Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
Restoration of Christ Church Stained Glass
Passers-by will have noticed that the scaffolding which disfigured the south side of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, for most of last year has gone. The cathedral has recently completed the first stage in the restoration of it stained glass, which dates from the 1870s. The iconographic scheme was drawn up by George Edmund Street, the architect responsible for the nineteenth-century restoration of the cathedral. With one exception, the sixty-eight windows are intact and, not surprisingly, are going to require professional attention in the next few years.
A legacy made it possible to begin the process in the south transept, where all the windows were in urgent need of restoration. The contract was carried out by the York Glaziers Trust. Under the supervision of Ms Lucy Rutherford, the panels were removed to the workshop in York, where they were photographed before being dismantled. Unsatisfactory previous repairs and insertions were removed and new antique glass pieces were inserted and painted in traditional techniques to match the original. In accordance with best practice, all newly painted pieces were signed and dated, so that they can be distinguished. The results bear testimony to the high standard of restoration, for the jewel-like colours have been restored and lost details have been reinstated.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the Archbishop of Dublin will celebrate the Eucharist and preach in Castledermot and Narraghmore and in the evening he will be in Blessington to institute the Revd Kesh Govan to the incumbency which includes, as well as Blessington, Kilbride, Ballymore-Eustace and Hollwood. Mr Govan is a theology graduate of the University of Durham and was ordained in 1996. Since 2000 he has been a Team Vicar in the Diocese of Manchester.
At the Sung Eucharist in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the arts administrator, Mrs Anne Fuller, will give the lecture-sermon in the series ?On the Human Condition?. In St Anne?s Cathedral, Belfast, the Dean of Belfast, Dr Houston McKelvey, will preside at the presentation cheques to the charities which are to benefit from his Christmas Sitout.
Candlemas, which brings the season of Christmas to a close, will be celebrated in Christ Church Cathedral tomorrow (Sunday) evening with a Sung Eucharist and candlelight procession. In the Church of the Holy Trinity, Crookhaven, there will be a Candlemas Eucharist and Procession with music from the travelling choir, Voxtrot, directed by Mark Duley, who are being hosted by the rector, the Revd Daniel Nuzum and the parishioners.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is also St Brigid?s Day which will be celebrated in Kildare Cathedral with Choral Eucharist at which the Bishop of Meath and Kildare will celebrate and preach. There will be participation in the liturgy by the Orthodox Church with the reading of the gospel in Slavonic.
On Tuesday the Bishop of Meath and Kildare and the Bishop of Clogher will travel to Rome for the Sant? Egidio conference for bishops and pastors which, this year, will be on the theme of ?The Gospel of Love?.
The Marsh Society will meet in the Church of Ireland Theological College on Tuesday evening when the Revd David Hart will speak ?On the Doubtful Edge of the Anglican Church: Non-Realist Christianity?. Mr Hart is a member of the Sea of Faith Steering Committee and is Religious and Pastoral Services Development Co-ordinator in the University of Derby.
On Friday the Bishop of Cork will institute the Revd Andrew McCroskery, Dean?s Vicar in Cork, to the incumbency of Youghal in succession to the Revd Susan Watterson who is now Warden of the Church?s Ministry of Healing.
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