CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 30th December 2000
From: The RCB Library
Email: RCB Library
It is one of the many unpalatable truths for the church today that it
is frequently led by the demands of society rather than being the
determinant of society's agenda. This has been particularly so in the
rash of millennium celebrations which have marked the past year.
As early as autumn 1999 the APCK had published its volume of
millennium essays, A Time to Build, and this proved to be but the
harbinger of many church-sponsored projects. Under the banner of a large
sign for 2000, the national ecumenical celebrations began on January
2nd, in the National Concert Hall, and were followed by a series of
events throughout Dublin.
In February the annual theological lectures in Queen's University
Belfast were entitled "The Return of Religion at the Close of the
Millennium", and March was the closing date for a millennium
competition for church magazines.
The Mothers' Union Millennium Journey began in Cork on St Patrick's
Day and travelled through all 12 dioceses of the Church of Ireland
before arriving in Armagh on March 25th. More static but equally
appealing was the Millennium Flower Festival in St Fethlimidh's
Cathedral, Kilmore, which attracted many visitors to Co Cavan in the
first week in June.
In Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral marked the millennium with the
publication of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. A History which was
launched by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on June 18th, and this was speedily
followed by "Ceiliuradh", an international festival of
liturgy. St Patrick's Cathedral hosted a year-long series of addresses
on "Hopes for the Millennium", which concluded earlier this
month with an address by Mrs Mary Robinson.
These events are no more than a sample of the outburst of creativity
which the secular millennium celebrations induced from the church. But
now, on the eve of the opening of the third millennium since the birth
of Christ, is there anything left?
Hopefully there will be some follow-up on some of the more
substantial ventures. Perhaps the St Patrick's Cathedral addresses will
be published; perhaps some of the liturgical innovation of "Ceiliuradh"
will find its way into our patterns of worship; perhaps readers will
continue to purchase the APCK essays and the Christ Church history.
One millennium initiative which is still continuing but which should
come to fruition in the next year is the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan
project to publish a biographical succession list of the clergy of the
united dioceses.
This project is in the hands of Mr Ronnie Wallace, former head of
history in the High School. He has been editing the text, which was
assembled in the last century by Canon J.B. Leslie, and through his own
researches in the diocesan records, and elsewhere, has added
considerably to Leslie's work.
This has been a massive undertaking, for historically there were more
clergy in Dublin and Glendalough than in any other diocese. Dublin was
the focal point of the Church of Ireland and the residence for many
clergy: not only those who ministered in the parishes but also those in
the cathedrals; the many quasi-independent chaplaincies; and those in
the university.
The publication of this most important work of reference will be a
fitting conclusion to the church's millennium celebrations.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at http://www.ireland.com/ |
