CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 25 July 1998
Jim Packer to Visit Dublin
The distinguished Anglican theologian, Dr James
Packer, will visit Dublin on Friday when he will give two lectures at
the Kill o' the Grange parish centre on the theme
"Evangelical-Roman Catholic Relationships". At 3.00 pm he will
address the annual conference of the Irish Lausanne Committee for
Evangelization and will speak again at an evening meeting at 8.00 pm.
All clergy, lay readers and church workers will be welcome.
Dr Packer is a prolific writer and one of the best
known figures in modern Christianity, having been named as one of the
most influential theologians of the twentieth century, second only to
C.S. Lewis. Many will be familiar with his work through books such as
Keep in Step with the Spirit, Knowing God, and God has Spoken and his
publications have sold more than two million copies throughout the
world. His reputation has drawn many students to Regent College,
Vancouver where he teaches and where his immense contribution has been
recognised by the establishment of the J.I. Packer Chair of Theology.
Another, and equally prolific member of the faculty
at Regent College, the Belfast born Alister McGrath, who is Professor of
Systematic Theology in Vancouver as well as being Principal of Wycliffe
Hall in Oxford, has produced a major biography of Packer. To Know and
Serve God. A Biography of James I. Packer, published by Hodder Stoughton
in 1997, is an important chronicle and analysis of the career and
influence of perhaps the most important figure from the evangelical wing
of the anglican churches.
Tomorrow (Sunday) RTE will televise Morning Service
with the congregation of Christ Church, Gorey where the rector is the
Revd Charles Mullen while in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin the
services will be sung by the choir of Colyton Grammar School, Devon. At
Clonmacnoise the Annual Open Air Service will be held at 4.00 pm when
the preacher will be the Rt Revd George Conmor, Bishop of the Bay of
Plenty in New Zealand.
On Monday the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral,
Dublin begins its annual summer tour which this year will be to Lincoln
and as in previous years this tour has been financially assisted by the
Cultural Relations Committee at the Department of Foreign Affairs. The
Choir will be in residence for a week singing evensong each day in the
Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and ending with three major
services on Sunday 2 August. This will be a particularly testing
assignment since the Lincoln Cathedral organ is undergoing restoration
and so all the services must be sung unaccompanied. Lincoln has one of
the finest examples of a "Father" Willis organ built one
hundred years ago and substantially renovated in 1960. Since then,
however, its use has increased considerably with more services,
recitals, broadcasts and recordings and so in its centenary year a major
overhaul has become inevitable. An exciting programme of events, later
in the year has been planned to mark the centenary of the organ for as
the organizers appropriately point out "Silent Cathedrals are the
most awesome monuments; fill them with music and you have one of the
most potent keys of Man's devising for unlocking his earth-bound
spirit".
The lunchtime recital in St Patrick's Cathedral,
Dublin on Wednesday will be given by Daniel Moult, Organist of Coventry
Cathedral and on Thursday, in St Audeon's Church, Cornmarket, Raymond
O'Donnell will continue the series of Mendelssohn organ recitals at 1.10
pm.
On Wednesday and Thursday Evensong in Christ Church
Cathedral, Dublin will be sung by the Southburgh Choir from Norfolk.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at http://www.ireland.com/ |
