Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from the Irish Times
Church History Lectures in Sion Mills
One of the more remarkable developments in recent years has been the growth in curiosity about all aspects of the Church of Ireland. This is, in part, a consequence of Vatican II which laid the foundations for a closer relationship between the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church and is also a result of a more mature awareness of the richness of Ireland’s cultural diversity which has largely swept away the notion of Irishness being largely defined as catholic and gaelic. Moreover, and most paradoxically, interest in the Church of Ireland has increased as its numbers have declined. The Church of Ireland has not yet become an officially protected minority but there have been many signals, especially in rural Ireland, of the importance which the majority community attaches to having a Church of Ireland presence in its midst.
However, nowhere is this interest in the Church of Ireland more apparent than in its history. The upsurge in interest in local history has seen our understanding of life in the localities transformed by a series of studies many of which have concentrated on the Church of Ireland. Miriam Moffett’s study of the Church of Ireland community in Killala and Achonry and John Crawford’s portrait of the Dublin parish of St Catherine, both published in the excellent Maynooth Studies In Irish Local History Series, are but two examples of such work. Side by side with historical studies has come a renewed willingness by Church of Ireland people to write about themselves and their families. Memoirs such as Homan Potterton’s Rathcormack and Hugh Weir’s One of Our Own have provided intriguing insights into Church of Ireland life as too have the recently published recollections of two Church of Ireland clergy, Patrick Semple and Kevin Dalton.
In such circumstances there is a certain responsibility on the Church of Ireland to ensure that its people are properly educated about their past, informed about the present and inspired for the future. A series of lectures in the parish of Urney, Sion Mills, organized by the rector, the Revd David Skuse, provides a model for such local action. A lecture on the early celtic church has already been given by Canon Fred Fawcett and on Monday Mr J. Mills will speak on the Church at the Reformation. Two subsequent sessions on the Church of Today and the Church of Tomorrow will be led by the former Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Dr James Mehaffey, and his successor, the Rt Revd Ken Good.
Today the Archbishop of Dublin will chair a meeting of Affirming Catholicism Ireland in the Theological College. The speakers on the subject “Christian Orthodoxy in the 21st Century” will be the Revd Dr Alex Jensen, the Revd Maria Jansson and the Revd Dr Ron Elsdon. The Trinity College Chaplaincy’s visit to Kilkenny will conclude with Evensong in St Canice’s Cathedral while in Chicago the Dean of Belfast and the Cathedral’s Head Chorister will attend a conference on “Will Our Children Have Faith”. In St Peter’s Church, Portlaoise the Revd Hilary Dungan will be instituted to the Portlaoise group of parishes by the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Revd Peter Barrett.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the services in Belfast Cathedral will be sung by the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, while in Cashel Cathedral there will be a Praise Service featuring the Dublin Male Voice Choir. In the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the sermon on the theme “What Makes me Tick” will be delivered by the Irish Ambassador to Germany, Sean O hUiginn.