Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
New Prayer Book Publication
It has been all too evident for some time that one of the basic informational resources which the Church of Ireland lacked was an easily accessible introduction to the evolution of the Book of Common Prayer. The process to produce a new Book of Common Prayer, which will come to fruition later this year, provided a fresh impetus to fill this lacuna and the Literature Committee of the General Synod was fortunate in securing the agreement of Canon Brian Mayne, editor of the new prayer book, to oversee this task.
The result of his labours is a booklet with four essays by appropriate experts, all of whom have served with distinction on the Liturgical Advisory Committee. The Revd Dr Michael Kennedy, Rector of Lisnadill and Kildarton in the Diocese of Armagh, has written on ?The First Prayer Books, 1551-1666, while the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, Dr Richard Clarke, has dealt with the 1878 Book of Common Prayer. The 1926 edition of the BCP is discussed by Canon Edgar Turner, formerly Rector of St George?s, Belfast, and the concluding essay, by Canon Mayne is entitled ?Towards the Revision of 2004?.
The Prayer Books of the Church of Ireland, 1551-2004, edited by Brian Mayne has been published by Columba Press at £2.99/Euro 3.99.
Today (Saturday) in St Bartholomew's Church, Clyde Road, Dublin 4, will be Parish Quiet Day for the beginning of Lent, 11am- 4pm. The Revd Ted Ardis, a former curate, and now Rector of Donnybrook, will be witness on the theme: 'Prayer and Relationships: The Lord's Prayer.'
This evening at 7.30 pm, in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, there will be a concert by the choirs of the Cathedral and St George?s Church, Belfast. This is a further manifestation of the developing relationship between the two choirs which began in 2000 when the St Patrick?s choir visited Belfast.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Bishop of Clogher will preach in St Anne?s Church, Shandon, at a special service to mark the first anniversary of the St Anne?s union of parishes where the rector is the Revd Brian O?Rourke. In the Chapel of Trinity College Dublin, the Hon Mr Justice Ronan Keane, Chief Justice of Ireland, will complete the series of Lecture Sermons 'On the Human Condition'. In St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, at Evensong, the Dean, Dr Robert MacCarthy. will preach on ?The Purpose of Lent?. This will be the first in a series of Lenten addresses which will continue each Sunday throughout March.
At 8pm in Powerscourt Church, the Enniskerry Gospel Choir will sing at the Gospel Eucharist at 8.00pm when the speaker will be Mr Greg Fromholz, Diocesan Youth Officer.
A new series of lunchtime lectures, dealing with archbishops of Dublin, begins in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Tuesday. The first speaker will be Professor Michael Richter from the University of Konstanz and his subject will be Archbishop Laurence O?Toole. In the evening in the Church of Ireland Theological College the guest speaker at the Marsh Society will be Canon Maureen Ryan who is a writer, psychologist and assistant priest in St Nicholas? Collegiate Church, Galway. The title of her address will be ?On the Edge of the Island: Ministry in the West of Ireland?.
On Wednesday the speaker at the lunchtime Lenten series of addresses in St Iberius? Church, Wexford, will be Professor Mary Malone, retired Professor of Theology at the Toronto School of Theology, while on Thursday evening, at 8.00 pm, in Rathfarnham parish church the Lenten speakers on ?A Vision of the Church in Modern Ireland? will be the Archbishop of Dublin and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
Friday is Women?s World Day of Prayer and this year the liturgy has been compiled by the women of Panama on the theme, ?In Faith, Women Shape the Future?. In All Hallows College, Dublin, the guest speaker at the weekend conference of the Irish Theological Association will be the Revd Dr Keith Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity in Oxford. Dr Ward, who is a priest of the Church of England and a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, will speak on ?Christian Faith and the Scientific World View?.
::rcblibrary::