Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 26 January 2008
Candlemas Celebrations in Christ Church
In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, tomorrow (Sunday) evening the Feast of Candlemas will be celebrated at a special service beginning at 5 pm. Sung by the Cathedral Choir the Candlemas Procession will include music by Howells, Biebl, Lennox Berkeley and Byrt as well as a Nunc Dimittis by James Macmillan.
Candlemas, which marks the end of the season of Christmas, commemorates the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the presentation of Christ in the Temple. Its origins as a Christian festival lie in the age of the Emperor Justinian who ordered its observance in Constantinople as a thanksgiving for the cession of the plague. From there is spread throughout the eastern church and later came to be widely observed in the west. A procession with lighted candles is the distinctive rite in the western church and the institution of this is believed to be connected with the pontificate of Pope Sergius in the late 7th century.
In Christ Church tomorrow (Sunday) the liturgy will be in two parts. In the first a candle-lit vigil recalls in readings and music the journey of the holy family to the Temple in Jerusalem and culminate in the singing of the Candlemas gospel. The second part is the Candlemas procession in which the lighted candles are a sign of the promise Christ, our light and salvation.
Candlemas has traditionally been celebrated on 2 February but the Book of Common Prayer allows that it may be observed on the Sunday falling between 28 January and 3 February.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11.15 RTE 1 will televise a liturgy entitled ‘Pray without Ceasing’ with the staff and students of the Irish School of Ecumenics. This is part of the programme to mark the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which was the initiative of the Revd Paul Watson, an American Episcopalian priest and co-founder of the Society of Atonement at Graymoor, Garrison, New York.
The new Church of Ireland Chaplain in Trinity College, Dublin, the Revd Darren McCallig, has arranged a series of sermons for Hilary term in the College Chapel. The theme is ‘Holy Irrelevant?’ and examines the continuing relevance, or otherwise, of the Christian faith in relation to various contemporary issues. Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the preacher will be the Revd Neil Phair, Chaplain in the Dublin Institute of Technology, who will speak on ‘Holy Irrelevant? God, Postmodernism and the Existential Dilemma’.
Tomorrow (Sunday) in Ballaghadreen the Bishop of Tuam, Killala & Achonry, Dr Richard Henderson, will attend the episcopal ordination of the Most Revd Brendan Kelly, Bishop of Achonry. In the evening the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill will attend the National Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration at the Mansion House, Dublin.
On Thursday evening at 8pm there will be a quiz in aid of St Mobhi’s church in the Addison Lodge, Glasnevin.
The Church of Ireland Youth Department has announced the launch of a programme for young adults who are interested in working in a church environment for one year. This Jump Programme will begin next September and interns will be placed in parishes throughout Ireland. For the interns this may be the start of a journey into full time work in the church while for the hosts this can be the beginning of a new expression of youth wrk in their parishes. Those who are interested in participating in this programme, as hosts or interns, should contact Catherine Little at [email protected]. Click here for details of the launch.