Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Director of Theological Institute Appointed
The House of Bishops has announced that the Rector of Shankill parish, Lurgan, 42 year old Dr Maurice Elliott, is to be the Director of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute which it is intended will replace the present Theological College.
Dr Elliott, from Lisburn Cathedral parish, was an undergraduate at the University of St Andrews. He trained in the Church of Ireland Theological College and was ordained in 1993 for the curacy of Coleraine in the Diocese of Connor where he served under the present Bishop of Kilmore, the Rt Revd Ken Clarke. In 1998 he was appointed Rector of Greenisland from where he moved in 2002 to his present position as Rector of Shankill in the Diocese of Down & Dromore which is regarded as the largest parish in the Church of Ireland.
Dr Elliott has been involved in the work of both the diocese of Connor and Down & Dromore, most recently as a diocesan honorary secretary, an episcopal elector and a tutor for lay readers. At central level he is a member of the Standing Committee, the Bishops’ Advisory Commission on Doctrine and the Anglican Covenant Response Group. Last year he was elected to the Anglican Consultative Council which is the largest representative and decision making body of the Anglican Communion.
In 1993 he completed the M.Phil in Reformation and Enlightenment Studies in TCD and went on to write a doctoral thesis for Queen’s University, Belfast, on ‘Episcopacy in the thinking of Thomas Cramner’. Aspects of his work on Cramner have been published in Search and Churchman and he was a contributor to The authority of scripture, the report of the Bishops’ Doctrine Commission which was published by Church of Ireland Publishing in 2006.
Dr Elliott will take up his new appointment next spring.
Today (Saturday) cathedrals and parish churches are being encouraged to ring their bells at 2pm to mark the Global Day of Action on Climate Change. This is an initiative of the Ecological & Environmental Panel of the Church in Society Committee. The directions for the bell ringing are included in the latest edition of ‘Greening the Church’ which is available by clicking here . In the evening the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin will attend a dinner to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Rotunda Hospital.
Tomorrow morning the Archbishop of Dublin will celebrate the Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral where at 4pm the Cathedral Choir will sing Evensong which will be broadcast live in BBC3 Radio. In St Patrick’s Cathedral at 4.30pm the Assistant Organist, David Leigh, will perform Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur. Evensong will be sung in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway, at 4pm as part of the St Nicholas Festal Celebrations while, at the same time, in St Kieran’s Church, Clonmacnoise, there will be an Ecumenical Carol Service.
On Tuesday the annual Charity Carol Service in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will be sung at lunchtime by the Cathedral Girls’ Choir in aid of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and on Wednesday evening at 8pm the Cathedral Choirs will give their annual Christmas Carol Concert.
In the Church of Ireland College of Education on Tuesday evening the Archbishop of Dublin will celebrate the Eucharist with the candidates for the Archbishop’s Certificate in Theology and he will return again to CICE on Thursday for the College’s Carol Service and Dinner.
On Wednesday afternoon the Representative Church Body will meet in Church of Ireland House, Dublin.