Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland notes from the Irish Times
New Issue of Search
A new issue of Search. A Church of Ireland Journal, the last for this year will be out shortly. It will mark not only the completion of volume three of the journal but will be the last issue to be edited by the Very Revd Dr Stephen Whyte, Dean of Killaloe. Dr Whyte has been editor since 1996 when he succeeded the then Canon Michael Burrows. Under his editorship the output of the journal has increased from two to three issues per year while on a practical level the cover has been given a makeover and the quality of the binding has been improved.
The new editor is the Revd Dr Ginnie Kennerley, Rector of Narraghmore, who prior to ordination had considerable experience in the print media. Before moving into parish life she spent some years as Director of Pastoral Training in the Theological College which brought her into contact with a wide spectrum, not only of Church of Ireland life, but of Christian witness throughout Ireland.
The new issue of Search addresses some issues of topical concern in the Church of Ireland including theological learning, belief and liturgical change. The Revd Dr WJ Marshall, formerly Vice-Principal of the Theological College, has surveyed the theological output of the Church of Ireland over the last fifty years and his article promises to be a most useful work of reference. A more recent publication, Tried for Heresy, by the Revd Andrew Furlong, is assessed by Dr Andrew Mayes, Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Hebrew in Trinity College, Dublin.
The publication of the new Book of Common Prayer next year has begun to re-focus the Church of Ireland’s approach to liturgy and two articles in Search may provide some helpful background. The Revd Kevin Moroney, Chaplain-Tutor, in the Theological College, and Dr Margaret Daly-Denton, consider liturgical change from a Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic perspective respectively, while Dr Paul Bradshaw, writes on the inter-relationship between doctrine and liturgy.
Finally the former Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Donald Caird affectionately remembers one of the Church of Ireland’s finest scholars of the twentieth century, the Revd Coslett Quin, who was, among other things, Professor of Biblical Greek in Trinity College, Dublin, in the 1960s.
Search is available from the Religious Education Resource Centre, Holy Trinity Church, Church Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6. The current annual subscription is Euro 13 or £10.
Today (Saturday) the Orwell Park Community Choir from Ipswich will give a lunchtime recital in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning RTÉ will broadcast Sung Matins according to the Book of Common Prayer. The celebrant will be the Revd Tom Gordon and the preacher the Rector of Zion, the Revd Wilbert Gourley. In the evening there will be ‘Carols for the City’ in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast at which the lessons will be read by representatives of the city, the chambers of commerce and commercial life, while in Dublin there will be a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in St Patrick’s Cathedral for which tickets are not required.
On Monday evening there will be a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and on Christmas Eve RTÉ will broadcast the Festivals of Nine Lessons and Carols from St Patrick’s Cathedral.
RTE will broadcast a Christmas morning service from the parishes of Leixlip and Lucan where the rector is the Revd Scott Peoples while on RTÉ 1 there will be a televised morning service with parishioners of Killiney and their rector, the Revd Ian Poulton.