Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 19 February 2011
Derry & Raphoe Volunteering Project
A special event is to be held in the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings, Belfast, next Friday to celebrate a unique volunteering programme run in partnership by Voluntary Arts Ireland, the Church of Ireland diocese of Derry and Raphoe, the GAA and City Church Belfast. Living Together Giving Together - A Celebration of Volunteering in Sports, Arts and Faith-based Organisations is a ceremony to highlight the achievements and success of the project.
Volunteering in Sports, Arts and Faith Based Organisations, funded by the Department for Social Development (NI) and the Department for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (RoI) has been running since 2008 and proved to be a great success promoting volunteer work throughout Ireland. With a combination of over 300,000 registered volunteers between the four organisations, this is one of the largest cross-border volunteering projects ever undertaken. One of the keys to the success of the programme has been the unique partnership between four very different organisations with one similar goal - to highlight the work of volunteers and encourage others to get involved.
The Church of Ireland has some 383,373 members and it is estimated that least 40,000 of these people are actively volunteering throughout the country. In the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe, which covers counties Londonderry, Donegal and parts of Tyrone there is a Church of Ireland population of 27,697 of which, it is estimated, 5790 people are actively volunteering.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the ‘Seeing Salvation’ sermon at the Choral Eucharist in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, will be given by the theologian and Methodist lay preacher, Dr Lindsey Hall, who will speak about Stanley Spencer’s ‘The Resurrection, Cookham’.
The Bishop of Limerick will preach at a service in St Mary’s Cathedral, Tallinn, Estonia. The service will mark the opening of an international consultation on ‘Churches Responding to Conflict’. The three day consultation is organized by the Anglican and Lutheran Churches which are members of the Porvoo Communion. Bishop Williams will draw on his 32 years experience of ministry in Northern Ireland and his membership of Corrymeela, the ecumenical community committed to reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Other Church of Ireland attendees include Bishop of Clogher, Dr Michael Jackson (the Archbishop elect of Dublin) and Revd John McDowell, Rector of Dundela, Belfast, and the Church of Ireland Porvoo contact person.
Next Monday and Tuesday evenings at 6pm in the David Keir Building of Queen’s University, Belfast, the annual Church of Ireland Theological Lectures will be given. This year the speaker is the Revd Dr Michael Ward, author of The Narnia Code. Dr Ward’s lectures will explore the theological world of C.S. Lewis, the world of Narnia and the existence of God in the universe.There will also be an opportunity to meet Dr Ward in the Hub, 22 Elmwood Avenue, on Tuesday between 12.30 and 2pm. In Bushmills, Co. Antrim, on Monday and Tuesday, the Bishop of Derry & Raphoe will be taking part in an Emerging Leaders Retreat.
On Tuesday CMS Ireland will host a Focus Afternoon on North Kivu Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo with its newly consecrated bishop, the Rt Revd Ise-soma Muhindo. This will be an informal event from 12.30 to 2.30pm in the CMSI Belfast Office at 33 Dargan Road, at which Bishop Muhindo will share his plans for the Church and provide an update on the work of his diocese.
In the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, on Thursday at 5.15pm there will be a Memorial Service for the Ugandan activist, David Kato.