CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 31 October 1998
Re-opening of St Catherine's Church
Next Friday the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton
Empey, will re-dedicate the former St Catherine's Parish Church in
Thomas Street as a place of worship and it will be formally opened as
the headquarters of CORE (City Outreach Through Renewal &
Evangelism).
St Catherine's Church was closed in 1966 as the
Church of Ireland population in the city centre dwindled and worship was
transferred to St Victor's Church in Donore Avenue, originally the
chapel of ease of St Catherine's, which was re-dedicated as the parish
church of St Catherine and St James. Despite the architectural and
historical importance of the building, which is immortalised in one of
the Malton prints, no suitable use could be found for it and its steady
physical decline has been an ever present reproach to both the Church of
Ireland and to Dublin Corporation to whose custody it was transferred in
1969.
But times change. The commercial and domestic
re-vitalization of Dublin has brought many new residents to the city
centre and where people choose to live the Church must follow. CORE was
founded in 1993 to reach out to those in the city who had no affiliation
with the parish structures, and initially it shared St Werburgh's
Church. Under the leadership of the Revd Willi Stewart, CORE has been a
steadily growing congregation within the Church of Ireland and the need
for its own headquarters and the ready financial support for the
development of the former St Catherine's Church, has amply demonstrated
its vitality.
Today (Saturday) the Bishop of Limerick, the Rt Revd
Edward Darling, will begin a months sabbatical at St Deiniol's Library
in north Wales. In Roscrea, as part of an imaginative conference on
"Manuscripts and the Printed Word in Medieval Ireland", George
Cunningham, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Bolton Library in
Cashel, will speak about the Library's collections.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the Annual Citizenship
Service will be held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin where the
preacher will be the Dean, the Very Revd John Paterson. In All Saint's
Church, Grangegorman, the Dean of St Patrick's, Dr Maurice Stewart, will
preach at the Patronal Festival Eucharist during which the Archbishop of
Dublin will dedicate memorial plaques to two former vicars, the Ven.
Raymond Jankins and Canon James Hammond. In St Patrick's Cathedral,
Dublin the Revd Dr Alan McCormack, Chaplain of Trinity College, will be
installed as Succentor while in St Fethlimidh's Cathedral, Kilmore the
Revd Mark Lidwill, Rector of Urney, will be installed as Prebendary of
Triburnia. The Bishop of Cork, the Rt Revd Roy Warke, who has recently
returned to duty after heart surgery, will visit Caheragh and
Abbeystrewry where he will close the Christian Stewardship programme.
On Monday the Armagh Clergy Conference begins in
Dunfanaghy where, at the invitation of the Primate, Dr Robin Eames, the
guest speaker will be Dr David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity in
Cambridge. In the evening in St Patrick's Church, Greystones there will
be a concert by the Engelbrekt Vokalensemble from Stockholm in aid of
parish funds.
A course on the Eucharist, in the Centre for
Christian Studies in St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, begins on Wednesday
with a talk from the Dean of Cork, Dr Michael Jackson entitled
"Surely not more liturgical revision!".
In Dublin, on Thursday, there will be a Christmas
Card Charity Fair in the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook beginning at 10.00
am while in the evening, in St Peter's Church, Culmore Road,
Londonderry, the Church's Ministry of Healing in the Dioceses of Derry
and Raphoe wil host an Evening Conference at which the speaker will be
the Revd Roy Lester from Coleraine.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com/ |
