Irish Times Notes16 Sep 17

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Culture Night

Next Friday is Culture Night which provides an opportunity for the Church of Ireland in Dublin to showcase some of its buildings and the activities that happen there and a chance for members of the public to visit places that are usually closed at night.

In Christ Church cathedral there will be tours and music and a chance to explore the medieval crypt while in the former Synod Hall, now Dublinia, there are exhibitions and visitors can climb the medieval tower which was once part of St Michael’s church. In St Patrick’s cathedral there will be Choral Evensong at 5.30 followed by guided tours. Nearby St Audoen’s, the only remaining medieval parish church still in use, will be open with its splendid visitor centre run by the OPW. Chamber Choir Ireland will sing in St Ann’s church, Dawson Street, at 6.30pm and across the river Immanuel church on Bachelors Walk will hold an exhibition ‘The Bible: the world’s best–seller’. The exhibition will include information on what the Bible is about, aids for teaching the Bible to children, and an exhibition of Bibles in many languages and translations, some from as far back as the 17th century. A little further north, on the Malahide Road at Balgriffin, the 7th century St. Doulagh’s church, Ireland’s oldest church still in continuous use as a centre of Christian worship, will be open with a varied programme of talks, guided tours, audio visual tours, and music.

Most venues are open from around 5pm until 9.30 or 10pm and, with the exception of the Chamber Choir recital, no booking is required.

A new addition to Dublin’s cultural infrastructure is ‘Architectural History Ireland’, which offers a variety of tours which explore and interpret Dublin’s history through its architecture and streetscapes. This new venture is run by architectural historian Dr Michael O’Neill and Geraldine Neill, who have strong links with Christ Church and St Patrick’s cathedrals, and so, not surprisingly, one of their offerings is a tour of the two cathedrals. But there is much more including Dublin Castle, TCD, bank architecture and even contemporary architecture, as well as a willingness to arrange bespoke tours. They may be contacted at architecturalhistoryireland@gmail.com

Tomorrow (Sunday) BBC Radio Ulster’s Morning Service will be broadcast from St Augustine’s church, Londonderry, at 10.15am. St Augustine’s is known locally as ‘The Wee Church on the Walls’. The preacher will be the Rector, Canon Malcolm Ferry. At Evensong in St Patrick’s cathedral, Dublin, there will be a Commemoration of the Battle of Britain at which Canon Ian Ellis, former editor of the Church of Ireland Gazette, will preach.

At 3.15pm in St Patrick’s cathedral, the Archbishop of Armagh will raise the Revd Lucy Burden and the Revd Geoff Hamilton to the priesthood. In Christ Church cathedral at 3.30pm, the Archbishop of Dublin will ordain Sean Hanily to serve as an intern deacon in the parish of Rathfarnham and at 6.30pm in St Catherine’s church, Tullamore, the Bishop of Meath & Kildare will ordain Alison Irvine who will serve as an intern deacon in Tullamore.

Next Tuesday the Munster Retired Clergy will meet in Kingston College, Mitchelstown, where the speaker will be the Very Revd Dr Robert MacCarthy, The 150th anniversary of the dedication of St John’s church, Laragh, will be celebrated a special service at 7.30 pm when the Archbishop of Dublin will preside.

In the Armagh Robinson Library on Thursday evening National Poetry Day will be celebrated with a talk by Professor Andrew Carpenter on ‘Jonathan Swift: Poetic Ventriloquist’.