Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from the Irish Times
Contemplative Prayer Retreats
Advance information is now available about this year's retreats which have been organized by the Fellowship of Contemplative Prayer in Ireland. There will be a weekend retreat from 11 to 13 June and a mid week retreat from 14 to 17 June. Both events will be held in Bellinter House Conference Centre, Bellinter, Navan, Co. Meath and the witness will be the Dean of Raphoe, the Very Revd Dr. Stephen White.
The retreats begin with a meal, a discussion on aims and methods, and notices about practical details. Thereafter silence is observed until the final Eucharist. The retreat witness is available for interviews and there is ample time to relax, read, pray, sleep and be quiet. The Eucharist is celebrated daily and Mass (celebrated for the resident community at Bellinter) is open to those on retreat.
Participation in the retreats is open to all who are interested and especially welcome will be those attending for the first time. Early booking, if possible before the end of April, is recommended. Details may be had from the Revd David Ferry, 1 Lowertown Road, Ballymagorry, Strabane BT82 0LE, Co. Tyrone.
Today (Saturday) in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Evensong will be sung by the choir of Holywood parish church who will also sing the services tomorrow (Sunday), while the cathedral choirs are on half term recess.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Walton Empey, will bless and officially open the Old Schools Restoration and Development Project in Whitechurch parish. In association with FAS the old school buildings have been refurbished for the benefit of the parish and the wider community. RTE will broadcast Morning Service from Christ Church , Bray, where the rector is the Revd Baden Stanley.
The second in the series of Bach concerts in St. Ann's Church, Dublin, begins at 3.30 pm when the recitalist will be Maya Homburger (baroque violin).
The third in the series of lectures on "Medical Ethics and the Future of Health Care" will be held in the new hospital in Tallaght on Monday evening. The lecturer will be Ms. Verena Tschudin, editor of Nursing Ethics, who will speak on "Ethics and Holistic Care".
On Tuesday the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Robin Eames, will attend the Irish Inter-Church meeting in Dundalk.
This week the Chapel Choir of Trinity College, Dublin, will co-ordinate a series of musical events. On Monday at 8.00 pm Apparatus Musicus will give a concert which will include the premier of Andrew Johnstone's Sonata da Chiesa, on Wednesday at 6.30 pm Colm Carey will give an organ recital, and on Thursday at 8.00 pm the Chapel Choir will join the Quintessential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble of London in a programme of early music.
At noon on Ash Wednesday the College Chaplains in Trinity will co-ordinate a penitential liturgy for the beginning of Lent, which will include the first in a series of Lenten addresses on the themes of imprisonment, asylum and global debt. In Christ Church Cathedral at 6.00 pm there will be a Liturgy of Penitence, Imposition of Ashes and Sung Eucharist at which the music will be Tallis The Litany in Five Parts, Allegri Miserere Mei, Deus, and Byrd Mass for Five Voices.
In Dublin, on Thursday the Executive Committee of the Representative Church Body will meet in Church House.
On Tuesday in Christ Church Cathedral the speaker at the lunchtime lecture on "Christ Church in Stuart Dublin" will be Dr. Colm Kenny, Dublin City University, whose subject will be "Lawyers in Hell. The Four Courts at Christ Church. An Historical View". Evensong in Christ Church will be sung by the John Fisher Boys' Choir.