Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
Limerick Cathedral celebrations
Next Tuesday evening at 6pm the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Kenneth Kearon, will launch a programme of events to mark the 850th anniversary of St Mary’s cathedral, Limerick. St Mary’s, which was gifted to the Church by Donal Mor O’Brien, the last King of Thomond, has been a site of Christian worship since 1168 and it is one of the oldest buildings in Limerick City.
The year’s festivities will celebrate and promote the cathedral’s roles in city life including community, civic, cultural, educational, ecumenical, musical, sporting and tourism. Highlights of the year include a visit from the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and a special service of thanksgiving. Each month the cathedral will highlight a figure associated with St Mary’s and there will also be a tangible dimension to the celebrations as each month will focus on a charity or cause based in or around Limerick.
The Dean, the Very Revd Niall J Sloane, has observed that St Mary’s holds a very special place in the city of Limerick and its citizens. The central theme of the celebrations in 2018 will be opening the doors to all and forging links with Limerick and beyond so that the Christian message of faith, love and witness may be echoed from St Mary’s.
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 3pm, Plough Sunday will be celebrated in Staplestown church, Co. Carlow. This will be a ‘Service to Celebrate the Contribution of Women to Irish Farming at the Start of the Growing Season’. The speaker will be Lorna Sixsmith who is a farmer, farmer’s wife, blogger, author and social media consultant. At 5pm the Feast of the Presentation of Christ will be observed in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, with the Candlemas Processions.
The series of lectures on the history and evolution of choral music in Ireland, which has been organized by Chamber Choir Ireland, continues in the National Concert Hall, at 1.10pm, next Tuesday. The speaker will be Dr Kerry Houston, Head of Academic Studies at DIT Conservatory of Music, who will discuss Irish cathedral music, 1660–1800.
On Wednesday evening in Christ Church, Maguiresbridge, the Bishop of Clogher will institute Canon Mark Watson to the incumbency of Maguiresbridge and Derrybrusk.
Christ Church cathedral, Dublin’s ‘Retreat in the City 2018’ will take place from 9 to 11 February. Entitled ‘The City and the Garden(s): Where we Live with God’, the retreat will be led by the Revd Simon Richardson, Rector of Glencraig in the Diocese of Down. The booking deadline is next Thursday and intending participants may book at 01–677 8099 or welcome@christchurch.ie or visit at christchurchcathedral.ie/spirituality
On Thursday evening the Archbishop of Dublin will attend the National Family Support Network Service of Commemoration in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Sean MacDermott Street. On Friday evening at 5pm Dr Jackson will launch the ‘Five Marks of Interfaith Understanding’ during Interfaith Harmony Week at a Dublin City Interfaith Forum event. Later in the evening, at 7pm, he will commission the Revd David Martin as Director of Irish Church Missions in St Mary’s church, Howth. Mr Martin, who was ordained in 2014, has served curacies in Howth and Hillsborough.
The Past Choristers of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, will hold a table quiz in the cathedral crypt on Tuesday 6 February at 7.30pm. For further information and booking contact Victor Coe at pastchoristers@churchchurch.ie
On Saturday 10 February as part of the Cork International Choral Festival there will be a ‘Come and Sing – Fauré’s Requiem’ in St Fin Barre’s cathedral at 2pm – further details at www.corkchoral.ie
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times