Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 14 March 2009
St Patrick’s Tide Celebrations
St Patrick’s Day falls next Tuesday and its celebration begins this evening (Saturday) at 5pm in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, when Evensong will be sung in Irish as part of a continuing collaboration with Cumman na Gaelach na hEaglaise.
Tomorrow (Sunday) evening BBC will broadcast Songs of Praise from Down Cathedral. In St Patrick’s Cathedral, Trim, at the Patronal Festival Eucharist, the Ven. Leslie Stevenson, Archdeacon of Meath & Kildare and the Very Revd John Marsden, Dean of Kildare, will be installed as members of the chapter.
On Monday there will be lunchtime concerts by visiting bands from North America in Christ Church and St Patrick’s cathedrals and in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway.
In St Finian’s Church, Adelaide Road, the Dublin Council of Churches will host an ecumenical evening prayer service at 7pm to commemorate and celebrate the coming of Christianity to Ireland and the seminal role that St. Patrick played in this. Through readings from Patrick’s historical writings and through music, prayers and scripture readings the prayer seeks to bear witness to the great source of hope in our common faith. Later, at 8pm, the Christ Church Cathedral Choir will give a concert as part of the St Patrick’s Festival.
On St Patrick’s Day the Archbishop of Armagh will be the celebrant at the Eucharist in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, where the preacher will be the former Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Donald Caird, who will celebrate at the 9.30 am Holy Communion in Irish. In St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, the Bishop of Cork will preside at a Civic Festival Eucharist which will be followed by a reception for the Lord Mayor and City Council, civic leaders and voluntary groups in the Palace.
The preacher at the Sung Eucharist in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, will be the Dublin born, Dr David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity in Cambridge. The service will be broadcast live on RTE Radio 1.
In Downpatrick the Bishop of Down & Dromore will preside at a Festival Service in Down Cathedral which will be preceded by a pilgrimage from St Patrick’s Memorial Church, Saul. Following the service there will be a wreath laying ceremony at St Patrick’s grave.
In Christ Church, Dun Laoghaire, at 8pm the Tontino-Grace High School Symphonic Band from Minneapolis, which performed in Christ Church Cathedral, on Monday, will give a concert.
Tomorrow (Sunday) RTE radio will broadcast Morning Prayer conducted by the Revd Tom Gordon. The preacher will be Dr Lindsay Hall, Lecturer in Systematic Theology in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.
As part of the year long ecumenical celebration of the joint 150th anniversary of the three churches in the Enniskerry area, St Patrick’s Church, Powerscourt will hold its special Patronal Festival Eucharist tomorrow (Sunday) at 11.30am. The special preacher will be Very Rev Philip Knowles, Dean of Cashel. Dean Knowles has recently been installed as Prebend of Stagonil, the medieval name of the parish. In the evening the Schola Gregoriana, Maynooth will present a plain chant performance in the Powerscourt Church at 7.00pm. The concert will feature offices of St Patrick & St Brigid and early Irish polyphony.
On Monday and Tuesday the Bishop of Derry & Raphoe will be in London for the South American Mission Society International Conference. The Archbishop of Armagh will launch Journey Through Time, a history of the parish of Kilmore, Co. Armagh, which has been compiled by Patricia Reilly. Details of the history may be had from the parish website.