Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
New Books on Conflict and Reconciliation
As the marching season in the north, with its attendant concerns for peace and stability in the most affected communities, gathers pace two timely publications have appeared from the Columba Press.
Conflict, Controversy and Co-operation. The Irish Council of Churches and ?The Troubles? 1968-1972, has been written by Dr Norman Taggart, who was Organizing Secretary of the ICC during the period with which the books deals. He tells the story of the ICC during the first four years of ?The Troubles? when ecumenism in the north was viewed as a dangerous development and a controversial issue. In such circumstances leadership was vitally important and with chairmen of the calibre of Dr Eric Gallagher, Professor James Haire and Archbishop George Simms the ICC was blessed with men of notable integrity. Under their leadership the first formal contacts were made between the ICC, its member churches and the Roman Catholic Church, whose leader, Cardinal William Conway proved to be willing to take and to respond to initiatives from other churches. Dr Taggart?s study examines the reactions to the introduction of internment, explores the role of the joint Catholic/Protestant group on social problems, and covers the work of a largely unpublicized Catholic/Protestant body which was set up in confidence to advise church leaders on the developing crisis in Northern Ireland.
A former General Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches, and now Leader of the Corrymeela Community, David Stevens, has written a different, but related, kind of book, The Land of Unlikeness. Explorations into Reconciliation. He writes from the experience of living with political violence in Northern Ireland for most of his adult life and against this, and similar backgrounds, seeks to examine how forgiveness, justice, truth and repentance can overcome the past. The book poses questions - Can such societies make good again? What can Christian faith bring to the search for reconciliation? In seeking to answer such questions David Stevens examines the meaning of reconciliation and provides biblical and theological perspectives
Both books cost Euro 9.99/Stg £ 6.99 each and are available through bookshops or over the internet at http://www.columba.ie
A related exercise in the search for mutual understanding begins on Thursday when the Third Aughrim Summer School opens in Co. Galway. The theme will be ?Institutions and Symbols in Transition ? Emblems which Alienate and Affirm?. Among the speakers will be Ray Simpson, Warden of the Lindesfarne Community, Roy Garland, columnist with the Irish News, and Michael Starrett, Chief Executive of the Heritage Council. The Summer School takes place under the auspices of the Christian Training Institute which was established by the Rector of Aughrim, Canon Trevor Sullivan, and the Director of the Acorn Christian Foundation, the Revd Dr Russ Parker.
Today (Saturday) Singing City, from Philadelphia, will give a lunchtime concert in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, while in Venice the Chapel Choir of Trinity College Dublin will sing the Mass in the Church of the Gesuati.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the services in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, will be sung by the Choir of St James? Cathedral, Toronto. In St Anne?s Cathedral, Belfast, the visiting choir will be from Jesus College, Oxford, who will also give a concert in St Macartin?s Cathedral, Enniskillen, on Monday evening in aid of the Inishmacsaint Parish Church Building Restoration Fund. Trinity College Chapel Choir will sing at Eucharist in the Anglican Church of San Giorgio, Dorsoduro, Venice, when College Chaplain, Dr Alan McCormack, will celebrate and preach.
On Monday evening in St Carthage?s Cathedral, Lismore, there will be a concert by the Villa Maria Chorale, from Buffalo, New York, in support of the Cathedral Restoration Fund. The Chorale will also give a free concert in St Mary?s Church, Killarney, on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday at 7.30pm in Cashel Cathedral, the El-Shaddai Singers from the United States will perform negro-spirituals and classical anthems at an Anglo-American evening in aid of the cathedral?s Bolton Library. On Friday evening the Festival Chorus of Chicago will give a recital in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
The latest edition of Search is now available, and includes papers from the colloquium: Twenty-first century liturgy in the context of the BCP 2004. The keynote article on Christian Spirituality and Sacramentality is by Professor Ann Loades.
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