 |
 |
News
Braemor Park marks 60 years of theological education
Gathering for the 60th anniversary of Braemor Park's Theological Institute.
Sixty years of theological education at Braemor Park in Dublin were celebrated recently with a Service of Thanksgiving and a public lecture in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.
Both the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd John McDowell, and the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, attended the service. Those in the congregation represented the different pathways to ministry within the Church of Ireland as well as many clergy and friends of CITI.
Introducing the service, the Director of CITI, Canon Dr Maurice Elliott noted that the previous Divinity Hostel was in Mountjoy Square where it had been since 1913. When the decision was taken by the Adelaide Hospital to close Fetherstonhaugh House, a convalescent home in Rathgar, in 1961, it was bought by the Representative Church Body and became the new location for the Divinity Hostel which was later renamed Braemor Park.
The sermon was preached by Archbishop Jackson who noted that CITI, CITC or The Hostel (in reverse order) had been home to many for a formative period of their lives.
“My hope is that for each of us gathered here, and for any who are tuning in remotely, CITI over its 60 years in existence has enabled us and countless others to move from coexistence to collaboration and into a community of learning together and meeting God together. The unfinished business of the Church of Ireland’s marking of 150 years of Disestablishment in 2019, that of being a church without borders as outlined by the archbishop of Canterbury in his sermon, is given a good start and a fair wind in CITI where being unbordered in spirit is the essential deepening of our calling to serve God. This is and remains the great challenge and the uncharted waters,” he stated.
In becoming a Theological Institute, the Archbishop said it had become a place to stay, meet, retreat, envision and train in a range of ministries.