Irish Times Notes21 Jan 17

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Support for ‘Long Term Church’

The Church of Ireland has been awarded a generous grant by Allchurches Trust Ltd to support its ‘Long Term Church’ initiative. The emphasis of Long Term Church is on the wellbeing and sustainability of the Church of Ireland. The specific focus of the first tranche of the Allchurches Trust grant of £60,000 (from an overall grant of £90,000 over three years) is on the development of technological structures which will serve to better connect people with the Church. Allchurches Trust is a charity which promotes the Christian faith, and is familiar to many Church of Ireland members as the owner of the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group.

The work supported by the grant will share resource materials and provide central support to all parish communities across the island of Ireland via a ‘Parish Resources’ section on the main Church of Ireland website. It will also allow the Representative Church Body (RCB) to develop a database to more easily connect with Church members, such as parish treasurers, select vestries, diocesan contacts and clergy, and for these people to identify and contact each other. Fundamentally, the project will help the Church to respond to the changing requirements of its membership, reduce the risk of people, especially young people, feeling disconnected to the Church and encourage the growth of the Church’s people–network across distance, generations and differences in lifestyle through the use of online meeting facilities.

Both the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Richard Clarke, and the Archbishop of Dublin,  Dr Michael Jackson, have welcomed the grant  while the Chairman of Allchurches Trust, Sir Philip Mawer, said, ‘Allchurches has a long and proud tradition of support for the Church of Ireland and we are delighted that our latest grant will help its people network go digital’.

Mr David Ritchie, Chief Officer of the RCB, envisages that the benefits of this project will be far–reaching, facilitating the RCB to develop and deliver parish resources and to improve communication within our Church community. I am also pleased that this collaboration further strengthens the relationship between the Church of Ireland and the Allchurches Trust.’

On RTE 1 television tomorrow (Sunday) morning, at 11am, a service to mark the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation Period, led by the Very Revd Maria Jansson, Dean of Waterford, will be broadcast.  The theme of the service is reconciliation and it was devised by the World Council of Churches. The choir from Christ Church cathedral, Waterford, along with the Waterford Male Voice Choir, the Slav Orthodox Choir and the Choir of Newtown School will participate. Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Methodists and members of the Orthodox, Redeemed Christian Church of God and Quaker communities will be take part in the service.

Next Mondays the series of lunchtime campanology lectures continues in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, when the current ringing master, Nigel Pelow, will give a social history of the Christ Church belfry. The lecture will be held in the belfry so numbers are limited and access is via a spiral staircase of over 80 steps. In the evening, at 8pm the Very Rev. Dr. Philip Knowles will host a service in St. James’ church, Castledermot, for the week of prayer for Christian Unity. The address will be given by the Very Rev. Fr. Paul O’Driscoll.

In St Mary’s cathedral, Limerick, there will be a lunchtime recital on Wednesday at 1.15pm by tenor Conor Gibbons accompanied by Peter Barley (piano). Free admission, with a retiring collection for the Companions of St Mary’s Cathedral Music.