Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
New Parish Magazine Initiative
Despite the considerable advances in modern communication techniques in recent years the attraction of church magazines remains strong and those produced at both parish and diocesan level are eagerly devoured by local church people and the wider community. The introduction. by the Church of Ireland Press Office, of an annual competition, the results of which are announced each year at the General Synod, has further shaped interest.
A new initiative was launched last week by the Archbishop of Dublin. This is a new monthly newsletter, entitled The Clarion, produced by the Church of Ireland parish of Powerscourt with Kilbride (Bray) where the rector is the Ven. Ricky Rountree, and the Roman Catholic parish of St Mary, Enniskerry . This has been made possible by the involvement of the recently established Liturgical Publications of Ireland Ltd., a company with vast experience of liturgical publications in the USA. This will be a full colour sixteen page magazine incorporating news from both parishes and from the wider community. It will include a combined diary of community events and forthcoming events with the liturgical diary of each parish as the main centrefold. There will be ten issues each year
The ‘joint parishes’ is a long standing concept in Enniskerry where there has been an established commitment to do everything possible together and never to do separately what is possible to do collaborately. This has involved joint study, combined fundraising and joint projects of many kinds as well as celebrating elements of the main Christian festivals together. The front page of the first issue of The Clarion depicts the Good Friday ‘Way of the Cross’, a highlight of the annual joint liturgical calendar.
This evening (Saturday) the Archbishop of Dublin will unveil a plaque in memory of the Nobel Laureate, Samuel Beckett, in Tullow parish church, as part of ‘Beckett in Foxrock’, an evening of drama, poetry and prose. The Beckett family lived in Foxrock, in the heart of Tullow parish, alongside other prominent Church of Ireland families such as the Elverys, Orpens and Darleys. The parish register, now in the Representative Church Body Library, records that Samuel Barclay Beckett was baptised in Tullow church on 10 June 1906 by the Revd George Clark who had also baptised Beckett’s elder brother, Frank, in 1902.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning RTE will televise a Service of the Word for Mothering Sunday with the clergy and people of the parish of Taney, Dundrum, Co. Dublin. In Conwal parish church, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, the rector Canon Stuart Wright will lead a Mothering Sunday Songs of Praise service at 7.30pm. The former Dean of Cashel, Dr Philip Knowles, will coordinate and introduce the hymns which have been chosen by the people of Letterkenny.
Next Tuesday the Standing Committee of the General Synod and the Representative Church Body will meet in Church of Ireland House, Dublin.
The Dublin & Glendalough Retired Clergy Fellowship will meet on Tuesday at 2.30pm for a service of Holy Communion in Glenageary parish church. This will be followed by a talk by their Honorary Secretary, Canon Peter Norton, on ‘Clergyman of the Atlantic: Arnold Spencer–Smith’.
The final talk in the Balbriggan Lenten series on ‘An Insight into Other Christian Denominations and Other Faiths’ will take place on Wednesday evening at 8pm in the Bracken Court Hotel. The subject will be ‘Islam’ and the speaker will be Dr Ali Selim, a senior member of staff at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland.
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’