Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from the Irish Times
European Cultural Parliament Meeting
The second session of the European Cultural Parliament took place last week in Graz in Austria where the two Irish participants were Dr Kenneth Milne, the Church of Ireland Historiographer, and the pianist, Hugh Tinney.
The parliament is a privately funded gathering of artists and academics from all parts of Europe and has been established to explore ways in which Europe’s cultural traditions, so diverse and yet with so many common roots, can contribute to the development of the European spirit. While not confined to member states of the EU (soon to number twenty-five when ten further countries join on 1 May during the Irish presidency) those who participate in the parliament do so in the belief that cultural activities can do much to bring people together. While there has been much heart searching about the EU’s political role in the Balkans, there were many at Graz with first hand experience of how music in particular had furthered conflict resolution and had done much to rehabilitate people who had been seriously traumatised by recent horrific events.
The parliament’s session of 2002 was held in Bruges, then European City of Culture. Graz held that title in 2003 and Cork takes up the challenge in 2005.
Today (Saturday) the Annual Sale in aid of St Luke’s Home will be held at Castle Road, Mahon, Cork. In the evening, in Dublin, the joint choirs of St Patrick’s and Christ Church Cathedrals will give a concert of Christmas music in Christ Church at 6.30 pm.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Archbishop of Armagh will dedicate a memorial at Drumadd Barracks, Armagh, to those killed on service in Northern Ireland while in St Brendan’s Church, Birr, the Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe will institute the Ven. Wayne Carney, formerly Rector of Clonfert, to the incumbency. In St Bartholomew’s Church, Dublin there will be a service of Choral Evensong for the Credo fellowship which is dedicated to a life of daily communal prayer. The preacher at the service will be Canon David Pierpoint, who is the Diocesan Liturgical Officer with responsibility for promoting the Book of Common Prayer 2004. The ever popular Messiah for All, with the Dun Laoghaire Choral Society, will be held in Monkstown parish church at 8.00 pm.
In St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, the Webster Address, which is in memory of the Revd Dr George Webster, Rector of St Nicholas, Cork, 1858-90, will be given at the 11.15 service tomorrow morning (Sunday) when Dr Raymond Refauss, Librarian and Archivist in the RCB Library will speak on ‘Pro Christo et Ecclesia et Patria: Church Records in Cork from Webster to the Web’
On Wednesday the Archbishop of Armagh will preside at the AGM of the College of Preachers in Church House, Dublin, while in St Patrick’s Cathedral the Archbishop of Dublin will attend the Jubilee Ireland Advent Celebration.
The latest in an impressive list of parish histories, many of which have drawn heavily on the resources of the RCB Library, will be launched on Thursday night. A Glorious Extravaganza, an account of Monkstown parish church which is one of the most distinctive of ecclesiastical buildings, has been written by Etain Murphy and is published by Wordwell.
The centenary of St John the Evangelist’s Church, Ballyclare, will be marked on Friday evening when the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Revd Alan Harper, will dedicate alterations and gifts to the church. The preacher will be the Dean of Connor, the Very Revd John Bond, who is a former rector of the parish.