Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
New Listing of Parish Registers
The recent launch, by the National Library, of an on–line version of its microfilm collection of Roman Catholic parish registers has again focussed attention on the significance of registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for genealogical and historical research.
This project was warmly praised by the Taoiseach for providing a facility for the Irish diaspora to connect. ‘It is’, he said, ‘about ourselves, about our Irishness, and I think that’s so important.’ But, of course, the Catholic parish registers are only one part of this Irishness and the records of the other churches have also much to offer, especially those of the Church of Ireland.
Indeed, the parish registers of the Church of Ireland were considered so significant that in the late 19th century they were given the status of public records, a status confirmed by the National Archives Act of 1986. They largely pre–date Catholic parish registers and have long been seen as a substitute for the civil records of births, deaths and marriages which were not compiled until 1864.
Their importance for family history was recognized in 2009 when the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht provided on–line access to registers from counties Carlow, Kerry and parishes in the city of Dublin at www.irishgenealogy.ie . It was hoped that this would be the beginning of a comprehensive programme to digitize and make available on–line all the Church of Ireland registers up to 1900, but despite repeated encouragement no further progress has been made.
In the interim the RCB Library, which is the Church of Ireland’s archives, has cooperated with groups and individuals who are anxious to increase the on–line profile and, through its ‘Archive of the Month’ initiative has regularly sought to improve awareness of the riches of the parish record collections.
The current ‘Archive of the Month’ (www.ireland.anglican.org/library/archives) is a comprehensive listing of Church of Ireland parish registers indicating which registers are extant, for which dates, and where they are, and also noting those which have been lost (most notably in the fire in the Public Record Office of Ireland in 1922) and where there may be copies. This new listing, which has been compiled by Dr Susan Hood, covers parishes throughout the island of Ireland and is an essential starting point for those intending to use Church of Ireland parish registers for research purposes.
Today (Saturday) the Mission Peak Chamber Singers from Freemont, California, continue their Irish tour by singing in Christ Church, Innishannon. Tomorrow (Sunday) morning they will sing at the 11.15am service in St Fin Barre’s cathedral, Cork, and on Monday evening at 8pm they are in St Mary’s cathedral, Limerick.
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 3.30pm there will be a Songs of Praise service in Castletown church, Co. Carlow, led by the Athy Choral Group directed by the Very Revd Dr Philip Knowles.
On Tuesday the final lunchtime lecture in the ‘Women & the Church’ series in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, will be given by the Revd Dr Virginia Kennerley who will speak on ‘25 Years at the altar: Have women priests changed the church?’
On Friday at 8pm the Friends of Cloyne Cathedral will hold a ‘Summer Serenade’, an evening of music and verse, while at the same time, as part of the St Barrahane’s Church Festival of Music, in Castletownshend, there will be a recital of works by Haydn and Schubert by the RTE Contempo Sring Quartet.
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’