Irish Times Notes12 Dec 20

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

CCB Photography Competition

In recent years the Central Communications Board, through the Press Office, has run an annual competition for magazines, newsletters and websites with the winners announced and the prizes presented at the General Synod. This year, in a Covid–led change to the annual communications competition, there will be a photography competition, with a prize, which will be featured on the Church of Ireland’s website (www.ireland.anglican.org) and social media platforms.

The competition, which is kindly being sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance, calls for photographers of all ages and experience to take part.  The idea is to focus on humorous, hopeful or generally uplifting subjects, including people and places, which help to take our view away from the current pandemic, and change our perspective positively.

Each entrant to the competition may submit one image which should be submitted via email to press@ireland.anglican.org along with the entrant’s name, full contact details, and parish. Images must be jpegs, and at least 300 dpi in resolution and 3 MB in size but strictly not over 4 MB, and be submitted with the date on which the photograph was taken. The deadline for entries will be 12 noon on Monday, 14th December 2020.  Judging will be undertaken independently of the CCB and prizes will be announced in advance of the Christmas holidays.

Tomorrow (Sunday) RTE One television, at 11.10am, and RTE Radio 1 Extra/LW252, at 11am, will broadcast a service to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Church of Ireland. Bishop Pat Storey will celebrate the Eucharist  with a  group of Church of Ireland women priests. Participants will include the Very Revd Susan Green, the Ven Ruth Elmes, Canon Gillian Wharton, the Revd Nicola Halford, the Revd Cathy Hallissey, the Revd Katherine Poulton, and Bishop Michael Burrows.

A unique drive–in carol concert,’ Carols by Runway Lights’, is being held at St. Angelo Airport, Enniskillen, next Friday evening at 7pm, under the illuminated backdrop of the runway lights on one side and Trory parish church on the other side. Soloists Jane McKinley and the Revd Mark Gallagher, Rector of Trory, will lead the singing of a selection of favourite carols and Christmas pieces, interspersed with bible readings and poems. The sound will be transmitted through everyone’s car radio. There are no tickets for this event, and parking spaces will be allocated on a first come basis.

A special Covid–era Christmas collaboration has seen over 100 singers from almost 20 church choirs gather virtually to record a Service of Nine Lessons and Carols with a bidding prayer by the Archbishop of Dublin and concluding with a blessing from the Archbishop of Armagh. The service is the brainchild of the Director of Music at St Brigid’s, Stillorgan, Tom Maxwell. Among the parishes taking part are: Killiskey Parish; St Patrick’s Church, Powerscourt; Rathfarnham Parish Choir; St Brigid’s Church, Castleknock; Sandford Parish & St Philip’s Milltown; Monkstown Parish Church; Taney Parish; Culwick Choral Society; St David’s Church, Naas; Wicklow Parish Church; St Paul’s Glenageary; Mullagh Parish, Cavan; Patrickswell/Ballybrown Parish, Limerick; St Mark’s Church, Dundela; St Patrick’s Church, Dalkey; St Brigid’s Parish, Stillorgan; All Saints’, Blackrock; and St Swithen’s Magherafelt.

The video will be available initially from the Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough YouTube channel and it is planned to make the audio files available to download individually. See dublin.anglican.org for details over the coming days. The service will provide a wonderful resource for parishes this year when restrictions mean that most carol services cannot take place physically.