Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from the Irish Times
New Term In Theological College
Michaelmas term, the beginning of a new academic year, is under way in the Church of Ireland Theological College. The Principal, the Revd Professor Adrian Empey, presides over a full time academic staff of three, all of whom are in holy orders. The Revd Bernie Daly is Director of Pastoral Studies, the Revd Dr Alex Jenson is Lecturer in Divinity, and the Revd Kevin Moroney is Chaplain-Tutor. In addition the Revd Tom Gordon is Coordinator of the Auxiliary Training Programme and there is a host of specialists, both lay and clerical, who teach on a part-time basis. Most of the ordinands follow the B.Th course in Trinity College and so benefit from the teaching in the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Theological Studies as well as that in the Theological College.
There are twenty-eight ordinands in full time training for the stipendiary ministry spread over three years - nine in first year, nine in second year and ten in third year. Of these, less than a third are women. In the auxiliary training programme, which takes two years of part time study, there are twenty four ordinands and the proportion of men to women is similar to that in the full time training programme.
In addition to providing a base for stipendiary and auxiliary ministerial training, the Theological College is also a focus for other forms of theological education. The Archbishop of Dublin’s Course in Theology and the Dublin Theological Circle meet there as does the College of Preachers and the lay readers.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the Archbishop of Dublin will dedicate a Garden of Remembrance in St Patrick’s Church, Dalkey and in the evening he will preach at the Harvest Thanksgiving Service in the Mageough Home. The Mageough harvest thanksgiving will be combined with the theme of grateful commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Home which was founded by the will of Elizabeth Mageough who died in 1869. In St Bartholomew’s Church, Dublin, there will be a Festival of Music and Preaching at which the Revd Desmond Murray, formerly Rector of Milltown, will preach in the morning and the Revd Alan Matchett, Curate of Stillorgan and Blackrock, will preach at Choral Evensong. In Co. Mayo the preacher at the Harvest Thanksgiving Service in Foxford will be the former Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Dr James Mehaffey.
On Monday the Archbishop of Armagh will address the Meath Peace Forum, in Navan, on ‘Reconciliation, Peacebuilding and the Churches’ while the Archbishop of Dublin will be the preacher at the annual Law Service in St Michan’s Church, Dublin.
The Church’s Ministry of Healing will hold a special service in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, on Tuesday evening to mark the introduction of the new CMH All Ireland Director, the Revd Sue Watterson. The preacher will be the Archbishop of Armagh who will subsequently join the Archbishop of Dublin in Edinburgh where the Primates of the Porvoo Churches will be meeting.
On Thursday the second in the current ‘I Believe’ series of lunchtime talks will begin at 1.00 pm in the Church of St George and St Thomas, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin. The speaker will be Fr George Zavershinsky of the Russian Orthodox Church.
On Friday the Archbishop of Armagh will be in London where he will attend the National Service of Remembrance in St Paul’s Cathedral for those who have died in Iraq. In Cashel Cathedral the Very Revd Trevor Lester will be installed as Precentor and the Revd Ian Knox as Honorary Vicar by the Dean of Cashel, Dr Philip Knowles.