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Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Lichfield visit by Bishop of Cork

Since 2018–19, at the invitation of Dr Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield in the Church of England, the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross has been exploring connections with that Diocese.  Some of the Lichfield clergy came on an exploratory visit and in 2019 the Bishop and his wife came to stay with the Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton.

Since Bishop Ipgrave’s visit, in spite of the pandemic, some connections have been made between parishes in Cork, Cloyne & Ross and parishes in Lichfield, and, no doubt, more are being considered. Exchange encounters and exchange preachments have even taken place online.  The link person is the Revd John Ardis, Rector of Abbeystrewry.

Tomorrow (Sunday), Dr Colton has been invited by the Bishop of Lichfield and the Dean of Lichfield to preach in Lichfield Cathedral, at what, for them, is a major diocesan gathering: the 1350th anniversary of the death of St Chad, who died in 672.  Chad of course had his Irish connections and, indeed it was mostly Irish pioneers who brought the Gospel to the north of England in the 6th and 7th centuries when the need there was very great. They have unveiled a new statute of Saint Chad at their Cathedral to mark this anniversary.   

Some parishioners from Lichfield have been on pilgrimage from Lindisfarne to Lichfield (c. 475 miles) since last July and will arrive in time for St Chad’s Day, on 2 March. However, 2 March this year, is Ash Wednesday; not a day for feasting, so the celebrations have  been transferred to the previous Sunday to avoid Lent.

Also travelling with Bishop Colton will be the Diocesan Media and IT Officer, and a party of ten from St Fin Barre’s cathedral. including lay vicars, the Director of Music, Mr Peter Stobart, and the Assistant Director of Music, Mr Robbie Carroll.  They have all been invited to join forces with the choir of Lichfield Cathedral to mark this occasion.  Robbie has been invited to play the closing voluntary at the Service. 

Tomorrow (Sunday), at 2.15pm on the RTÉ News Channel, there will be a Service led by Canon Paul Willoughby in the church of St Brendan the Navigator, Bantry, Co. Cork. 

On Wednesday at 7.30pm the Armagh Robinson Library will have a Zoom lecture by Brenda Collins (Visiting Scholar in the School of History, Anthrophony, Philosophy and Politics, Queen’s University Belfast, formerly Research Officer at the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum) and Dr Daniel Starza Smith (King’s College London) about the Conway and Rawdon books, now held in the Library.

Edward, second Viscount Conway (1594–1655), was one of the foremost book collectors in seventeenth–century Britain and Ireland. His library at Lisnagarvey (modern–day Lisburn) had some 8,000 volumes. While many of these are believed to have been destroyed during the 1641 Rising, some of them survive as part of the collection at Armagh Robinson Library, along with a handwritten catalogue of Conway’s Irish library. Among this surviving collection are books signed by Conway’s friends, the poet John Donne and the dramatist Ben Jonson.

Free places can be reserved for the talks here, by emailing admin@armaghrobinsonlibrary.co.uk or calling 048/028 3752 3142.

The Bishop of Clogher, Dr Ian Ellis, has appointed Revd Rebecca Guildea as incumbent of the parishes of Garrison, Slavin, Belleek, and Kiltyclogher in west Co. Fermanagh and Co. Leitrim. Ms Guildea studied theology at King’s College in London and completed the MTh programme at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. She was ordained in 2016 and served her deacon intern year at Zion church, Rathgar. She was ordained priest in 2017 and has been serving her curacy at St Patrick’s Church, Greystones.

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