CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 13th May 2000
From: The RCB
Library
Email: RCB Library
Church of Ireland Historical Society to Meet in Armagh
General Synod meets in Belfast
The General Synod of the Church of Ireland will meet from Monday to
Wednesday in Belfast. This will be the third occasion on which the Synod
has been held in Belfast. Previously the venue was the City Hall but
this year the Waterfront Hall will provide a contemporary venue for a
traditional event. Another break with tradition will be the absence of a
pre-synod service. Instead there will be a Synod Service on the Monday
evening in St Anne's Cathedral where the preacher will be the Bishop of
Down and Dromore, the Rt Revd Harold Miller.
Much of the legislation to come before the Synod relates to
liturgical revision. Three of the bills are part of the process of
revising the Prayer Book which is due to be completed in 2004. Orders of
service for Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, the Litany, the late Evening
Office, Compline and a Service of the Word will be considered. There
will also be resolutions, in preparation for bills next year, relating
to Holy Communion, the Calendar and Collects, Post-Communion Prayers and
Canticles.
The Reports of the Standing Committee and the Representative Church
Body will provide opportunities for comment and debate on almost any
topic imaginable. More specifically, reports on synodical reform,
provision for married students in the Theological College, and proposals
for legislation on pastoral breakdown will all attract the attention of
their own constituencies. Inevitably, also, long running issues such as
mission, education, and church unity will be debated.
Today (Saturday) the former Bishop of Connor, Dr Samuel
Poyntz, will be among the representatives at the consultation in Toronto
between Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops. This will be chaired by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, and Cardinal Edward Cassidy,
President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who
will give a millennium address in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, in
October.
Tomorrow (Sunday) RTE will broadcast Morning Prayer from St
Patrick's Church, Broughshane, Co. Antrim, where the rector is Canon
John Bond. The Bishop of Cork, the Rt Revd Paul Colton, will return to
Lisburn where he was curate in St Paul's Church from 1984 to 1978, to
preach in Christ Church Cathedral, while the preacher in the Chapel of
Trinity College, Dublin, will be the Dean of Ossory, the Very Revd
Norman Lynas.
On Monday the Church of Ireland Chaplain in Trinity College, Dublin,
Dr Alan McCormack, will preside at the Trinity Monday Service of
Thanksgiving in the College Chapel. The preacher will be the Revd Dr
Sean Healy from the department of Justice and Peace.
On Friday the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Revd John Neill,
will institute the Revd Nancy Gillespie to the incumbency of the
Stradbally group of parishes. Mrs Gillespie, who was ordained in 1997,
has been curate in Kilkenny. As part of the celebrations of the 1400th
anniversary of St Aidan, a "Celebration of Creation" will
begin in St Edan's Cathedral, Ferns, on Friday and continue until Sunday
21 May.
The Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin, Dr Robert MacCarthy, will open the
Skerries Festival on Friday, while in St Patrick's Cathedral the Annual
Choir Concert, featuring music by Tavener, Allegri, Britten and Bach,
will begin at 8.00 pm.
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, is offering ten choral scholarships
worth IR£2000 each for the academic year 2000-2001, together with a
post as tutor, worth IR£4200, which may be held in conjunction with a
scholarship. Auditions will be held from 9 to 11 June and the closing
date for applications is 19 May. Details may be had from the Music
Secretary (Tel: 01-677 8099; Fax: 01-679 8991).
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com/ |
