St. Finian’s Lutheran Church, Dublin, Ireland  (11/20/06)

By Sally Krey

 

It was sometime last fall that I read a news item from Sister Virginia about the Lutheran Church in Ireland. St. Finian’s Lutheran Church in Dublin was seeking guest preachers. They could not afford to pay them, but if anyone was so inclined to visit Ireland and preside at their English worship service they would be most appreciative. I forwarded a copy of the email to my husband adding “Did you know there was a Lutheran Church in Ireland and who is St. Finian?” Several weeks later, after I had forgotten about the email, Andy informed me that he was scheduled to preside at St. Finian’s on June 25.

 

We flew to Dublin on June 23 and were collected at the airport by Martin Sauter. Martin is from Germany and his wife, Maeve, is Irish. He is the lay chairman of the Church Council at St. Finian’s and was the contact for this adventure in faith.

 

Martin told us that the Lutheran Church in Ireland has been in existence for 300 years under the auspices of the German Lutheran Church. It disbanded in 1917 because of World War I and did not gather publicly again until 1955. In the past, services have been predominantly in German. An assistant minister, Dr. Gesa Thiessen, who is a Lutheran theologian at a Catholic University in Dublin, normally takes the service in English on the last Sunday. When she went on a sabbatical to Leuven in Belgium last January there was concern as to how the gap could be filled. It was the brainchild of an American Lutheran student who worked as a trainee at St. Finian’s to search for help in the United States. Since there was no money available, it was also through her efforts that all the synods of the ELCA were contacted with the message that Sister Virginia passed on.

 

We learned from Martin that Pr. Elizabeth Krentz-Wee, St. Michael’s, New Canaan, Conn., had been in Dublin earlier in the year. They also have had visiting pastors from Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

 

Dublin is a bustling city of young people from throughout Europe and the rest of the world. They have been drawn there because of the Celtic Tiger, the name given to the explosion of Dublin into the computer capitol of Europe. The European headquarters of Google, Yahoo and e-Bay are all in Dublin. Unemployment is three percent; 10 years ago it was 18 percent.

 

How can a German speaking congregation relate to this massive influx of multinational young adults? Talk about a model for transforming congregations! One of their outreach efforts is to conduct Thursday evening Taizé services, which are multilingual by design and familiar to many young adults in Europe. Then there is the question of how to expand on the English monthly worship services. They have no resources except prayer and the Internet. God has used both and blessed their efforts.

 

We were hosted Saturday afternoon and evening by Anne Marie Connolly, a
young transplant from Michigan. Having finished college with a semester abroad, Anne Marie decided to stay on in Europe with the help of an Irish work visa. That was 10 years ago, and she considers Dublin her home now. Her brother, who recently arrived from Chicago, is working in a Michelin-star Dublin restaurant as a chef.

 

About two years ago, Anne Marie was really missing her family and her extended Lutheran church family in Michigan. She found St. Finian's, but discovered that most of the services were in German. Even so, the liturgy and hymns had a familiar feel, and the warm welcome Anne Marie received was such that she ventured back. She discovered and joined the small group attending services in English at the end of each month, and when the idea of starting an English outreach program was suggested she was only too thrilled to get involved. Anne Marie just glows with enthusiasm about answered prayers as ELCA pastors arrive each month.

 

On Monday, we were treated to lunch at the Irish Parliament by Richard Manley, who has worked as a civil servant in the Parliament for 30 years. We were given a lesson on the history of Ireland and a tour of the Parliament buildings. We got an insight into the religious polarities in Ireland which were reinforced after the partition of the island almost a century ago.

 

Yes, Sister Virginia, there is a Lutheran Church in Ireland. Thank you for passing on the information. Andy and I had a wonderful experience.