CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 15th December 2001
From: The
RCB Library
Email: RCB Library
Installation of Christ Church Precentor
Tomorrow (Sunday) at Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral,
Dublin, the Revd Professor Adrian Empey will be installed as precentor in
succession to the Revd Dr John Bartlett who has retired from the stipendiary
ministry. Dr Empey was elected by the chapter of Christ Church at its
meeting on 14 November, the Feast of St Laurence O'Toole, the patron saint
of Dublin. The election of the precentor is the sole piece of patronage in
the gift of the chapter as all other chapter appointments are made by the
Archbishop of Dublin.
Dr Empey brings to the life of Christ Church academic
distinction, good humour, and considerable experience of parish and
cathedral life in the diocese of Dublin. He is a medieval historian of
distinction, having written widely on many aspects of Anglo-Norman Ireland,
and having taught in Canada before ordination and more recently in the
Church of Ireland Theological College, where he was appointed Principal
earlier this year.
He was ordained in 1974 for the curacy of St Ann's Dublin,
and after incumbencies in the dioceses of Ossory and Kildare, returned to St
Ann's as vicar in 1988. With characteristic vigour he threw himself into the
work of the parish and soon was a familiar figure cycling, often at
breathtaking speed, to church services, hospital visits, vestry meetings,
concerts and the other parts of the never ending round of the life of an
inner-city cleric. Dr Empey is also well versed in the intricacies and
intrigues of cathedral life having been a member of the chapter of St
Patrick's Cathedral for over ten years.
Tomorrow (Sunday) RTE will broadcast Parish Communion from
the Church of St Catherine and St James, Donore Avenue, Dublin, where the
vicar is Canon John Crawford while in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, new
acolytes will be commissioned during the Sung Eucharist. After Evensong in
St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, there will be a recital, by David Leigh,
Acting Organist and Master of the Choristers, of Oliver Messiaen's Navtivité
du Seigneur. Nine Meditations on the Birth of Christ. Admission is free
and the recital will begin at approximately 4.30 pm.
In St Ann's Church, Dawson Street, at 7.00 pm the Annual
Civic Carol Service will be held. Readers will represent the various aspects
of civic life and will include the Lord Mayor, the Rt Hon. Councillor
Michael Mulcahy, the Archbishop of Dublin and the Principal of the
Theological College. At the same time, in St Bartholomew's parish church,
Clyde Road, there will be a Concert of Carols and Festive Readings with Alan
Stanford and the parish choir conducted by Malcolm Wisener. The concert will
be in aid of charity and the organ fund.
On Monday the Archbishop of Armagh will preside at an
Electoral College in Church House, Armagh to elect a Bishop of Connor in
succession to the Rt Revd James Moore who has retired. The College will
consist of fifty-two members including three bishops, twelve elected clergy
and twelve elected lay people from the Diocese of Connor and elected clergy
and laity from each of the dioceses of the province of Armagh. If no
candidate receives two thirds of the votes of both the lay and clerical
members the appointment will pass to the House of Bishops.
On Thursday the Bishop of Cork, the Rt Revd Paul Colton,
will be in Rosscarbery for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in St
Fachtna's Cathedral and on Friday he will preside in St Fin Barre's
Cathedral at the Cork Civic Carol Service.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com/ |
