Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 2 May 2009
General Synod to Meet in Armagh
Next Friday the General Synod will begin in Armagh City Hotel and will run until the following Sunday evening. This will be the first occasion on which the Synod has been held over a weekend and there is considerable interest within the church to see if this new format is successful in re-invigorating the proceedings and encouraging greater debate and participation.
This year the Synod will consider bills on the historic formularies of the church, marriage liturgies, pensions, the Commission on Church Buildings, the non-stipendiary ministry and St Patrick’s cathedral, Dublin. As usual there will be reports from the central committees of the church with, if current debate within the church is a sure guide, finance and education as prominent issues. In addition the Liturgical Advisory Committee will launch a discussion paper on liturgical space, the Church in Society Committee will circulate a document entitled ‘Pastoral Care in the Recession’, the Commission on Ministry will launch a DVD aimed at young ordinands, and the Church of Ireland Youth department will highlight its report with a young people photo call.
As part of the new arrangements the General Synod Eucharist will be held on the Sunday morning at 11 am in St Patrick’s Cathedral where the celebrant will be the Archbishop of Armagh. The preacher will be the Bishop of Limerick and there will be a response from Cardinal Brady.
From today (Saturday) until July St Ann’s Church on Dublin’s Dawson Street will be closed for internal refurbishment. All activities, including the daily celebration of the Eucharist, the Cyber Café for Senior Citizens and the Friendly Room café, will cease during this period. Sunday service will be held in St Stephen’s Church, Mount Street Crescent at 11 am. Today (Saturday) the Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh will institute the Revd Patrick Bamber to the incumbency of Calry. Mr Bamber comes to Co. Sligo from the parish of St Austell in the Diocese of Truro where he has been curate-assistant.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the preacher at the Choral Eucharist in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, will be the Revd Peter Owen Jones. Mr Jones is a priest of the Church of England who is well known as a television presenter with programmes such as ‘Around the World in 80 Faiths’ and ‘The Extreme Pilgrimage’. In St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, the services will be sung by the Meath Diocesan Choir from St Patrick’s Cathedral, Trim, while in Clonmacnoise Sunday services resume in St Kieran’s Church, Templeconnor, with a service of Holy Baptism at 4pm conducted by the Rector of Athlone, the Revd Graham Doyle. In St Mary’s Church, Tipperary, there will be a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tipperary Peace Convention.
On Tuesday the retired clergy of Dublin & Glendalough, their spouses and widows and widowers will have a day of reflection and fellowship at Manressa House, Clontarf, on the theme of ‘Looking for something …’ The day will be led by the former Bishop of Connor, Dr Samuel Poynz, and will conclude with a celebration of the Eucharist by the Archbishop of Dublin.
The last day of May is the closing date for applications to join the 2009-10 session leading to the Archbishop of Dublin’s Certificate in Church Music. The course covers organ playing, choir training and liturgy. Currently there are fourteen students on the three year course sponsored by parishes in the dioceses of Dublin, Glendalough, Meath and Kildare. Further details may be had at www.churchmusicdublin.org/certificate.