Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 7 April 2007
Easter Celebrations
Tomorrow (Sunday) the period of preparation in Lent and the observance of Holy Week come to their climax with the celebration of Easter. In Christ Church Cathedral, tonight, at 11pm the Archbishop of Dublin will preside at the Easter Eve Vigil which will include a service of confirmation followed by the first Eucharist of Easter. At 6.15 am on Easter morning the Archbishop of Armagh will be the celebrant at an Easter Dawn Service organized by the Armagh Diocesan Youth Council at The Argory, Moy, while in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, there will be a ?Sonrise Service? in Old Powerscourt Church (beside Powerscourt House) at 6.43 am when the Pascal fire will be lit and the Easter light carried in procession to Powercourt parish church for the first Holy Communion of Easter after which there will be breakfast in the parish hall.
On Easter Day, by tradition, the bishops preach in their diocesan cathedrals. This will be the first occasion for the new Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Alan Harper, to preach the Easter sermon in St Patrick?s Cathedral while his fellow primate, the Archbishop of Dublin, will deliver his fifth Easter sermon in Christ Church Cathedral.
In St Anne?s Cathedral, Belfast, the former Bishop of Limerick, the Rt Revd Edward Darling will preside at the Choral Eucharist. By tradition in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, Easter is one of the days on which the Dean occupies the pulpit and Dr Robert MacCarthy will preach at the Festival Eucharist while at Evensong the Cathedral Choir will sing the Easter music from Handel?s Messiah.
RTE will broadcast an Easter Communion Service from St Mark?s Church, Tandragee, Co. Armagh. The celebrant and preacher will be the Revd Shane Foster and the broadcast will begin at 10.50 am.
Next Tuesday the services in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin will be sung by the Hexham Abbey Girls? Choir and from Wednesday to Friday the visiting choir will be the King?s Voices from King?s College, Cambridge.
After Easter the Dean of St Patrick?s will travel to North America. On the Sunday after Easter he will preach in St Thomas? Church, Fifth Avenue, New York, where he will also conduct a seminar on his illustrious predecessor, Jonathan Swift. While in New York, Dr MacCarthy, will also address the Trollope Society on ?Anthony Trollope in Ireland?. From New York he will travel to Canada to attend the four day conference of North American deans in Ottawa.
The exhibition, ?Conserving the Dream. Treasures of St Fin Barre?s Cathedral?, which was mounted in Cork Public Museum during the city?s tenure as European Capital of Culture, has just ended. On display were a selection of full colour cartoons for the cathedral?s windows and plaster maquettes for its sculptures, all designed during the 1860s by the cathedral?s architect, William Burges. These had been specially restored for the event. As a result of the exhibition a benefactor came forward to assist with the restoration of the extensive collection of cartoons. With this gift and further assistance from the Heritage Council it is expected that the entire collection of cartoons will be restored and conserved. The rehabilitation of what is certainly a national treasure is at least one example of a tangible benefit flowing from the European Capital of Culture event. It is also an important precursor to developing intellectual access to the Burges archive which is a joint project between St Fin Barre?s Cathedral and University College Cork.