Irish Times Notes28 Dec 19

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

More Disestablishment

It hasn’t gone away you know – disestablishment. Books have been published, articles written, colloquia attended, the Archbishop of Canterbury has come and gone. Yet on the cusp of a new year, a new decade even, the commemorative bandwagon, which is ‘Disestablishment 150’, continues to roll on.

On 10 January an exhibition will be opened in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin. Curated by the Precentor, Canon Roy Byrne, and the cathedral’s Education Officer, Dr Ruth Kenny, the exhibition will interpret the experience of disestablishment through archives, manuscripts, books, portraits, printed material and objects.

In association with the exhibition, Christ Church will host a series of lunchtime lectures, ‘Disestablishment: An Historical Perspective’, which has been organized by the cathedral’s Research Officer, Dr Stuart Kinsella. The four lectures will be given by Professor Mary Daly on ‘A Governmental Perspective’ (10 January), Professor Alan Ford on ‘An Historical Perspective’ (17 January), Dr Coline Barr on ‘A Roman Catholic Perspective’ (24 January) and Archbishop Richard Clarke on ‘A Church of Ireland Perspective’ (31 January). Each lecture will begin at 1.10pm.

Looking further ahead, the Royal Irish Academy will host a half–day conference on ‘The Church of Ireland: Disestablishment and Beyond’. This will be held in Academy House, on Dublin’s Dawson Street on 27 February, beginning at 1.15pm. Recognising that the Church in Sweden is ‘destating’ the Archbishop of Dublin has invited the Archbishop of Uppsala, who is Primate of the Church in Sweden, to visit Dublin for Evensong in Christ Church cathedral on 26 April. On Culture Night it is hoped that every church in the Diocese of Dublin & Glendalough will throw open its doors to commemorate the 150th anniversary of disestablishment.

For those who find the whole disestablishment business confusing, the APCK has produced a leaflet which provides authoritative answers to six frequently asked questions. Succinctly titled Disestablishment, the leaflet is available free of charge from the Dublin & Glendalough Diocesan Office. Church Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6. This is one of a series of leaflets which the APCK produced in 2019. Its Publications Sub–Committee, chaired by the Rector of Helen’s Bay, Canon Tim Kinahan, has also published leaflets on The Bible, Ecumenism, Making Moral Decisions and Protestant & Catholic. Founded in the late 18th century, the APCK was for many years the principal publishing vehicle of the Church of Ireland and its shops were a significant part of the  Church’s witness. The APCK is no longer involved in retailing but continues not only to publish but to foster reading through annual book grants to ordinands and to the RCB Library and by its support of the Church of Ireland journal, Search.

The community of Blessington and the surrounding area is invited to greet 2020 in a new way this New Year’s Eve. Blessington & District Forum in conjunction with St Mary’s Church, Blessington, is encouraging everyone to ring out the old year and ring in the new one accompanied by the church’s historic bells. People are encouraged to gather in the Square in Blessington at 11.45pm on December 31 where they will be given tea lights. The church’s bells will toll for 10 minutes in the run up to midnight to ring out 2019. The bells will fall silent for a time before 12 single strokes are rung at midnight. Then all the bells will ring in the new year. People will light their tea lights on the stroke of midnight bringing light into the darkness at the dawn of the new year bringing hope to the community for 2020.