Irish Times Notes04 Sep 10

Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'

Huguenot Conference in Derry
Last Thursday the Fifth International Huguenot Congress began at the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster in Derry and continues over this weekend. As most of the Huguenot settlers who came to Ireland conformed to the Established Church, the proceedings of this conference are likely to be of interest to Church of Ireland historians and to those Church of Ireland people who claim a Huguenot ancestry.

Speakers from France, Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Great Britain, as well as those from further afield - Japan, Australia, South Africa and the USA - will give a truly international dimension to the Congress. Of particular interest to Irish historians and genealogists will be papers by Dr Jane McKee on the Drelincourt correspondence and Dr Jessica Cunningham on Dublin Huguenot Goldsmiths. A family history session this afternoon (Saturday) will include contributions from Vivien Costello on the Lavie family of Derry, Daniel McGill on the ‘Huguenot Boyds' and Eugenie Carr on the La Touche family in Ireland.

Tomorrow (Sunday) there will be an excursion to Dublin to tour sites of Huguenot interest and to attend the annual Huguenot Service in St Patrick's Cathedral at 3.15pm. The address at the service will be given by Dr Muriel McCarthy, Keeper of Marsh's Library.

On Monday there will be an opportunity to visit the newly refurbished Huguenot burial ground in Cork with Petra Coffey, Ciara Brett and the Cork City Archaeologist.

This weekend the choir of St Andrew's Church, Malahide, directed by Rodney Baldwin, will sing the services in Chester Cathedral. In Dublin the choir of Christ Church Cathedral makes a welcome return after the summer recess.

Tomorrow (Sunday) the Archbishop of Dublin will celebrate the Eucharist and preach at a Service of Dedication and Thanksgiving at St James' Church, Castledermot, where the rector is the Revd Isaac Delamere.

The Friends of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, will begin their annual outing on Monday. This year they will visit Cumbria and Chester on a three day excursion. On Monday evening the Vocal Arts Ensemble from California will sing in St Mary's Church, Killarney and on Tuesday evening they will be joined in St Peter's Church, Bandon, by the Garda Male Voice Choir and the Carrigaline Singers for a concert in aid of the church organ.

‘Profile of a Pontiff' is the title of a lunchtime lecture to be given on Tuesday in St Bartholomew's Church, Belfast. The speaker will be the Revd Paddy McGlinchey, Lecturer in Missology in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. Mr McGlinchey is working on a doctoral thesis in Union Theological College, Belfast, that will make a comparative assessment of evangelical theology and the thinking of Pope Benedict.

On Thursday the Connor Diocesan Synod will be held in St Patrick's Church, Ballymena, In the evening, at 8pm, Dr Toby Barnard, Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford, will give a lecture in Belvedere House, Mullingar on ‘ The Malones of the 18th Century'. The Malone family was responsible for the building of St Bigseach's Church, Kilbixy, which was designed by James Wyatt, the celebrated 18th century English architect.

On Friday evening at 7pm the Monkstown Art Exhibition, in aid of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, will be opened in the Knox Hall, Monkstown, Co. Dublin. At 8pm the Friends of St Doulagh's Church, Malahide Road, Balgriffen, will present a Musical Evening with the Dublin Conservative Club Male Voice Choir in aid of the maintenance of what is believed to be the oldest stone roofed church in Ireland.