Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 21 February 2009
60th Anniversary of Sports Service
Tomorrow (Sunday) at Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral, the Archbishop of Dublin will preside at the 60th Annual Service for the Gift of Sport at which the guest speaker will be Doreen Howe, President of the Irish Hockey Association.
Sixty years ago the first service of thanksgiving for the gift of sport took place in Dublin. The idea for holding such a service arose following discussions between the Revd George Crummy and Bob Graves, the Irish rugby international. It was realised that many sportspersons did not attend church services on Sunday mornings due to late night match socialising on Saturday evenings. It was decided to hold an annual church service to thank God for the gift of sport and to hold the service in the evenings to allow for maximum attendance from the sporting fraternity. The first such service, supported by the Association of Schools’ Unions took place in 1949 in St Peter’s church, Aungier Street.
In the early years the service alternated between St Peter’s church, Abbey Presbyterian church and Centenary Methodist church. It then found a home for a number of years in St Ann’s church, Dawson Street. As the service then became increasingly ecumenical it rotated between St Patrick’s cathedral, St Andrew’s church, Westland Row and the Sacred Heart church, Donnybrook. For the past few years the service has been held in Christ Church, Taney.
The service continues to be the focus of thanksgiving for all men, women and young people whose lives have been enriched and blessed by the gift of sport; whether through active participation, patronage or through the medium of radio, television or attendance at sporting events and fixtures. Over the years a sportsperson of note has been invited to speak at the service and those who have spoken have included Ronnie Delaney, Lord Killanin, Jack Kyle and Mícháel Ó Muircheartaigh.
Spirit Level, a new monthly religious magazine series, presented by Joe Duffy, begins on RTÉ 1 tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11.15am. Developed in collaboration with Ireland’s four main Churches, the programme will rely heavily on the insights of Church representatives to find subjects and contributors for its studio discussions; stories for its features; and interview guests. The first programme will feature an exclusive interview with the retired Anglican Archbishop of Capetown, Dr Desmond Tutu, plus a discussion on forgiveness with Dr Geraldine Smyth, OP, (ISE), Brian Keenan and Alan Irwin, a Church of Ireland ordinand, whose father and uncle were killed by the IRA.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the preacher at the Choral Eucharist in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, will be the Revd Duncan Dormer, Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge, who will speak on ‘Thinking Aloud about ‘Having and Holding’: Relationships Today’.
Two public lectures, organized by Changing Attitude Ireland, will be held next Monday in Queen’s University, Belfast as part of a series on the Churches and Intolerance. At 7.30 pm Dr Richard O’Leary (QUB) will talk on ‘The Responses of the Churches to Homophobia’ and at 8.30pm Jeremy Marks (Director of Courage UK) will speak on ‘Bringing the Gospel to Gay People.
On Tuesday evening at 8pm in the Callan Hall, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, the Michael Devlin Lecture will be delivered by Dr Judith Lieu, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in Cambridge, on ‘The Battle for Paul in the Second Century’.
On Friday evening at 7.30pm Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will host a Table Quiz in the crypt in aid of ALONE and Medecin sans Frontiere.