Irish Times Notes22 May 21

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Clerical Manouvres

Following the re–opening of places of worship, two new rectors in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne & Ross had their first opportunity since their arrival in the Diocese to worship together with their parishioners in person in their local churches. Both had been instituted by the Bishop, Dr Paul Colton, during the post–Christmas lockdown.

The Revd Meurig Williams, who has come to the Church of Ireland from the Church in Wales, was instituted on the Feast of the Epiphany (6 January) to Mallow union of parishes and celebrated the Eucharist in St James’ church, Mallow, for parishioners on Ascension Day.

Sunday, 16 May, was the first occasion on which the Revd Ivan Ruiters had the opportunity to journey to the churches of his parish in mid–west Cork for Sunday worship. He was instituted on 4 February as Rector of Kinneigh union of parishes centred on Ballineen. Mr Ruiters has returned to the Church of Ireland from the Diocese of Natal in the Anglican Church of South Africa. From 2007 to 2016 he was Rector of the Florencecourt group of parishes in the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh.

Another Cork clergyman who is out and about is the Revd Tony Murphy who has been walking across the diocese to raise funds for Christian Aid’s Cork, Cloyne & Ross Diocesan Burundi Project.

In Belfast, the Revd Clive Atkinson has been instituted as incumbent of Willowfield following 18 years of ministry with the Anglican Church in Switzerland. The new rector was instituted by the previous rector, now Bishop of Down & Dromore, the Rt Revd David McClay. The preacher at the service was Dr Alan Wilson, a visiting lecturer at Irish Baptist College and an associate tutor at Belfast Bible College. It was when serving as a pastor in Switzerland that he and Mr Atkinson became friends. Mr Atkinson was ordained in 1990 and served as curate in North Belfast with Holy Trinity Joanmount and Emmanuel, Ardoyne. His served his first incumbency in West Belfast, with St John the Baptist, Suffolk Estate, before moving to Switzerland.

On Tuesday in St Mary’s cathedral. Limerick, the third in a series of free online talks on the theme of ‘2021 Anniversaries’ will begin at 1.15pm when the architect, Maria Donoghue, will speak about the social reformer, Robert Owen, marking the 250th anniversary of his birth.

In another sign of the beginning of a return to normality, the RCB Library is pleased to announce the availability of our Click–and–Collect service for printed books. While the building remains closed to the public, access to the printed collection through Click–and–Collect will be our first step along the longer road to re–opening.

Orders received by 9am on the Monday of a given week will become available for collection at the Library, at precise pre–arranged times later in the same week. The Library will notify readers of the collection time by email.

To help readers become familiar with the  online catalogue, and reserve books, three instructional video guides have been created. These advise on how to request a book, how to access an account and how to search for a book. They are available on the Church of Ireland website.

Books may be returned when a collection is being made. Books for return should be placed in the clearly–marked ‘Returns Box’ situated just inside the front door.

A list of newly–published books recently acquired by the Library can be viewed by clicking on https://bit.ly/2RbI2yF