The Most Revd Alan Harper (CIMS President), the Rt Revd Alan Abernethy (CIMS Chairman), the Very Revd Patrick Rooke (CIMS General Secretary), and Canon Wilfred Young (Hon Lay Secretary)

Commissioning of the Bishop of Connor as Chairman

At Choral Evensong in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Alan Harper commissioned the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Revd Alan Abernethy, as Chairman of the Men’s Society. In his address to a large congregation of Members of the Society, wives and friends, Bishop Abernethy referred to the Gospel reading, St Luke’s account of the death of Jesus on the Cross. He said that the inscription on the cross, “The King of the Jews”, was deliberately ironic. The religious leaders of the day neither understood who Jesus was or the nature of his Kingdom. As he hung dying on the cross he forgave all those who had put him there. His forgiveness is ours today which makes self-righteousness impossible.