Ireland

Motion on baptism of children of unmarried mothers defeated as Burke family interrupt Church of Ireland Synod

General Synod in Armagh suspended for 45 minutes after protest by family members of teacher Enoch Burke, who was employed in Church of Ireland Wilson’s Hospital school

Martina Burke, mother of teacher Enoch Burke, was among those who interrupted the Church of Ireland General Synod in Armagh on Saturday. File photograph: Collins Courts

Patsy McGarry
Sun May 12 2024 - 12:53

A motion to allow all children of unmarried mothers be baptised in the Church of Ireland was rejected at its General Synod in Armagh, despite the overwhelming support of lay delegates.

The motion had called on the Synod to acknowledge “as a reality of modern life that infants are often born to single parents and/or to couples who are not married”.

Over 40 per cent of births in Ireland are outside of marriage. In a vote on the motion, 69 clergy were in favour with 72 against, while of lay delegates 144 were in favour with 83 against. Due to the clergy rejection, the motion fell.

Separately, proceedings at the General Synod, in the Armagh City Hotel, were disrupted for a short period on Saturday, with a protest by Martina Burke and members of her family. Mrs Burke’s son Enoch, who had been a teacher at the Church of Ireland-run Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath, is currently in Mountjoy Prison over his failure to comply with an order to stay away from the school.

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A spokesman for the Church of Ireland said on Saturday evening that, following the intervention members of the Burke family, “the business of the General Synod was suspended and resumed 45 minutes later”.

The motion before General Synod on Friday, proposed by Prof Patricia Baker of the Dublin and Glendalough diocese and seconded by Lynn Wright of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, called for infants to be baptised “irrespective of the marital status of the parents”.

Prof Baker said most clergy “will baptise an infant brought for Baptism, without asking questions about the marital status of the mother of the infant”. The motion underpinned “our real concern that, in other cases, infants are refused Baptism by virtue only of the marital status of their mothers”. It hinged “around whether being the baby of a single parent is lawful cause to refuse Baptism to that baby,” she said.

Dublin delegate Dr Lucy Michael asked why anyone would refuse children Baptism. “It is the child that we baptise and not the parents,” she pointed out.

Rev Sam Johnston of Down diocese opposed the motion and urged the Synod to mandate clergy and bishops “to navigate these complex times”. Rev Mark Lennox of Dromore diocese said the motion raised questions about his ordination vows while Archdeacon of Derry Robert Miller said it suggested clergy were not trusted.

Susan Compton of Elphin and Ardagh diocese could not believe there were areas of the Church of Ireland where children were denied Baptism while Catherine Simpson of Down diocese felt “the motion’s intent is welcome but its outworking is impossible.”

The first two days of the Synod took place on Friday and Saturday, with further remote sessions scheduled for next week.

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry is a contributor to The Irish Times

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