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Clogher Clergy Quiet Day
Clogher Clergy Quiet Day

On Ascension Day, the Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Revd Dr Michael Jackson, led a Quiet Day for the diocesan clergy in Aghavea Parish Church on the theme: ‘From an empty tomb to all corners of the world.’ The Quiet Day took the form of thematic talks followed by silence and then discussion and concluded with a celebration of Holy Communion. In facing with his clergy issues relating to discipleship, service and leadership, Bishop Jackson explained how the injunction of the Risen Lord to Mary Magdalen: ‘Do not cling to me…’ is a pastoral moment of great glory and great release between Chief Shepherd and an individual sheep, it sets her free from an outmoded understanding of God in Jesus Christ which, post-Resurrection, cannot be sustained and which is tailor-made to disappoint. The bishop went on to explore with his clergy the relationship between St Luke’s account and St Matthew’s account of the departure of the Risen Christ in the context of Ascension. He spoke of mission to the Gentiles as the fruit of ascension and of ascension itself as essentially transitional: ‘The transition is internal to God but external and wide open to us – from the Christ through the Father to the Spirit… This is what it is to live the life of the Holy Trinity and this is what it is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and in the totality of who God is – rather in the way of Mary Magdalen.’ He concluded his second address: ‘The way in which the disciples are depicted staring up into the sky, searching for an absence, is an image which none of us could forget.’ In speaking of Pentecost, the bishop began by addressing the following issue: ‘One of the hardest things for any group of Christians to accept is that Christendom is long dead.’ He went on to explain how this idea had lingered in both parts of Ireland for much longer than it had elsewhere. He gave a picture of what Pentecost meant to him: ‘Deregulation takes many forms. The traditionalists clutch all the more pedantically at the embers of Establishment, looking for flames where there is nothing other than smoke, and then licking their wounds as they get singed. The progressives see fresh opportunities and go in search of the fire which is never quenched but is now burning where nobody has spotted it; they too get singed. But living with fire, as children of Pentecost do and must, maybe we all get singed and always will.’ He went on to explore with those present the relationship between conversion and transformation. Lively reaction followed.
During the periods of discussion topics as broad-ranging as funeral services and the current recession were explored.