Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
St Patrick’s Day celebrations
St Patrick’s Day will be celebrated today (Saturday) in St Patrick’s cathedral, Dublin, where there will be a celebration of the Eucharist in Irish at 9.15am and a Sung Patronal Eucharist at 11.15am. At 6pm in St Patrick’s the Dublin Council of Churches will host an ecumenical celebration of the life and teaching of St Patrick. In St John’s Church, Park Avenue, Sandymount, there will be a St Patrick’s Day service at 11am with music and prayers in Irish and English and extracts from the Ó Riada Mass.
In Cork the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne & Ross, Dr Paul Colton, will preside at the traditional Choral Eucharist and Civic Service in St Fin Barre’s cathedral.
The Diocese of Down & Dromore celebration will begin at 9.15am with Holy Communion at St Patrick’s Memorial church, Saul, where the preacher will be the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Dr Lawrence Graham. This will be followed by a pilgrimage to Downpatrick where there will be a family friendly Festival Service in Down Cathedral at 11.45am with guest speaker, Nick Harding, and traditional music beforehand, Irish dancers, and a quiet space for young children during the service. Following the service, the Bishop of Down & Dromore, Dr Harold Miller, will lay a wreath at the traditional site of St Patrick’s grave, and the day concludes with free Irish stew lunch in the marquee at 1.15pm.
Tomorrow (Sunday) evening the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Richard Clarke, will formally launch the celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of St Patrick’s church, Clonfeacle, which is in Benburb in Co. Tyrone. The main structure of the building is virtually unaltered since it was built by Sir Richard Wingfield in 1618 and so is one of the older parish church buildings in continuous use.
On Tuesday the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, will be in Jerusalem where he will lead the meeting of the Anglican Jewish Commission which continues until Thursday. The Bishop of Meath & Kildare, the Most Revd Pat Storey, will be in Dunboyne where she will institute the Revd Eugene Griffin as Rector of the Dunboyne & Rathmoylon group of parishes in succession to the Revd Janice Aiton. Mr Griffin, who was ordained in 2013, has been curate of the Castleknock, Clonsilla & Mulhuddart union of parishes in the Diocese of Dublin, since 2014.
This year’s Church of Ireland Theological Lecture at Queen’s University, Belfast, will be delivered by Professor Julian Rivers, Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Bristol. The lecture will be held in the University’s Riddel Hall on Tuesday at 6pm. Professor Rivers is an expert in the field of religion and law, having written and spoken extensively on the increasing number of issues pertinent to people of faith that interface, and at times may conflict with, the interests of secular law. To that end, he will be lecturing on ‘Religion, Equality and the Constitution’, considering subjects extremely current to UK society, and bringing clarity as to the legal aspects of familiar topical questions. Admission is free but those intending to be present are asked to register in advance.
The Church of Ireland Theological Institute has announced that its updated website (www.theologicalinstitute.ie) is now available online. The new design has been cost–effectively modelled to mirror that of the central Church of Ireland site. The previous layout has been simplified and other notable additions are the inclusion of selected student profiles and social media links.
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times