Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
History of High School
The history of the Church of Ireland has been littered with educational initiatives, many dubious, few to last. One of the more enduring has been the Erasmus Smith Trust which, together with the history of the High School, Dublin, is the subject of a new book by Ronnie Wallace, former Head of History in the school.
The book tells the story of the London merchant, Erasmus Smith, who acquired large estates in Ireland during the Cromwellian plantation and used the proceeds of these lands to establish a charity for protestant education in Ireland. The trust ran grammar schools in Drogheda, Galway, Tipperary and Ennis, and over 200 primary schools as well as supporting Trinity College and the Blue Coat School, later the King?s Hospital. Of these schools, only the High School, founded in 1870, remains, and the book is, in part, an instructive study of its evolution from an English to an Irish school.
Faithful to our Trust. A History of the Erasmus Smith Trust and the High School, Dublin has been published by the Columba Press, publishers of the runaway success of church publishing this year, the Book of Common Prayer. Of the 110,000 copies of the pew edition which were printed only some 3000 remain and consideration is now being given to a reprint.
Today (Saturday) there will be a Vocations Day Conference for the province of Armagh in Church House, Armagh, where the speakers will be the Bishop of Kilmore, the Rt Revd Kenneth Clarke, and the Central Director of Ordinands, Canon Alan Abernethy.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the Bishop of Kilmore will preach at the Sung Eucharist in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin. The Feast of Christ the King will be celebrated in St Nicholas? Collegiate Church, Galway with an ?All Nations? Ecumenical Eucharistic Celebration in conjunction with the Independent African Churches while in St Columba?s Church, Tullow, Co. Carlow, there will be a Choral Eucharist with the Guinness Choir, directed by David Milne. In the evening in Belfast Cathedral the series of centenary thanksgiving services conclude with ?The Great Choir Service? to which all former choristers and choir members have been invited while in St Matthew?s Church, Irishtown, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, will preach at Evening Prayer as part of the church?s tercentenary celebrations. At Evensong in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, the annual service in commemoration of those who lost their lives on Irish ships, 1939-45, will be held when the preacher will be Canon Desmond Sinnamon.
The House of Bishops will begin a retreat on Monday which will continue until Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening the Marsh Society will meet in the Church of Ireland Theological College to consider 'The Future of Abortion Law in Ireland'. The speaker will be Professor Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Criminal law in Trinity College, Dublin. On Wednesday evening at 8 pm the George Hewson Memorial Recital in St Patrick?s Cathedral will be given by Simon Preston and on Thursday evening in St Anne?s Cathedral, Belfast, there will be a concert by the Priory Singers, directed by Dr Harry Grindle.
In St Michael?s Church, Ballina, on Friday evening the Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, Dr Richard Henderson, will institute the Revd Dr Sue Patterson to the incumbency of the Kilmoremoy union of parishes. Dr Patterson was ordained in 1988 in the Church of New Zealand and from 1997 until 2000 was on the staff of Trinity College, Bristol. She has been Rector of Kildallon in the Diocese of Kilmore since 2000.
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