Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 14 May 2011
Celebrations in Gorey
Next week there will be celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Christ Church, Gorey., where the rector is Canon Mark Hayden. The building of Christ Church began in 1859 and was completed by 1860. It was designed by the noted architect James Welland, one of the provincial architects of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, whose drawings for the church are among the collections in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. However, the great glory of Christ Church is its stained glass windows especially those by Harry Clarke and Catherine O’Brien. These may be viewed on the splendid website of Church of Ireland stained glass windows, www.gloine.ie, which is the work of Dr David Lawrence.
Tomorrow (Sunday) evening the celebrations will begin with a Songs of Praise service at which the preacher will be Senator David Norris, and will conclude on the following Sunday evening with a concert by the Band of An Garda Siochana. In between there will be events every day including historical talks and walks, a school pageant, a teddy bears picnic, and on Friday evening a Civic Reception in the new council offices hosted by the Town Council. For full details see www.gorey.ferns.anglican.org
Tomorrow (Saturday) morning RTE Radio will broadcast a celebration of the Eucharist from Zion Church, Rathgar, where the celebrant and preacher will be the rector, the Revd Stephen Farrell. In the afternoon the Dublin & Glendalough GFS Diocesan Festival Service will be held in Donoughmore parish church, Co. Wicklow, at 3.30pm, when the preacher will be the Archbishop of Dublin. There will be services in several locations, organized by Changing Attitude Ireland to mark International Day Against Homophobia. In St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, Canon Ginnie Kennerley will be the preacher at Evensong while there will also be services in St Anne’s Church, Shandon and St George’s Church, Belfast at 3pm and in St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick at 7pm.
The Friends of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, will hold their AGM on Wednesday evening at 8pm in the Pakenham Hall of the Cathedral Grammar School. At the same time Professor Roger Stalley will speak to the Friends of St Doulagh’s on ‘The Art of the Book of Kells’. This talk will take place in the church which is on the Malahide Road at Ballgriffin. In St Peter’s Church, Mountrath, the Bishop of Kilmore, Central Chaplain of the Mothers’ Union, will be the preacher at the MU Diocesan Festival Service.
On Wednesday and Thursday in Dollingstown Church, Co. Aramgh, Crosslinks and the Irish Church Missions will co-host a conference on church planting. The main speaker will be the Revd Richard Coekin of the Co-Mission initiative in London and there will also be contributions from Canon David McClay, the Revd Craig Cooney and mission partners from Ireland and mainland Europe. More information is available at www.crosslinks.org
There will be an Open Afternoon at the Mageough Home, Cowper Road, Rathmines, on Thursday from 2-4pm. Fully renovated one and two bed houses will be on view and refreshments will be served. The Mageough Home has been providing independent living accommodation in secure surroundings for elderly active people for over 130 years. More information may be had from mageough@eircom.net or from Alan Nairn at 01-4971620.
The bi-centenary of the consecration of Christ Church, Kilmeen, where the rector is the Revd Stella Jones, will be marked on Friday evening when the Bishop of Cork will preside and preach at a celebration of the Eucharist. The celebrations will continue in August with a Flower Festival.