Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 26 February 2011
Spring Issue of Search Published
The spring issue of the Church of Ireland journal, Search, edited by the Revd Dr Virginia Kennerley, will be published next week.
In advance of the General Synod in next May, at which Synod members will be required to vote definitively for or against signing up to the proposed Anglican Covenant, Search continues to promote careful reflection on the Covenant and its consequences if passed. Along with the TCD chaplaincy, Search is sponsoring a half day colloquium to this end in Trinity on 12 March. Bishop Gregory Cameron (former deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion) will put the case in favour; Revd Jonathan Clatworthy of Modern Church will put the case against; and the Bishop of Cashel & Ossory will explore the implications either way for the Church of Ireland. Search published Mr Clatworthy's reservations about the Covenant in the autumn, and in the forthcoming issue the recently retired Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, who chaired the final stage of the Covenant drafting process, will put the case in favour. Any members of the General Synod who have not registered and can attend the colloquium are urged to contact the Revd Darren McCallig, 27, TCD, Dublin 2 or by email without delay. The fee is €15 or £12.
In the context of the Covenant and the disagreements within the Communion that it aims to make more manageable, Search continue to focus on approaches to the Bible and its interpretation. Professor Paul Ballard contributes an article on how ‘ordinary’ Anglicans, mostly in the UK, tend to read the Bible, while Professor Andrew Mayes offers another perspective, questioning those who relate inter-communal violence to monotheism. Nonetheless it is generally agreed that the arrogant certainties often found in the great monotheistic faiths do tend to provoke violence, as Dr Peter Admirand argues in his reflections on mission and dialogue.
Also in this issue, Fr Dermod McCarthy looks back on 50 years of religious programming on Irish TV, and some absorbing census data regarding inter-church marriage is discussed by Professor Desmond Gillmor.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning Dr Katie Heffelfinger, Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics in CITI, will give the ‘Seeing Salvation’ address at the Choral Eucharist in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin. She will speak about Marc Chagall’s painting, ‘Exodus’. In All Saint’s Church, Eglantine, the Dean of Connor, the Very Revd John Bond, will dedicate a cross given in memory of Mrs Isobel Hall by her husband, Canon J.R. Hall and family.
Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon at 3.30pm there will be a special service in St Fethlimidh’s Cathedral, Kilmore, to celebrate ten years of the ministry of the Rt Revd Ken Clarke as Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh. Bishop Clarke was enthroned in Kilmore and Sligo cathedrals in February 2001.
On Tuesday congregations in the greater Leeson Street area of Dublin are invited to a short ecumenical lunchtime prayer at 1pm in St. Finian's Lutheran Church, Adelaide Road. There will be an opportunity to take lunch together afterwards in the adjoining ‘Lutherhaus’. Intending participants should bring your own sandwiches and tea and coffee will be provided. In Belfast at lunchtime there will be a lecture in St Bartholomew’s Church, Stranmillis Road. Professor Norman Nevin, Professor Emeritus of Medical Ethics in QUB will speak on ‘Genes, Dreams or Nightmares?’ In the evening in St Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen, the new CMS Ireland Mission Director, Ronnie Briggs, will launch the CMSI Annual Project .
In St Mary’s Cathedral, Limeric k, on Wednesday there will be a lunchtime organ recital of stirring marches by Peter Barley.