Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
New Issue of Search
The new summer issue of the Church of Ireland journal, Search, looks especially at the forthcoming Lambeth Conference, and at clergy training.
A major talking-point in the Church of Ireland this year has been the detail of the Church’s new ministerial training programme. The ideals as expressed in various ’consultation days’ were laudable enough, but the practicalities in terms of property development, academic structures, syllabus development, skilled supervisory personnel and overlap with the B.Th. system have caused considerable anxiety and indeed perplexity. The Bishop of Clogher, Dr Michael Jackson, who heads the Planning Group, responds to some questions from the editor, and two of the current staff at the Theological College, the Revd Tom Gordon and Dr Lindsey Hall, offer some thoughts on what formation for Christian ministry today requires. The Director of the new Theological Institute which will replace the Church of Ireland Theological College, Dr Maurice Elliott, has recently taken up his appointment and it will be a few months more before he is ready to share his thoughts on the ongoing developments.
The Lambeth Conference is the other main theme of the year. Given that so many bishops will not attend, can it hope to achieve anything worth while? And what can Anglicans around the world be said to hold in common today? The Bishop of Cashel & Ossory, the Rt Revd Michael Burrows, about to attend his first Lambeth as a bishop, reflects on the first question; while the Revd Dr David Hewlett, formerly lecturer in divinity in the Theological College and now principal of the Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham, revisits the Lambeth Quadrilateral, which until quite recently was held to be the answer to the second one.
Aspects of the Ulster Plantation, Celtic spirituality, gay clergy in our Church, and the broadcasting of sacred music complete the issue.
Today the Friends of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, will have an outing to Co. Down where among other locations, they will visit St Mark’s Church, Dundela, for a talk on C.S. Lewis who was baptised there.
Tomorrow (Sunday) there will be ordinations in Ballymena, Dromore and Dublin. The Bishop of Connor will ordain four deacons in St Patrick’s Church, Ballymena - Mark Niblock will serve in the parish of Agherton, Martin Hilliard in Larne, Helen McArthur in Derriaghy and John Farr in Muckamore. In Dromore Cathedral the Bishop Down & Dromore will ordain Garry McMurry to the diaconate to serve in Dundonald, while in Christ Church Cathedral, the Archbishop of Dublin will raise two deacons, the Revd Alan Barr and the Revd Rob Jones, to the priesthood.
In St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, tomorrow (Sunday) the Friends’ Festival Service will be held at 3.15 pm followed by a Garden Party in the Deanery. The preacher at the Festival Service will be the Dean of Winchester, the Very Revd James Atwell.
On Tuesday the Standing Committee of the General Synod and the Executive Committee of the Representative Church Body will meet in Church of Ireland House, Dublin, and the bishops will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday.
There will be an ‘Evening of Song’ with the Sylvan Legacy Choir from California in St Mary’s Church, Killarney, on Wednesday evening while on Friday evening the opening concert in the Pipeworks Festival will be held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, where the performers will be the National Chamber Choir and the British organ virtuosos, David Briggs.
On Thursday in the Jethro Centre, Lurgan, the Down & Dromore Diocesan Synod will take place.