Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 28 February 2009
Spring Issue of Search
The Spring 2009 issue of the Church of Ireland journal, Search, considers various aspects of hope. The Revd Daniel Webster of New York shares his thoughts on President Obama who describes himself as “powered by Hope”. Progressive or pentecostal? Rapture-hopeful or social gospeller? Webster’s conclusions offer a degree of hope for middle-of-the-road Christian leadership.
Hope for the future is involved also in the new thinking and strategies for home mission that have been encouraged by the Mission Shaped Church Report in the Church of England, published in 2004. Its influence and relevance in Ireland are explored in an article by Ruth Jackson, while from Noel Coghlan comes an article on hope in the post-modern world.
And from the North comes another article related to hope – this time hope for an end to alienation and violence in the loyalist housing estates. Stephen Dallas of the Hard Gospel Project has much experience in these areas and as well as exploring the history and culture of loyalist para-military groups. He offers a model for local communities to help promote self-respect, social motivation and a re-entry to mainstream society.
On the history front Ian D’Alton looks back to the 1950 promulgation of the dogma of the assumption of the BVM and the outspoken Church of Ireland response to it. History of a gentler type is offered in the portrait of the late Thekla Beere, a respected civil servant who reached the top of a profession which is still dominated by men, in an era when both the marriage bar and the dominant culture made it unlikely any woman, especially a Church of Ireland woman, would do so.
A rich crop of book reviews completes the issue which is available in Dublin at the Bible Society, Christ Church Cathedral Shop, and the R.E. Resource Centre, and in Belfast at The Good Book Shop.
Today (Saturday) the Bishop of Cashel & Ossory will speak at the Cork Theology Forum on ‘Lent ad Grace: gift and cost’ while in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, at 5pm, Choral Vespers will be sung by the Cathedral Choir and participants in the RSCM workshop on Gregorian chant..
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning in Dublin the Bishop of Tuam will be the celebrant at the Choral Eucharist in St Patrick’s Cathedral, while in the Chapel of Trinity College, the Chaplain, the Revd Darren McCallig, will preach the final sermon in the ‘Thinking Aloud’ series on ‘Thinking Aloud about the Dawkins Delusion’. In Magorban parish church, Co. Tipperary the Annual Lenten Famine Lunch will follow the 12.30 Morning Service. The address will be given by Terence O’Malley, Chairman of Support for Afghan Further Education.
The Wednesday lunchtime lecture in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, will be given by Ms Carol Quinn, Archivist in the Boole Library, UCC, who will speak on ‘Personal Histories –Preserving Archives’. In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, there will be an evening of ‘Music & Musings’ beginning at 7.30 pm with music from the Cathedral Girls’ Choir and musings from a number of cathedral personalities.
A new series on ecumenical Lent talks organized by the parishes in Rathfarnham begins on Thursday evening at 8pm in Rathfarnham parish church. The first session, on leadership in families, will have contributions form Owen Connolly, a family therapist, and Karlin Lillington, an Irish Times journalist.
Friday is Women’s World Day of Prayer which this year features a service devised by the Christian women of Papua New Guinea on the theme, ‘In Christ there are many members but one body’.