Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
Covenant with Methodist Church Celebrated
One of the more positive developments on the ecumenical front in recent years has been the Church of Ireland/Methodist Church in Ireland Covenant which was formally agreed in 2002. The Covenant acknowledged the validity of each church and its sacraments, recognized a common faith and a common tradition in spirituality and liturgy, and looked forward to the time when ministries would be fully interchangeable. Since then there have been growing links, at local level, between Church of Ireland and Methodist communities.
This growing together will be celebrated in St Anne?s Cathedral, Belfast, tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon when, as part of the cathedral?s centenary celebrations, there will be a special Service of Thanksgiving for the Witness of the Methodist Church in Ireland and the Covenant with the Church of Ireland. The preacher will be the Revd Dr Philip Blackwell, Senior Pastor of the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple. Dr Blackwell was trained at Yale Divinity School and at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. His congregation, of over 1000 members, is one of the most racially and economically diverse in the United States.
In the evening, at 7.00 pm the Church of Ireland congregation of St John the Baptist?s Church, Clontarf, will join their Methodist neighbours in Clontarf Methodist Church for a local celebration of the Covenant. The officiating minister will be the Revd Dudley Levistone Cooney and the preacher will be the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Revd Peter Barrett, who, together with the Bishop of Down and Dromore, was responsible for piloting the Covenant through the General Synod. The local clergy, the Revd Derek Sargent and the Revd Conrad Hicks, will exchange gifts on behalf of their congregations as a symbol of a new beginning.
This afternoon (Saturday) in Redcross parish church, Co. Wicklow, the Girls Friendly Society Festival Service will be held at which the Archbishop of Dublin will commission Mrs Betty Neill as Diocesan President. At 8.00 pm there will be a concert in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, where Cantari Avondale will perform Hayden?s Harmony Mass and Bernstein?s Chichester Psalms, while in St Fin Barre?s Cathedral, Cork, the Cathedral Choir will give an informal concert.
Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Armagh, the Archbishop of Armagh will commission the Revd Dr Pat Mollan as the Deputy Director of the Church?s Ministry of Healing for work throughout the Church of Ireland while at St Dolough?s Church, Balgriffin, the Archbishop of Dublin will preside at the annual Open Air Service which begins at 3.30 pm. At 7.30 pm in St Brigid?s Cathedral, Kildare there will be an Ascensiontide Songs of Praise with the Cathedral Choir, directed by Derek Verso. Dr Kerry Houston will be at the organ and the special guest, who will introduce the music and readings, will be Vere Wynne Jones.
On Wednesday the Archbishop of Armagh will be in London where he will deliver a lecture in St Ethelburga?s Church on ?Faith and Identity in Crisis. In the evening, at 6.30 pm, the organ recital in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, will be given by Tristan Russcher, who is Organ Scholar in both St Patrick?s and Christ Church.
At the Emmaus Retreat Centre, Swords, from Thursday until Saturday, the Church?s Ministry of Healing will host a retreat. ?Come to the Waters. Refreshment and Creativity in Prayer?, which will be led by Marie Calvert and Angela Copper, will explore new and different ways to pray. Details may be had by telephoning 01-8727876.
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