Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
Saturday 25 March 2006
New Book on Church of Ireland Records
A new edition of Church of Ireland Records has been published by Four Courts Press and will be launched at a reception in St Patrick?s Deanery next Thursday. The speaker at the launch will be Professor Raymond Gillespie from NUI Maynooth who has been in the forefront of the development of local studies in Ireland in recent years.
The book, which is part of the highly influential Maynooth Research Guides to Irish Local History series, introduces local historians to the records of the Church of Ireland. As the church ?by law established?, the official church of the state from the Reformation until the late nineteenth century, the Church of Ireland was not only a religious community but also part of the apparatus of government. This, combined with its presence in almost every part of the county, makes the records of the Church of Ireland invaluable for most local studies.
The book contains an overview of the administration of the Church of Ireland and the records which it produced, a guide to published catalogues and editions of archives and manuscripts, and an introduction to the principal repositories in which Church of Ireland records are to be found.
Church of Ireland Records has been written by Dr Raymond Refaussé , Librarian and Archivist in the RCB Library, and draws on over twenty-five years experience as archivist of the Church of Ireland.
Today (Saturday) the Royal School of Church Music will have a Festival Day in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, to re-launch the work of RSCM in Ireland. From 11 am onwards there will be a series of workshops on different aspects of singing and at 6 pm there will be a Festival Service. The day has been organized by Judy Martin, Blanaid Murphy and Peter Barley.
Tomorrow morning (Sunday) RTE will televise a service of Holy Communion, organized by the Bishops? Appeal, the Church of Ireland World Aid and Development Programme. The celebrant will be the Bishop of Limerick, the Rt Revd Michael Mayes.
As the pages of The Irish Times have amply demonstrated recently, 1916 was not all about famous men and women but also about many who have been forgotten. The lunchtime lecture in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Tuesday, the last in the series on ?Church of Ireland Rebels?, echoes this theme. Dr Martin Maguire, from Dundalk Institute of Technology, will speak about Harry Nicholls, a member of the Engineering Department of Dublin Corporation.
In the evening, in Sandford parish church the Lenten recital will be given by the organist, Mark Duley, while in St Anne?s Cathedral, Belfast, a new CD by the Cathedral Choir, Celtic Inspirations, will be launched.
On Wednesday evening in St Fin Barre?s Cathedral, Cork, Canon Don Bolen, Co-Secretary of ARCIC, will speak on the ARCIC document Mary ? Grace and Hope.
In Rathfarnham parish church on Thursday evening at 8 pm, there will be a session on ?Body, Mind and Spirit ? A Broader View of Health?. The speakers will be Mark Patrick Hederman, a monk of Glenstal, and Teri Garvey, chair of the expert group which recently reported to the Department of Health on complementary medicine.
On Friday the Episcopal Electoral College to elect a new Bishop of Cashel and Ossory will meet in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. In the evening, in Rosscarbery, the Bishop of Cork will dedicate the work of restoration of St Fachtna?s Cathedral at a service at which the preacher will be the Bishop of Tuam, who was formerly Dean of Ross.