Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from “The Irish Times”
Zion Celebrates 150 Years
Tomorrow (Sunday), the Feast of Christ the King, Zion Church, Rathgar, will celebrate its 150th anniversary. The Archbishop of Armagh will preside and preach at the Sunday morning Eucharist. Bishop Roy Warke, Rector of Zion, 1971–88, and editor of the parish history which was published in 1986 to mark the 125th anniversary, will also attend. Among his curates were the current Archdeacon of Cork, the Archdeacon of Glendalough and the Archbishop of Dublin.
Zion Church was opened for public worship in 1 November 1861 and was consecrated by Archbishop Richard Whately on 21 November 1862. It was the last of a number of trustee churches in Dublin which were built by evangelicals to cater for the needs of the growing Dublin suburbs. Earlier, similar ventures had been undertaken in, among other places, North Strand, Sandford and Harold’s Cross.
A pastoral district was assigned to the church in 1885 enabling baptisms and marriages to take place and in 1921 the church was vested in the Representative Church Body and the former parochial district was formally constituted as a parish.
Since then the parish has developed to meet the growing needs of the Rathgar area which include not only the worshippers in Zion Church but also the needs of institutions such as the Church of Ireland Theological Institute and the RCB Library, the High School, and Mount Carmel and St Luke’s Hospitals.
Today the parish is led by the Revd Stephen Farrell who was appointed as Rector of Zion earlier this year.
Today (Saturday) the Archbishop of Dublin will lead a Quiet Day in Christ Church Cathedral beginning at 9.30am while in the Cathedral’s Chapter Room the Church of Ireland Historical Society will meet at 10.30am.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the Archbishop of Dublin will dedicate a new stained glass window in Rathfarnham parish church while in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the independent senator, Dr Katharine Zappone will speak on ‘When will we reach the Promise Land?’ as part of the ‘Questioning Faith’ series of addresses at the 10.45am Choral Eucharist. In St Malachi’s Church, Hillsborough, Co. Down, the preacher at the morning service will be the Bishop of Egypt, Dr Mouncer Anis, who is visiting Ireland as the guest of CMSI. In the evening Bishop Anis will be interviewed by UTV’s Paul Clark at Kilmore parish church, Crossgar.
Tomorrow (Sunday) at Evensong in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, there will be a commemoration of those who lost their lives on Irish ships, and at 8pm in the Lady Chapel the Gaudete Singers will give a recital of work by by John Sheppard and Felix Mendelssohn.
A new book by the Revd Grace Clunie, Director of Celtic Spirituality at Armagh Cathedral, will be launched in the Robinson Library on Monday evening. Sacred Living: Practical Inspirations from Celtic Spirituality for the Contemporary Spiritual Journey has been published by Columba Press.
The Dean of St Patrick’s, Dr Robert MacCarthy, will talk about the cathedral in the RDS Speaker Series on Wednesday evening at 6pm in the Minerva Suite – information and bookings at 01–240 7254 or [email protected]
On Thursday evening at 8pm in St Ann’s Church , Dawson Street, Dublin, there will be an Evening of Celtic & Japanese Music by Aid Japan for children affected by the tsunami.
In St John’s Church, Sandymount, on Friday evening at 7.30pm the Archbishop of Dublin will introduce the Revd Dr Paul Barlow as Chaplain. Dr Barlow has come to the Church of Ireland from the Diocese of Hereford.