Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 29 March 2008
History of ISE Launched
Next Thursday evening in Milltown the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, will launch an account of the Irish School of Ecumenics which has been edited by the doyen of Irish ecumenism, Fr Michael Hurley SJ.
The Irish School of Ecumenics 1970-2007, which has been published by Columba Press, traces the evolution of this most remarkable institution through the eyes of its directors. And so there are chapters by Michael Hurley, Robin Boyd, John D’Arcy May, Alan Falconer, Geraldine Smith, Kenneth Kearon and Linda Hogan with the inevitable but welcome perspectives from Roman Catholic, Anglican and Non-Conformists backgrounds.
From a particularly Church of Ireland perspective a major interest in the book will be the chapter written by Canon Kenneth Kearon who was Rector of Tullow in Dublin before his appointment as Director of ISE in 1999 and who, since 2004, has been Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. Of Church of Ireland interest also will be the forward which has been contributed by the Dublin born theologian, Dr David Ford, who is Regius Professor of Divinity in Cambridge.
However, this is not a book to approach sectionally for it is a seamless study of the evolution of the ecumenical movement in Ireland seen through the prism of its most distinctive creation – the ISE. It tells how far the institution has come from ideas of Michael Hurley which began to crystalise in the late 1960s to the ISE of today with a presence in both Dublin and Belfast and a place in the School of Religion, Theology and Ecumenics in Trinity College, Dublin. Of course there is more for the ISE to do but as the legend on the cover of the book puts it – ‘May it flourish in order to perish’.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the services in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, will be sung by the choir of St Peter’s Church, Hale. In the evening in St Ninian’s Church, Belfast, Bro. David Jardine of the Divine Healing Ministeries will conduct a Healing Service at which the speaker will be Stephen Baxter, manager of the Belfast football club Crusaders.
Two new non-stipendiary clerical appointments in the Diocese of Clogher will take effect on Tuesday. The Revd Margaret Pringle will serve in the Donagh group of parishes and the Revd Alison Seymour-Whiteley in the Clogher Cathedral group.
On Wednesday the Bishop of Cork will be in Malta for the meeting of the Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers in Sliema where he will be one of the lecturers. The theme of the colloquium will be marriage and canon law including annulment, the marriage of divorced persons, interchurch marriage, interfaith marriage and civil partnerships. The Colloquium was established in Rome in 1999 as an initiative of the Angelicum, the Centre for Law and Religion in Cardiff University and the Duquesne Law School in Pittsburg. It aims to contribute to greater ecumenical understanding between Anglicans and Roman Catholics from the perspective of canon law as a form of applied ecclesiology.
On Wednesday evening the Archbishop of Armagh will institute the Revd Alan Cross to the incumbency of Lissan. Mr Cross has been curate in the parish of Drumglass since his ordination in 2005.
Next Friday evening at 8 pm in the Church of St John the Evangelist, Sandymount, The Occasional Singers will perform Handel’s Messiah in aid of the Church Restoration Fund. Tickets may be obtained from the church tomorrow (Sunday) between 12.30 and 1.30., by telephoning 01-4923151 or at the door.