Irish Times Notes04 Nov 17

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Cork visit to Porvoo

A group from the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross is currently visiting the Diocese of Porvoo in the Church of Finland following an invitation to the Bishop, Dr Paul Colton and Mrs Colton from Bishop Björn Vikström, Bishop of Porvoo.  

They travelled to Helsinki last Wednesday and on to Porvoo on Thursday. Today (Saturday) they will travel to Turku where tomorrow (Sunday) they will attend the church of Finland National Service marking the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, in Turku Cathedral. On Monday the group will attend part of the General Synod of the Church of Finland and the Bishop of Cork will give a brief address, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Turku, Primate and Metropolitan.

Today (Saturday) the Armagh Diocesan Synod will take place in the Alexander Hall, Armagh.

This weekend St Patrick’s Cathedral, Trim, will host a weekend of celebration in honour of Jonathan Swift. This afternoon (Saturday) there will be an exhibition of Swift memorabilia and organ recitals. Tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11.30am there will be a service of Morning Prayer as celebrated c.1700 with a talk on Swift by Dr Ruth Illingworth and the celebrations will conclude with an evening concert with Credo, of music, poetry and prose.

Tomorrow (Sunday) morning RTE Radio 1 Extra will broadcast a service from St Mary’s church, Howth, at 11.30am, conducted by the Rector, Canon Kevin Brew.

Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, presents its fourth series of candlelit film nights – Utopias/Dystopias – on Mondays in November and December at 6.30pm in the Music Room. Admission is free and all are welcome. No booking is necessary. The series begins next Monday with Lost Horizon (1937), a classic Frank Capra directed exploration of the idea of utopia and science fiction fantasy introduced by Dr Conor O’Kelly of the Film Department in the School of Creative Arts, Trinity College Dublin. Subsequent presentations will be Forbidden Planet (1956), The Handmaid’s Tale (1990) and Gattaca (1997).

Leaders of Christian churches in the North West will join the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in St Columb’s Cathedral on Tuesday evening for a service commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The preacher will be the Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin & ARdagh. Organized by the Derry & Raphoe Diocesan Board for Mission & Unity, this will be the main diocesan Reformation celebration.

On Wednesday the Archbishop of Dublin will attend a NIFCON (Network of Inter Faith Concern) meeting at Lambeth Palace hosted by Archbishop Justin Welby. The lunchtime recital in St Mary’s cathedral, Limerick, will be given by the Academos String Quartet who will play octets by Mendelssohn and Shostakovitch.

A short series of lectures on ‘Reformation 500’ will take place in St Ann’s church, Dublin, after the Daily Eucharist each Wednesday in November. The speaker will be Dr Graeme Murdock who is Associate Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for European Studies in Trinity College. The first lecture, next Wednesday, will be on ‘Protestants: children of the Reformation’. The celebration of the Eucharist begins at 12.45pm.

A celebratory evening of poetry and music in recognition of the life of the Revd Canon Liz McElhinney will take place in Shankill parish church, Lurgan, on Friday evening at 8.00 pm. The event will feature readings of a selection of Liz’s inspirational poems by the internationally acclaimed actor Ian McElhinney, as well as musical contributions from the cross–community Lurgan Musical Society, Shankill Parish Choir, soloist Nicola Brown and traditional Irish musicians led by Sean Hanily from Dublin.