Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
Armagh Library Lectures
Next week, the Armagh Robinson Library will hold an online lunchtime lecture series. This will connect with treasures in what is Northern Ireland’s oldest public library, as well as Irish Language Week (Seachtain na Gaeilge) and International Women’s Day at the start of March.
On Monday, Damian McManus, Professor of Early Irish at Trinity College, Dublin, will give a talk on ‘Ogam: Ireland’s oldest alphabet’. This illustrated talk will touch upon the origin of the Ogam alphabet, its nature, the Ogam inscriptions, their language, distribution, and date. A selection of photographs of Ogam monuments from Ireland and Britain will be shown along with illustrations from medieval Irish manuscripts.
Dr Daniel P. McCarthy, a Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College, Dublin, will speak on the Annals of Clonmacnoise on Tuesday. Also known as ‘Mageoghagan’s Book’, these annals are an early 17th–century Early English translation of a lost Irish chronicle, which covered events in Ireland from pre–history to 1408. The earliest known surviving manuscript copy of the Annals is held in Armagh Robinson Library.
On Wednesday, Marc Caball, an Associate Professor in the School of History at University College. Dublin, will speak about the roles of Uilliam Ó Domhnaill (William Daniel) and William Bedell in translating the Bible into Irish.
The speaker on Thursday will be Professor James Kelly, Head of the School of History and Geography at Dublin City University, who will speak on the topic, ‘Protestants, Print and the Irish Language in the Eighteenth Century’.
Finally, on Friday, Professor Regina Uí Chollatáin, Head of the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore at University College, Dublin, will speak on ‘Women of the Glens’ about a group of women of various creeds and their role in the Irish Revival.
All talks will begin at 1pm and will be delivered on Zoom. There will be time for questions at the end of each talk. To book a place, please email director@armaghrobinsonlibrary.co.uk. This series of lectures is funded by money provided from the Northern Ireland Department for Communities.
A somewhat different initiative has come from Church Music Dublin, which is an agency of the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough, at the suggestion of the Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Communications Officer, Lynn Glanville. Copyright Matters. Guidelines for Parish Churches is a much needed introduction to copyright law for those who prepare and lead music in churches, typically organists, choir directors, worship group leaders, youth leaders, parish administrators and, of course, clergy. It is available at www.churchmusicdublin.org where there is an introduction by the Chairman of Church Music Dublin, the Revd Jack Kinkead who is Rector of Wicklow and Killiskey.
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 11am on RTÉ One Television and 11am on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra / LW252 there will be a multi–denominational Service to mark Women’s World Day of Prayer. Each year, the liturgy is prepared by the women of a different country – this year it has been written by islanders from the endangered Pacific island of Vanuatu. Women’s World Day of Prayer started in America in 1887 as a response to the needs of women following the American Civil War. It formally became the Women’s World Day of Prayer in 1920 and the first services were held in Ireland in Dublin, Dun Laoghaire and Greystones in 1920. The organization’s logo, which incorporates a stylized Celtic cross, was designed in Ireland and adopted in 1982.
Parishes are reminded that applications for the current rounds of the Church Fabric and Development Fund and Marshal Beresford’s Fund must be returned by Monday to ian.walshe@rcbcoi.org
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times