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Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Spring Issue of Search

The Spring issue of the Church of Ireland journal, Search, edited by Canon Ginnie Kennerley is now available.

The leading article concerns climate change and what can be done to halt it, as individuals and as church communities, not just as voters looking for government action. Damian Jackson attended COP 26 for the Irish Council of Churches, and he confronts the climate crisis in his daily work.

Moving on to young people: with an average age well over 50 in most congregations nowadays, there is a need to ask how the Church has been failing the rising generation – and their parents. The question of what needs to be done is multi–dimensional and so there is a series of approaches in this issue: from Bishop Pat Storey, president of the Church of Ireland Youth Department; from its development officer Steve Grasham; from DCU chaplain Eric Hughes; and from liturgy enthusiast the Revd Christopher West. And going on from there, the editor would love to hear from readers with their thoughts on how to inspire and energise young people.

Other concerns which this issue addresses are the problem posed by small churches without viable congregations; the question of how we label ourselves and other people and why this matters; the whys and wherefores of the marked rise of humanist funerals. The Ven.Simon Lumby, Archdeacon of Limerick, tackles the first of these; Emma Rothwell writes on identity issues and personal freedom; and humanist celebrant, Brian Whiteside, on the need for funerals that don’t demand assent to traditional beliefs. More basic than any of these are the simple thoughts of Canon John Bartlett, until recently Chairman of Search, ‘Being Christian Today’, as expressed recently at St Lasarian’s cathedral, Old Leighlin.

Reverting to anxiety about the future, readers are asked to note the emergency requirement that all Search subscriptions need to be renewed and back copies paid for without delay. New subscribers or those who wish to purchase single copies should contact the Honorary Treasurer, Michael Denton, at 10 Dun Emer Drive, Dublin D16 F788, 01–2956997 or at subscriptions@searchjournal.ireland.anglican.org

Tomorrow (Sunday) the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Rev George Davison, will be enthroned in Christ Church cathedral, Lisburn.

The Dean of Limerick, the Very Revd Niall Sloane, has announced that four people will be the recipients of the 2021 Cathedral Community Awards Scheme. The recipients are Ms Ann Curley; Ms Dolores O’Meara; Ms Mary Keogh and Mr Mohamed Ferhat. The four individuals are being presented with the award for their service to the city and its people. The Awards Scheme, which was established in 2018, hopes to highlight the ‘unsung heroes’ of Limerick and will awarded by the Mayor of Limerick in the Cathedral tomorrow evening (Sunday) at 7pm. All are welcome to attend.

On Wednesday evening at 7.30pm the Armagh Robinson Library will be hold an online lectures, via Zoom, which will focus on some of the maps held in the Library. Professor Keith Lilley (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr Catherine Porter (University of Limerick) will give speak on ‘A Journey Through Maps: Exploring Ireland’s Cartographic Heritage’. It will concentrate on the period from the early seventeenth–century maps of Josias Bodley and the escheated counties of Ulster prior to the Plantation, through to the early Ordnance Survey six–inch maps under Thomas Colby in the 19th century. In particular, their lecture will explore the importance of field survey in the map–making process. Free places can be reserved for the talks by emailing admin@armaghrobinsonlibrary.co.uk or by calling 048/028 3752 3142.

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