Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
St Patrick’s Day Celebrations
Tomorrow (Sunday) St Patrick’s Day will be celebrated in churches and cathedrals throughout the Church of Ireland.
Churches in the Diocese of Down and Dromore will feature on both BBC Radio 4 and BBC One on St Patrick’s Day. At 8.10am, Sunday Worship on Radio 4 will come from Down Cathedral led by the Very Revd Henry Hull, Dean of Down. The Bishop of Down and Dromore will give the address. The service may be heard again later that morning on Radio Ulster at 10.15am and will then be available online. Songs of Praise will be broadcast at 1.15pm on BBC 1. The crew filmed in Holy Trinity church, Banbridge, where they featured the stained glass window erected in memory of hymn writer, Joseph Scriven, born 200 years ago and famous for writing ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus’.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Bishop of Cork will preside at the Festival Eucharist and Civic Service in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, attended by the Lord Mayor, City Council, civic authorities, NGOs and voluntary groups, followed by a reception at The Palace. The Bishop of Cashel, Ferns and Ossory will preach in Cloyne cathedral and St Anne’s church, Cappoquin, while in St Mary’s collegiate church, Youghal, the Clerks Choral will sing the service at 4pm. At 11am, St John the Evangelist church, Sandymount, will mark St Patrick’s Day with prayers in Irish and English and extracts from the Ó Riada Mass. The preacher will be the Revd David Oxley.
‘We do not lose heart’ is the theme of this year’s ecumenical celebration of St Patrick using his own words and reflecting on passages of Scripture. The Dean of St Patrick’s, the Very Revd William Morton, and the Dublin Council of Churches will host this time of reflection, prayer and music at 6pm in St Patrick’s cathedral. Fr Pádraig MacCarthy, translator of the most recent edition of St Patrick’s Confessio will be the preacher.
The Diocese of Down and Dromore will partner with Open Doors UK and Ireland for its annual St Patrick’s Day Festival on Monday. The theme is Counting the Cost – Standing with the Persecuted Church. The Festival will begin with Holy Communion at 9.15am in St Patrick’s Memorial Church, Saul, where the preacher will be Eddie Lyle, President, Open Doors UK and Ireland. Following the annual pilgrimage from Saul to Downpatrick there will be a Festival Service in Down cathedral at 11.45 where the preacher will be ‘Michael Jones’, an Egyptian Christian businessman whose name has been changed to protect his identity.
Christ Church cathedral, Dublin’s candle–lit film series, continues on Monday at 6.30 pm when The Hundred–Foot Journey (2014)will be introduced by the Very Revd Dermot Dunne, Dean of Christ Church. As always, the screenings are completely free of charge and all are most welcome. Doors open at 6.15pm and no booking is required.
St Michael’s Church, Pery Square, Limerick, is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. As part of the programme, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin will give a talk in the church on ‘The Church of the Future’ on Tuesday at 8pm.
Church Music Dublin will host a workshop for all who enjoy singing the psalms and canticles to Anglican chant. It will be held in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, on Saturday 23 March at 10am, led by Ian Keatley, the cathedral’s director of music.
The AGM of the Church Education Society will be held on Thursday, 28 March, at 4.00pm, in Church of Ireland House, Rathmines.
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times