Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
St Fin Barre’s 150
Next Monday, St Andrew’s Day is a red letter day in the Diocese of Cork marking the 150th anniversary of the consecration of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral. Sadly, this major event can no longer happen. So what is happening?
The Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton, will celebrate the Eucharist and preach tomorrow, Advent Sunday, in the Cathedral and that will be broadcast on the Cathedral Webcam.
On the actual anniversary, next Monday, while there can be no public liturgy to commemorate the Service of Consecration on 30th November 1870, Bishop Colton and the Dean, the Very Revd Nigel Dunne, will be in the Cathedral. They will be joined by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, representing the wider populace and the cathedral wardens will represent the lay people. The short ceremony will be broadcast on the Cathedral Webcam at 11am. At the heart of this short act of celebration and commemoration will be the singing of Te Deum Laudamus.
An appeal will be going out to locals, passers–by and all and sundry to post a photograph of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral on the day of the anniversary using the #SFB150.
The choir has launched their new CD. Let All the World in Every Corner Sing includes the premiere recording of a new set of canticles, written for the anniversary by Composition Competition winner Nicholas O’Neill. The CD is available from the Cathedral’s webstore: www.corkcathedral.webs.com/apps/webstore
Other plans being considered include an exhibition of the art done by young people arising from the SFB150 book; an exhibition of the Dobbin photographs (a rare set from the 1860s showing the dismantling of the old cathedral and early stages of the building of the new one); an exhibition of the Gregg photos and the informal drawing by Burges (an album of photographs which were taken to record the completion of the Cathedral in the episcopate of Bishop Robert Gregg).
A call will go out for St Fin Barre’s Cathedral memorabilia and archive materials asking people around the Diocese to share memories, photographs and Orders of Services they have accumulated over the years.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Mothers’ Union in Dublin & Glendalough will hold a Service to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence. The service will come from St Brigid’s church, Castleknock, but because of restrictions will be available from 10am on the CMC Parish YouTube channel.
Ms Ifrah Ahmed will speak on female genital mutilation. She is an Irish citizen, Gender Advisor to the Prime Minister of Somalia, and has set up the Ifrah Foundation whose aim is to eradicate FGM in Somalia and influence other governments in Africa to do the same. According to AkiDwa there is estimated to be 5,790 cases of women who have had FGM living in Ireland.
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 9pm, Northern Sound radio will broadcast Morning Prayer for Advent Sunday from Rossorry parish church, Enniskillen. The service will be conducted by the Bishop–Elect for Clogher, the Revd Dr Ian Ellis, with Parish Readers, Sarah Maguire and Nick Hambly, and hymns led by Andrew Irwin (tenor) and organ and harp music by Catherine Irwin.
The Revd Baden Stanley will lead an Advent Reflection Service from Christ Church, Bray, which will be broadcast on the RTÉ News Now channel tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) at 2.15pm.
In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, tomorrow (Sunday) at 5pm the Advent Processions will be held. This service of carols, readings and prayers will be available via the Cathedral’s webcam.
The Diocese of Derry & Raphoe has produced a new prayer booklet, Hope in the Pandemic, to encourage parishioners during the Covid–19 crisis. The pocket–sized resource is printed on recycled paper and is meant to comfort people and help them pray through what the booklet’s foreword describes as “one of the most challenging times of the modern era”.
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times