Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
General Synod
The annual meeting of the General Synod will begin next Thursday and continue until the following Saturday. This year the Synod will meet in the opulent surroundings of the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, Co. Down, where the poet, Percy French, famously wrote that the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. Not that there tends to be much poetry in the Synod but there is occasionally drama, often nostalgia and invariably much good humour, largely engendered by old friends meeting up again.
There has been a tendency in recent years, in some circles, to regard the Synod a an annual general meeting but this is not so. It is a parliament and its principal function is to propose, debate and, where appropriate, pass new legislation for the better governance of the Church. An ancillary function is to hold the executive to account by receiving and debating the reports of the various committees and commissions of the Synod the and Representative Church Body.
The General Synod Service of Holy Communion will be held in the synod hall at 12noon on Thursday when the preacher will be the Most Revd Pat Storey, Bishop of Meath & Kildare. Thereafter, the Presidential Address will be delivered by the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd John McDowell.
Bills will be considered to remove references in the Constitution to ‘deacons serving in an internship’ as ordinands are no longer ordained before serving their internship, and in relation to safeguarding, to remove mention of the names of the previous safeguarding policies. Three bills arising from the work of the Working Group to Review Clergy Tenure will be proposed, covering the clergy disciplinary process, situations of ill–health and pastoral breakdown.
The reports of the Standing Committee and the Representative Body, will be considered as will reports on education, youth, Christian unity, ministry, mission, the Church of Ireland–Methodist Covenant Council, liturgical reform, marriage and Pioneer Ministry.
Trinity College Chapel Choir will have its annual end of year tour on 16 to 19 May when they will sing at the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in Bucharest where Canon Paul Arbuthnot will preach. The choir will also sing a concert for an invited audience organised by the Irish Ambassador, Brendan Ward. The tour is partly funded by a grant from the Trinity Trust and two generous anonymous sponsors. In advance of the tour the choir will present a concert at 7pm on Friday 8 May in Trinity College Chapel which will feature some music with specific Trinity connections, Tickets avail at the door.
On Wednesday morning the Archbishop of Dublin will attend the Annual 1916 Arbour Hill Commemoration Ceremony.
The Rector of St Augustine’s church, the Revd Nigel Cairns, has been appointed Dean of Derry and Rector of the new parish grouping of Templemore & St Augustine’s, a merger which brings together two of the city’s best–known city centre churches.