New Church of Ireland Primate Preaches Reconciliation at Enthronement

The new Church of Ireland Primate was enthroned in Armagh on Friday with a call to members of the Church to follow the example of Christ in forgiveness and reconciliation.

Archbishop Alan Harper underlined in his enthronement sermon at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh the need for lasting peace in Northern Ireland, with a reminder to Christians that their lives would be measured according to how well they lived out Jesus' teaching to love our enemies.

As Easter approaches, Archbishop Harper preached the culmination of reconciliation and forgiveness in the cross, and the unconditional love of the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

He called for unity, expressing frustration at divisions in the Church, which he said were "deep and stubbornly hard to heal". He charged the whole of the Church of Ireland to play its part in the healing process.

"We are one community, tragically divided but not separate, not competing, not alien, communities," he said.

"Our antagonisms, some very ancient, others painfully fresh, have damaged and compromised our family life. For many the hurt is personal, deep and sickeningly painful."

Archbishop Harper called on churches to recommit to building closer relations.

"The churches must be the first to confront the sins of the past - the beams in our own eye - to be committed, as much in deed as in word, to modelling the relationships of the Kingdom.

"What we cannot do is pretend that, like some miracle brand of face cream, the lines of suffering can be instantly erased.

"What we can do, as a first step, is to turn to one another to embrace a restored way of relating, nourished by a commitment to unconditional love and generous forgiveness," he said.

He concluded: "It is time to turn from truce to peace - to love our neighbours and ourselves in equal measure."