Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 17 May 2008
Visit of Bishop Huber
The Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Bishop Wolfgang Huber, will begin a visit to Ireland today (Saturday) when he will meet the Archbishop of Dublin. Dr Huber is to give two public lectures. The first, which will be chaired by Archbishop Neill, will be held this evening at 5pm in Methodist Centenary Church, Litton Hall, Leeson Park, and will be on the subject ‘Remembering the Past in Reconciliation – Ethnic and Religious Conflicts in Europe’. The second lecture, on ‘Theological reasons for Human Rights and their Consequences for the Ecumenical Process’ will take place next Monday at 10 am in the Walton Theatre in Trinity College.
Bishop Huber is the highest representative of the Protestant Churches in Germany which have 25 million members. He is also Bishop of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg and Silesian Oberlausitz. On his visit to Ireland Bishop Huber is heading an EKD Council delegation. He will be accompanied by Council members Dr. Beate Scheffler, Inspector in the Department of Education of the State of Nordrhein-Westfalen and Marlehn Thieme, Senior Manager with Deutsche Bank AG.
This evening, at 8 pm, St Ann’s Church, Dublin, will be the venue for an ecumenical service to highlight the issue of people trafficking for sexual exploitation. Entitled ‘Not For Sale’, the service is being held under the auspices of APT (Act to Prevent Trafficking), a Roman Catholic faith based group working against trafficking in people and the Church of Ireland. The guest speaker will be Carol Freeman, Advocacy and Campaigns officer of CHASTE (Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking across Europe), a UK faith based organization and amongst those expected to attend the service are the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Paddy Bourke, and Marion Walsh, Head of the Government Anti-Trafficking Unit.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is Trinity Sunday. In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, the preacher at the Patronal Festal Eucharist will be Canon John Bartlett and at Evensong the Cathedral Choir will give the first performance of an anthem by David Briggs entitled Laus Trinitatis. In St Patrick’s Cathedral, the preacher at Evensong will be the Revd Dr Ernest Nicholson, a former Provost of Oriel College, Oxford. During the episcopal vacancy in Killaloe Bishop Samuel Poyntz will administer the rite of confirmation and preside at first communion service in St Flannan’s Cathedral.
At 8 pm, St Ann’s Church, Dublin, will be the venue for an ecumenical service to highlight the issue of people trafficking for sexual exploitation. Entitled ‘Not For Sale’, the service is being held under the auspices of APT (Act to Prevent Trafficking), a Roman Catholic faith based group working against trafficking in people and the Church of Ireland. The guest speaker will be Carol Freeman, Advocacy and Campaigns officer of CHASTE (Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking across Europe), a UK faith based organization and amongst those expected to attend the service are the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Paddy Bourke, and Marion Walsh, Head of the Government Anti-Trafficking Unit.
On Monday evening the Archbishop of Dublin will institute the Revd Andrew McCroskery to the incumbency of St Bartholomew’s. Mr McCroskery has been Rector of Youghal since 2004.
The lunchtime lecture in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Tuesday of the theme of the 19th century restoration of the building will be given by Dr Rachel Moss. She will speak on ‘Keeping the pieces: Street’s medieval stone collection’.
Dr Kenneth Milne, Honorary Secretary of the Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue and Chairman of the Working Group on Europe in the Church in Society Committee will attend an Encounter between representatives of different faiths from more than twenty countries which begins in Rovereto, Italy, on Thursday. The purpose of the encounter is to enable faith-based communities to be seen as instruments for peace rather than sources of discord and violence, and to contribute to a deeper understanding of our shared identities and values. It is hoped that the process will result in the establishment if inter-religious structures at local and national levels in the countries of Europe.
On Thursday evening in St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Archbishop of Armagh will preach at the Mothers’ Union Diocesan Service.