Quest Conference 2005
LIVERPOOL
‘Collaborative Ministry: Our Place as Equals’
A report
(first published in Quest Bulletin 43)
The conference proper kicked off with a talk by the Revd Dr Kevin Kelly, parish priest and Emeritus Senior Lecturer in Moral Theology at Liverpool Hope University. He set the current enthusiasm for collaborative ministry in the context of the huge National Pastoral Congress in Liverpool in the 1980s. This proved too liberal for the times and little of its potential was achieved. As a full-time parish priest, much of Dr Kelly’s talk was given over to observations on the needs and practical difficulties in developing collaborative ministry.
Dr Tina Beattie (Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies, Roehampton University, London) joined us for dinner on Saturday evening and showed serious collaboration on the dance floor later. On Sunday morning, unruffled by the previous evening’s exertions, she presented us with a thorough analysis of the theology of ministry. The following quotes give only a taste (both speakers’ texts will be reproduced in the next Quest Digest):
‘All ministry arises out of the fact that we are beings created by God who are uniquely called to participate in the ongoing work of creation. This means that our human ministry flows out of our sacramental relationship to the rest of creation, a relationship that is sustained and nurtured through the sacramental life of the Church. But ministry is also rooted in the person: personal authenticity goes hand in hand with authentic, life-giving ministry.’
‘[…] ministry comes about when we experience the generosity of spirit which comes from having a sense of being created, loved and accepted by God.’
‘When our ministry arises, not out of a sense of urgency and anxiety but out of a sense of being at peace with ourselves and our world, it becomes spontaneous.’
Between the speakers we have Dr Kelly’s invitation to accept the call to ministry which can only be from the grass roots and not turned on and off at the whim of the hierarchy, and Dr Beattie’s invitation to see ministry as a state of being, not doing, set in relationship between person, God, sacrament and Church. Any active response will be a spontaneous result of relaxing into these relationships.
Peter Rodgers