Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
New Gazette Editor
The Board of Church of Ireland Press Ltd. has appointed Mrs Karen Bushby as the new Editor of the Church of Ireland Gazette. She has a degree in English and History from Loughborough University, and holds professional qualifications from the National Council for the Training of Journalists. She has worked in newspapers in Banbridge, Greater London, Omagh, Armagh and Dungannon. In 2002, she moved into freelance public relations, and she was Northern Ireland Co–ordinator of the National Lottery’s 10th anniversary in 2004–2005.
As this is a part–time position, Mrs Bushby will continue as Communications Officer for the Diocese of Connor, a role she has occupied since 2006. She has also been part–time Press Officer for St Anne’s cathedral, Belfast, for five years.
Mrs Bushby will be the first female editor of the Gazette and indeed one of the few lay editors. For its first nine years the Gazette was printed and published by Mr James Charles in Dublin but no–one was named as editor until 1871 when the Vicar of Whitechurch, the Revd J.A. Carr, was appointed. Thereafter a succession of clergy edited the newspaper until 1906 when W.W. Wells took over the editorship which he held with distinction throughout the Easter Rising and World War I. In 1919 the post again reverted to clerical occupancy which has continued until the present apart from the period 1955 to 1959 when Norman Clark was editor.
Mrs Bushby succeeds the Revd Earl Storey who oversaw the transformation of the Gazette from a weekly newspaper to a monthly journal
Today (Saturday) the bi–centenary of Holy Trinity church, Aughrim, will be celebrated with a special service at 3pm, while in Belfast the King’s Singers will be performing their only concert on the island of Ireland in 2019 at St Anne’s cathedral.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is Sanctuary Sunday which is marked at the end of World Refugee Week and aims to promote the cultures of welcome, hospitality and safety in churches. It will be observed at Evensong in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, where the preacher will be the Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal, Founder and President of City of Sanctuary, and a former Leader of the Corrymeela Community. In St Patrick’s cathedral, Dublin, the Dean of Limerick, the Very Revd Niall Sloane, will preach at the Friends Festival Evensong.
In Carrickmacross there will be a Service of Commissioning for the Malawi Mission Team at 10.30am tomorrow (Sunday) in St Finbarr’s church when Jenny Williams, head of Habitat for Humanity Northern Ireland, will be present – a team of 17 will be departing on 30 June. The Church’s Ministry of Healing will hold its annual Thanksgiving Service and Gift Day at 3pm in Christ Church, Celbridge, while in Co. Laois the Open Air Rock Gospel will be held at the Rock of Dunamase.
On Monday at 6.30pm in the Music Room of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, Senator David Norris will talk about his life and times as one of Ireland’s leading, pioneering public figures and his work for the affirmation of the LGBTQ+ community. He will speak about his life, work, faith and being gay in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s Ireland. Admission: €15 on the door or for advance booking €16.87 via Eventbrite.
In Calary parish church, Co. Wicklow, on Tuesday evening at 8pm, Ellen Jansson (piano) will perform works by Beethoven, Debussy, Alexina Louie, Bach and Liszt. Local artist Declan Cooke (piano) will perform Edvard Greig’s ‘Wedding Day at Troldhaugen’. Tickets are available from John on (01) 281 8146 or by emailing derekneilson@eircom.net
Published in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times