Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday11 November 2006
Archbishop of Canterbury to Preach at Primate?s Thanksgiving
On Thursday evening in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Armagh, there will be a Service of Thanksgiving for the twenty year primacy of the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames. All Armagh members of the General Synod, the Armagh Diocesan Synod and Council, clergy, clergy spouses and widows, cathedral personnel, together with distinguished guests have been invited, by the Dean of Armagh, the Very Revd Patrick Roooke, to attend.
A measure of the significance of the service is that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has accepted the Dean?s invitation to preach. Dr Williams, as, in effect, head of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, is the most senior Anglican bishop world wide. By virtue of his office and through his commanding intellectual stature he is one of the leading figures in Christendom. A prolific author and compelling preacher, his utterances invariably command attention.
Dr Eames, whose tenure of the Irish primacy is being celebrated, is no less a commanding figure. For twenty years he has been the dominant figure among the Irish bishops and increasingly his sophisticated diplomatic skills have been placed at the service not only of his own community but of the wider Anglican Communion. He does not retire until the end of the year and so Church of Ireland panegyrics are premature but it seems likely that a sense of his contribution to the wider church and society will be all too apparent after the Archbishop of Canterbury?s sermon has been delivered on Thursday evening.
In Dublin this morning (Saturday) the Church of Ireland Historical Society will meet in Christ Church Cathedral, where, at lunchtime, there will be a recital by Susanna Fairbain (flute) and Paul Thomas (piano). In North Strand Schools the parish of Drumcondra will hold an autumn sale while in Sandford National School the parish will have a November Fair.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Archbishop of Dublin will visit Whitechurch to mark and celebrate the recent project to restore the church. In the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the Very Revd Laurence Cullen , Parish Priest of Geevagh, will preach at Solemn Sung Mattins for Remembrance Sunday while in Belfast the preacher at the Sung Eucharist in St Anne?s Cathedral will be the Bishop of Jerusalem while in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, the preacher at the Remembrance Day Evensong will be the Very Revd Dr John Dunlop, former Minister of Fitzroy Avenue Presbyterian Church, Belfast. The Dean of Cashel will officiate at a wreath laying ceremony in the Old Garrison Church, Tipperary and in the evening will be in Shinrone where he will dedicate and give a recital upon the new organ.
On Monday morning the first in a series of Hard Gospel events will take place in Derry where the theme of ?Where there is no vision?leadership in the Protestant/unionist Community? will be addressed by Liam Clarke of The Sunday Times and the politician, David Ervine.
In Dublin, on Wednesday evening, Senator Martin Mansergh will launch Rendering to God and Caesar: the Irish churches and the two states in Ireland, 1949-73 which has been written by the TCD Research Fellow, Dr Daithi O Corrain, and published by Manchester University Press. The Bishop of Meath & Kildare will be in Ferns where he will speak to a local ecumenical group on ?Method and Mystery. The Eucharist and the Ecumenical Imperative?, and on Thursday he will preach at a service to mark the 150th anniversary and the restoration of Christ Church, Innishannon, C. Cork.