Bishop in the USA for annual Albany Convention
Bishop Harold and his wife Liz are in the United States for the Diocese of Albany’s annual convention.
The link between the Diocese of Albany and the Diocese of Down and Dromore can be traced back to the 1998 Lambeth Conference at which Bishop Harold met his then–counterpart, Bishop Dan (Daniel Herzog). Almost instantly they ‘clicked’ as men of faith.
Even so, the reasons for the resultant bond between the Diocese of Albany and the Diocese of Down and Dromore are not immediately obvious.
The Diocese of Albany is bigger than the whole of Ireland, extending from the Canadian border to the top half of New York State. Yet despite its daunting size, it has roughly the same number of parishes and clergy as Down and Dromore. And the size of the Americans’ congregations is only about half of the figure for D&D.
The differences are marked, then. Nor are they confined to things geographical or matters numerical.
Bishop Harold concedes the point readily, saying: “The Diocese of Albany is totally Anglo–Catholic – High Church with all the trappings. And we in Down and Dromore are at the other end of the spectrum!”
So how come these seemingly ill–matched opposites gel so readily?
“We have the same heart for the Gospel and the same heart for the things of the Spirit and that is what has always held us together in a unique way,” Bishop Harold explains.
“I think part of the attraction is the difference and part of the attraction is the same heart and that same sense of what is important in terms of evangelism and outreach and openness to the things of the Spirit.”
Bishop Harold acknowledges that some within the Church of Ireland might be put off by Anglo–Catholic High Church nature of their American cousins.
He says: “Sometimes people here in a Northern Ireland are slightly afraid of anything that would remind them of Catholicism, so the link with Albany helps them to understand more effectively why certain others do things in that particular way.
“But there is also a great sense of encouraging each other,” he adds.
Elaborating on that statement, Bishop Harold continues: “Albany is a very orthodox diocese within the Episcopal Church is America which would be much more liberal in its ways.
“So I think there’s a sense of us wanting to say to the people of Albany, ‘We want to encourage you and support you in your orthodox Christian faith’. And that holds us very closely together.
“But we also share a joint–link with South Sudan – the Diocese of Maridi – and teams have gone backwards and forwards to South Sudan over the years.
“Indeed, one of their [Albany’s] clergy – a woman, who had just been ordained a Deacon – actually died of malaria when she came back from South Sudan and half of her ashes are buried at the Cathedral in Maridi.”
Several times each year, groups from Albany will come here to share in what is going on. St. Patrick’s Day in March and Summer Madness at the beginning of July are examples.
Conversely, representatives of Down and Dromore go to Albany for the Convention. Sometimes they go to the States on sabbaticals. So there is a lot of travelling, meeting and sharing between the two dioceses.
Bishop Harold does not pretend that there are no theological differences.
“We do, every so often, have our little theological squabbles,” he smiles.
Examples?
“About prayers for the departed, or our understanding of the Eucharist. But that’s all very healthy,” he hastens to add.
“A lot of very good personal links have been built up over the years; we find them extremely hospitable and welcoming. I think they find us to be like that, too – at least they say they do!” he beams.
“And they love to come here for St. Patrick’s Day. They really do, because they see that as being the real thing. So they feel very honoured to be in Saul where Patrick planted his first church and to go to the Hill of Down where he is buried, we assume.
“The antiquity of that, the history, is something they really value – much more, perhaps, than we do.”
It isn’t a one–way street, however; there is much the people of Albany can teach us, too.
“There’s a lot we can learn from them,” Bishop Harold stresses. “Their warmth and hospitality, for example. Americans are naturally warm–hearted. They welcome people into their homes. And they affirm you.
“When you preach there, they applaud you! They laugh at all your jokes!
“When they worship, they worship expressively, not just in an Anglo–Catholic way but in a Charismatic way.
“There is an openness and a warmth, an affirmation and a seeing what is good in people. All of those things, I think, are very healthy.”
That said, their ties with other churches and denominations probably are not as strong or plentiful as would be the case in Down and Dromore.
“They work within their own diocese and their own church,” Bishop Harold points out.
Within that context, however, they do grasp opportunities to learn.
“There’s a great hunger withIN the American church [Episcopalian] for learning,” he continues. “You run a course and everybody wants to come to it, though I think that may have something to do with the fact that they are accustomed to having had to pay for their learning elsewhere.
“There’s a great hunger, too, for healing.
“And there’s a great hunger for evangelism. And for prayer.
“Those are all things that I think we could learn from them.”
Highlighting the fact that Irish people are more reserved than Americans, he says: “When it comes to healing services, for example, they will rush forward. They are natural go–getters, so if there is anything on offer, they want to have it and to be part of that.
“Now, sometimes there can be something of a shallowness about that. But there is a real openness about the things of the Kingdom.”
Having been forged over the past 18 years, the link between Albany and Down and Dromore is truly exceptional.
“The Anglican Communion Office would really only want us to be in a link for five years, so this has lasted longer than any other link I know of,” Bishop Harold smiles. “And I hope we will have Bishop Bill Love, [Bishop of Albany] over here once again before too long.”
Bishop Harold will enjoy the next few days of fellowship, affirmation and American hospitality, one suspects…