Delight in Irish writer rejecting church (3)
I believe the answer is:
joy
'delight' is the definition.
(I know that delight can be written as joy)
'irish writer rejecting church' is the wordplay.
'irish writer' becomes 'joyce' (James Joyce).
'rejecting' is a deletion indicator.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'joyce' with 'ce' removed is 'JOY'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for joy that I've seen before include "Great happiness" , "Intense gladness" , "Elation" , "Rapture" , "Subject of 11 [ODE]" .)