Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from the Irish Times
Planning for the Autumn
The appearance of the "Back to School" signs in shops and supermarkets, the posting of the school examination results, and the publication of college supplements in the national newspapers are the harbingers of the beginning of the new academic year. In Church of Ireland circles it will be October before most courses begin in earnest but now is the time to decide upon application.
The Braemor Institute, which is the extra mural arm of the Church of Ireland Theological College, has a series of courses planned for the autumn. The most demanding is the two year course for lay people which leads to a Certificate in Pastoral Studies. Year one of the two year cycle begins in October and there are only five places left.
For those with less time to commit there will be a variety of shorter courses. A monthly bible study on the Gospel of St John led by the Revd Tom Gordon, Director of Extra-Mural Studies, and others, will run from October to June; Dr Garry Bannister will offer a twenty session course on "Beginner's Hebrew"; while Jacqui Matthews will again run one of her popular courses on recreational flower arranging. On 14 October Dr Duncan Morrow, from the University of Ulster, will lead a one day seminar on the important topic of "The Church and Sectarianism".
Details of all these courses may be had from the Church of Ireland Theological College, Braemor Park, Dublin 14 (tele. 01-4923506).
Tomorrow (Saturday) the Festival of Flowers will continue in St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick and will end tomorrow (Sunday). In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Evensong will be sung by the choir of St Mark's Church, Winshill who will also sing the services to-morrow (Sunday).
Arrangements have been made to provide an opportunity for the people of the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough to grieve with the people of Omagh. The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, has suggested to his clergy that as far as possible people should have the opportunity of going to their parish churches today (Saturday) between 2.45 and 3.10 pm, the time at which the bomb exploded. Tomorrow (Sunday) there will be a Memorial Service in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin at 3.15 pm which will be attended by President McAleese and Archbishop Empey.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning RTE will televise a studio service conducted by CMS Ireland in celebration of partnership between the church in Ireland and the church in Africa. The celebrant will be the Rt Revd Jeremiah Taama, Bishop of Kajiado, Kenya, and African songs will be sung by the CMSI Asifiwe Choir from Belfast. As part of the broadcast Paul Clark, from UTV, will interview the Revd Graham Buttanshaw who is working with Sudanese refugees in Uganda, and a group of young people from the parish of Ballyholme will be commissioned to spend a month asssisting with building work at a college near Fort Portal, Uganda.
In Carrigaline the Bishop of Cork, the Rt Revd Roy Warke, will commission Pauline Dye as a parish worker while the Bishop of Limerick, the Rt Revd Edward Darling, will preside at the Rose of Tralee "Festival of Kerry" service in St John's Church, Tralee. In St Colman's Church, Farrahy, Co. Cork the annual service in commemoration of the novelist Elizabeth Bowen will be held at 3.30 pm when the speaker will be Dr Eibhear Walsh, Lecturer in English in NUI-Cork.
On Monday evening the Bishop of Limerick will ordain Mr Cliff Jeffers to the diaconate to serve in the Limerick Cathedral parishes.
The lunchtime organ recital in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin on Wednesday will be given by Deirdre Comerford.