Diocesan News16 Mar 16

St Patrick’s Day Celebrations at Saul and Down Cathedral

Bishop Harold Miller will host the annual Church of Ireland Diocese of Down and Dromore St Patrick’s Day Celebrations in Saul and Down Cathedral on Thursday 17 March.

The theme this year is ‘In the Footsteps of Patrick – Proclaiming Christ’ and at the Festival Service the diocese will commission its first group of Diocesan Evangelists. Bishop Harold will give the address.

The bishop will say that this centenary year, “with all the resonances of 1916 … brings with it many of the fault–lines which still lie open to be seen in the island of Ireland. It carries in it our different ‘histories’, which we need to understand, reflect on and explain to ourselves.”

He will go on to say: “We will not, of course, find our reconciliation in 1916 or 1912, in 1798 or 1690, we will find our reconciliation by going back a lot further – to AD432, when Patrick, our common ancestor in the faith came to Saul, proclaiming Christ.”

The bishop will describe Patrick as the “archetypal evangelist” and say: “We are here today as part of that amazing legacy of faith planted by Patrick more than 1½ millennia ago – and it is our privilege to pass the baton on to generations still to come – to leave a legacy of faith.”