Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
Saturday 7 February 2015
Distribution of Black Santa Collections
The annual distribution of funds which were raised at the Dublin Black Santa Sit Out last December will take place following Morning Service in St Ann’s church, Dawson Street tomorrow (Sunday) at 11am. The collection last Christmas amounted to €35,000 – the largest ever. Among the charities to benefit this year are the Salvation Army, Solas Project, Protestant Aid, St Vincent de Paul, Bishops’ Appeal, Peter McVerry Trust, Dublin Simon, Laura Lynn Foundation, Samaritans, Barnardos and PACT. Representatives of the various choirs who sang outside the church in the week before Christmas will read the lessons and be present in the congregation. The preacher will be the Very Revd Dr Houston McKelvey, who as Dean of Belfast from 2001 until 2011 was the front man for the Belfast Sit Out.
Last Sunday £186,000 raised by the 2014 Black Santa Sit Out in Belfast was handed over to charities at the annual Good Samaritans Service in St Anne’s Cathedral. The special guest was Claire McCollum, presenter of Songs of Praise and a parishioner of St Patrick’s Jordanstown, who kindly agreed to hand over all the cheques – almost 200 of them. .Practically every charity to receive an award was present as well as many visitors and guests, and all were welcomed by the Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann, who staged his fourth Black Santa Sit Out on the steps of the cathedral before Christmas.
This afternoon (Saturday) at 2.30pm the new Bishop of Limerick, the Rt Revd Dr Kenneth Kearon, will be enthroned in St Mary’s cathedral. In St Mary’s church, Carlow, at 7.30pm, there will be a concert, ‘A Celebration of Love’, the proceeds of which will support the project to restore the encaustic tiles in the porch of the church. In Dublin the Lyric FM award winning choir, Peregryne, directed by Dr Stuart Kinsella, will sing Compline, with music from J.S. Bach, in St Ann’s church, Dawson, Street, at 5.30pm. At the same time tomorrow (Sunday) Peregryne will sing Compline in St Werburgh’s church.
On Tuesday evening the Revd Professor Patrick Comerford, who lectures in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, is the speaker in the monthly lecture series organised by the Genealogical Society of Ireland. He will speak in Dún Laoghaire Further Education Institute, Cumberland Street, Dún Laoghaire, at 8 p.m., on ‘The Comerfords in Ireland: disentangling myths and legends to find true origins.’
On Thursday evening at 8pm in Christ Church, Celbridge, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, will institute Canon Stephen Neill to the incumbency of Celbridge, Straffan and Newcastle–Lyons. Canon Neill, who was ordained in 1969 and served curacies in Monkstown, Co. Dublin, and in Limerick city before his appointment as Rector of Cloughjordan in 1998. He has been a member of the chapter of St Mary’s cathedral, Limerick, since 2004 and is a regular columnist in the Church of Ireland Gazette.
From 20 to 22 February, ‘Retreat in the City’ will be held in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin. Now in its third year, the retreat will be led by Brother John SSF. Born and raised in London, Brother John spent some years on a church planting team near Liege before training for the Baptist ministry and serving two pastorates in England. He has been a Franciscan brother for 13 years, and is a fan of Van Morrison. Further information may be had from the Revd Garth Bunting, Christ Chruch Cathedral, Christchurch Place, Dublin 8 or at 01–677 8099 or [email protected]
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’