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Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

The God Enquiry course leader, Revd Brendan McCarthy
The God Enquiry course leader, Revd Brendan McCarthy
The God Enquiry course leader, Revd Brendan McCarthy

Saturday 6 September 2014

New Course in Belfast Cathedral
‘The God Enquiry,’ a ten week course examining issues of philosophy, theology, science, history, intuition and experience, will be held in St Anne’s cathedral, Belfast, starting on 1 October.

Does God Exist? If God Exists, How Might We Know What God Is Like? Is A Christian View Of God Believable? If you have asked these questions and would like to explore them in an open atmosphere, free from pressure to believe or to conform, ‘The God Enquiry’ is for you. The course has been developed over a number of years in response to the questions and interests of genuine explorers and is unique in its approach.

The course is led by the Revd Dr Brendan McCarthy who has a primary degree in divinity as well as master’s degrees in theology, history and human rights law and a doctorate in Christian Ethics. He is currently the Church of England’s national adviser on Medical Ethics and Health and Social Care Policy.

The God Enquiry starts at 7.30pm on 1 October and at the same time each Wednesday. Cost for the course, including a copy of The God Enquiry by Brendan McCarthy, is £60.

You can now register for ‘The God Enquiry’ by downloading the application form from www.belfastcathedral.orgor directly from here. Completed forms and payment (£60 per person) should be returned to St Anne’s Cathedral by Tuesday 23 September.

Tomorrow (Sunday) the Bishop of Clogher will ordain Alastair Donaldson as an intern deacon to serve in the parish of Fivemiletown.

On Monday an Electoral College to elect a new Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe & Ardfert, in succession to the Rt Revd Trevor Williams, who has retired, will be held in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin. In the parish of Kill o’ the Grange, Co. Dublin, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary, a history week will be officially opened by Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness. From tomorrow (Tuesday) until Friday there will be a photographic exhibition and displays each evening and a talk or walk from Tuesday to Friday – details may be had at www.kotg.ie

The Revd Daniel Nuzum, Chaplain in Cork City Hospital and a Ph.D. student in UCC, will be presenting some of his research on perinatal bereavement and pregnancy loss at the 20th International Palliative Care Congress in Montreal which begins on Tuesday. Next week he will make presentations from his stillbirth research at the International Stillbirth Alliance Conference in Amsterdam.

On Wednesday evening at 6pm in St George’s church, Belfast another round of Irish language classes, funded by the Ultach Trust, begins. Aimed at beginners and those with little Irish, the classes are free and participants should simply turn up on the first day. St George’s also holds a service in Irish on the first Sunday of the month at 3pm.
Also on Wednesday evening, at 7.30pm in the Quaker Meeting House, Pakenham Road, Monkstown ,Co, Dublin, the Religious Correspondent of The Irish Times, Patsy McGarry, will launch two books by the retired Church of Ireland rector the Revd Patrick Semple. Nature’s Playthings is a novel and Another Slice? is a collection of short stories. Both books have been published by Code Green Publishing.

On Friday the Archbishop of Dublin will be in Budapest where, as co–chair of the Anglican–Lutheran Society, he will be delivering an address on ‘Divided Communities’. The final lunchtime recital in Sandford parish church will be given by the Revd Anne–Marie O’Farrell (harp) and Siobhan Kilkelly (organ), and at 7.30pm a ‘Weekend of Music and Celebration’ begins in Monkstown parish church with a piano recital by Finghin Collins.

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