership in the Anglican Communion.
After more than ten years a vision has become a reality. The Bishop of Cork, the Rt Revd Paul Colton, recently dedicated the "Wheels Ministry" trailer for the Church Army.
In a week when the peace process in Northern Ireland has run into its most difficult time since the signing of the Belfast Agreement, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Robin Eames, has called for both sides to build trust and confidence so that peace can be secured.
The founder of the Samaritans in Ireland, Canon Billy Wynne, died recently at the age of 84. He was a canon of St Anne's Church in Dublin's Dawson Street. He was previously Rector of Monkstown, Co Dublin and Delgany, Co Wicklow.
The Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross has launched its web site, which contains a welcome from the Bishop, practical information about the Church of Ireland, parish profiles, and links to other parts of the Anglican family.
ACNS items 1764 to 1790 on the web site may not follow the numbering of releases sent via Convene - this is because of a problem with postings to the ACNS list server. Hopefully this has now been resolved. Apologies for any inconvenience or confusion caused.
(CT) Church leaders in Ireland have welcomed the vote made on 22 May for peace, which endorsed the Good Friday agreement by more than 70 per cent in the North and more than 95 per cent in the Republic (see ACNS story 17 May 1998).
(CT, CPSA) The new peace agreement will place new and difficult demands on the Irish people, the Anglican Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd Dr Robin Eames, warned.
Jesus told his listeners: "I am the Resurrection and the Life". The great events of that first Easter Day proved beyond doubt the meaning of what Christ had said. For the Christian that is the centre of the Easter message - a message of hope, love, triumph and certainty. Christ had risen from the dead and overcome all that the evil, darkness and hatred of this world could achieve. The resurrection turned hope into reality.
The Church of Ireland is launching its new Website on the Internet on Thursday 2nd October 1997 at 9am.
Pilgrims Way 1997, which celebrated the joint 1400th anniversaries of St Augustine and St Columba, ended with a Eucharist at St Columb's Anglican Cathedral in Derry on Monday 9 June. The pilgrimage began in Rome in May when a group of ecumenical pilgrims travelled the route St Augustine would have taken to Canterbury.
This year is the 1400th anniversary of the arrival of St Augustine in Canterbury and the death of St Columba, the great Irish missionary.
The Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd Dr Robin Eames, has warned against further outbreaks of sectarian turmoil after attacks in Armagh and Antrim left two churches in ruins and a third badly damaged.
An ecumenical report launched this week has challenged governments, political parties and Churches to consider afresh the issue of unemployment and the future of work in Britain and Ireland.
The Church of Ireland has a long and proud record of missionary outreach. We have commissioned clergy, teachers, doctors and experts in many fields for service in the Church overseas, we have given financial support to our various missionary societies but to visit those who have gone out from Ireland and to see at first hand the actual conditions under which they are working is an unforgettable experience.
The Churches in Ireland should agree a common admission of guilt for their part in the wrongs of centuries, said the former Anglican Bishop of Connor, Bishop Samuel Poyntz during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
"The next Lambeth Conference will be a defining moment for Anglicanism. It will determine what we are and where we are going," said Archbishop Robin Eames to the representatives at the Anglican Consultative Council. "It will stand or fall on our sense of unity and vision."
Address by the Most Revd. Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh at the Porvoo Agreement Service to celebrate the signing of the agreement in Tallinn Cathedral, Estonia on 8 September 1996.
The Standing Committee of the Church of Ireland wishes to place on record its condemnation of all acts of violence and intimidation and especially those of recent months in Northern Ireland. It regrets and abhors the political and religious sectarianism throughout the whole community that finds expression in civil disorder, lawlessness, economic boycott and interference with the right to worship which only further deepens division, suspicion and fear.
Nationalists in Northern Ireland must recognise that Ulster Protestants have rights too, the Anglican Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd Robin Eames, said at the end of July. The Archbishop's comments were met with anger from the Sinn Fein, a Nationalist party which demanded that the Primate clarify the Church of IrelandÕs relationship with the Protestant Orange Order.
Marriage of divorced people in the Church of Ireland churches is to be regularised. A new bill providing for a service of preparation to be held before the wedding, was approved by an overwhelming majority of the General Synod of the Church in Dublin in May. This bill calls for a private service, conducted by a priest at which the couple recognises that a previous marriage promise has failed. The liturgy includes an act of penitence.
The Christian message of Easter is the news of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a message of triumph of good over evil, love over hatred, joy over sorrow and light over darkness. It is also a message of supreme confidence: that confidence which comes from the knowledge that God reigns in this world of doubt, frustration, inequality and injustice. That is the certainty of the Christian faith for Easter morning. Because of it, those who follow Christ are the 'Easter people'.
In a letter to Archbishop Eames, the Archbishop of Canterbury has welcomed the Day of Prayer for Peace called in Ireland, for Sunday 10 March.
