Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
Summer Issue of Search Published
The summer issue of the Church of Ireland journal Search, with articles by, among others, the Bishop if Clogher, the Dean of Killaloe and Professor Sean Freyne, is now available from the Religious Education Resource Centre, Holy Trinity Church, Church Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
?The Problem of Scripture? ? how we understand and define the authority of scripture - is a question at the heart of many burning issues in the Church today. This is examined by the Dean of Killaloe, Dr Stephen White, together with ?The Trouble with Metaphysics? ? that area of theological enquiry which, he argues, has been hampered until recent years by a stubborn insistence on a mathematical style of logic as the only style of acceptable reasoning. He pleads instead for a logic of the heart and a proper acceptance of human inablilty to comprehend God.
Statistician, Malcolm Macourt, considers the implications of the censuses, north and south, of 2001/2 for the Church of Ireland. His careful consideration of the figures, which were initially received with much delight in the Republic and gloom in Northern Ireland, suggests that there is much to challenge the Church in the coming century.
Pastoral theology finds a place with Canon Maureen Ryan?s reflections on the place of narrative as a healing strategy in the west of Ireland. One of her sub-headings ?Stories that cannot be told? is a reminder, if such is needed, of the traumatic experiences of many who have found a home in Ireland. Suffering is also a theme of Isabelle Prondinski?s account of how the Anglican community of Nairobi Cathedral cooperated with CMSI to meet the needs of homeless slum dwellers.
In the ecumenical sphere Professor Sean Freyne reflects on the hopes and fears for the papacy of Benedict XVI on inter-church relations and the fulfillment of women?s vocations in church life while the Bishop of Clogher, Dr Michael Jackson, considers the thinking of the Porvoo Churches on inter-faith relations in the new Europe.
A somewhat different ecumenical angle is pursued by Niall Sloane, recently ordained for the curacy of Agherton, who provides an assessment of perhaps, the greatest bishop of his home diocese, William Bedell, bishop of Kilmore, 1629-41, provost of Trinity College, and renowned promoter of the Irish language.
Today (Saturday) Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will be sung by the Arvada Center Chorale and tomorrow (Sunday) the services in St Patrick?s Cathedral will be sung by the Chapel Choir of Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon in St Anne?s Cathedral, Belfast, there will be a Community Service to mark the 60th anniversary of VE/VJ Day. The service is a joint initiative between the Cathedral and Belfast City Council and seeks to involve people from the local community, veterans of the war and ex-service associations.
Belfast Cathedral has also announced its decision to complete the building programme at St Anne?s with ?A Spire of Hope?. During the Cathedral?s centenary celebrations, last year, an competition was held for young architects throughout Ireland to submit proposals for a spire for St Anne?s. The winning design, by Niall Gault of Box Architects, will be a titanium clad spire which will be viewable both from inside and outside. It will punctuate the roof of the cathedral and allow natural light to flood around the spire and into the building. The forty metre spire will be illuminated at night and will, the Dean of Belfast, Dr Houston McKelvey, believes, be ?a witness to God?s love for the city and the wider community it serves?.