Irish Times Notes05 Oct 19

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Autumn Issue of Search

The autumn issue of the Church of Ireland journal, Search, edited by Canon Ginnie Kennerley, will be reach subscribers shortly.

How is God prompting us to develop the ordained and lay ministry of the Church of Ireland today? What does God want for our future? Could death and resurrection be in the plan somewhere? These issues emerged at the Spring 2019 Colloquium that gave rise to the summer issue of SEARCH, and in this issue and the next, these matters will be further explored.

The Revd Barry Forde and Bishop Paul Colton write on the need for changes in the Church’s constitution to foster new ministry initiatives, while Tanya Olhausen explores one markedly effective tool for Christian outreach and encouragement, the increasingly popular Alpha Course. The Revd Robin Stockitt discusses issues of identity and authenticity within the embrace of the Triune God, whose indwelling enables us to love and value one another.

At this time of political crisis and increasingly clamorous argument, two further issues are inescapable: the future relationship between the two jurisdictions and multiple communities in Ireland, and that between people of faith and non–believers. Dr Johnston McMaster of the Irish School of Ecumenics’ reconciliation programme in Belfast considers possibilities for harmony in the future of this island, while Peter Admirand, along with US philosopher Andrew Fiala, demonstrates the possibility of respectful ‘believer–nonbeliever’ dialogue.

This issue closes with a Liturgica penned by Dr Bridget Nichols and with a varied crop of book reviews. 

Today (Saturday) the Archbishop of Dublin will attend the Lutheran Church in Great Britain’s Receiving of a Bishop at Christ Church, Knightsbridge, as co–chair of Porvoo, and on Wednesday he will be in Portugal to co–chair the meeting of the Porvoo Primates. The Bishop of Cork will attend the RSCM Ireland Annual Festival Service in St Fin Barre’s cathedral and present awards. 

Tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11am, on RTE 1 television and RTE Radio 1 Extra, a service will be broadcast, led by the Dean of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, the Very Revd Dermot Dunne, with the Cathedral Girls’ choir. In St John the Evangelist Church, Park Avenue, Sandymount, at 11am on Sunday, 6th October, at 11am the Harvest Thanksgiving will be celebrated while in the afternoon the Archbishop of Armagh will preach in St John’s church, Tralee.

On Monday morning at 10.15am in Michan’s church, Dublin, the Church of Ireland Annual New Law Term Service will be held. The Archbishop of Dublin will preside and the address will be given by the Canon Lorraine Kennedy–Ritchie, Minister of Clontarf and Scots Presbyterian church. The choir will be from The King’s Hospital School, Dublin, and the congregation will include visiting judges from Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales, as well as members of the Irish judiciary, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and the Diplomatic Corps.

On Tuesday evening, the Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synod will be held in Taney Parish Centre, Dundrum.  The Armagh Robinson Library will host a lecture, at 8pm, to mark the 150th anniversary of the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. Professor Stewart J Brown, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Edinburgh University, will speak on ‘Dissolving the ‘Sacred Union’? The Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, 1869’.

In the context of the Dublin Festival of History, on Thursday evening at 8pm in St Ann’s church, Dawson Street, Dr Miriam Moffitt will speak on ‘Betrayed by Friend and Foe Alike: the unlikely collusion of Politicians and Prelates in the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland’.