CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 11th September 1999
From: The
RCB Library
Email: RCB Library
Installation of Dean of St Patrick's
Today (Saturday), in the context of Evensong, the Very Revd Dr Robert
MacCarthy will be installed as Dean of St Patrick's.
President McAleese will attend the service as will the Lord Mayor of
Dublin and the Mayors of Galway and Kilkenny, two cities in which Dr
MacCarthy has served. The lessons will be read by the Ceann Comhairle,
Mr Seamus Pattison T.D., and by Senator David Norris who is a member of
the Cathedral congregation. The new dean has chosen to preach and there
has been much speculation, not without associated frissons of
trepidation, about what he may say.
Dr MacCarthy gained considerable experience as an administrator in
several universities and with the Church Commissioners in London before
his ordination in 1979 and this, together with a forthright pastoral
style, is thought likely to prove an invigorating experience for those
in and around St Patrick's.
St Patrick's is a national rather than a diocesan cathedral, and as
the shrine of Jonathan Swift, is one of the country's major tourist
attractions. The balancing of the particular needs of a small regular
congregation, the demands of the many special commemorative services,
and the ever increasing expectations of the international tourist trade
will test the abilities of the new dean to the full.
Today (Saturday) the links between Dublin and San José will be
further strengthened when a group from the American city's Irish
American Heritage Society will visit Christ Church Cathedral.
Tomorrow (Sunday) RTE will broadcast Morning Service from St Etchen's
Church, Killucan, where the rector is Canon Patrick Carmody. In St
Eunan's Cathedral, Raphoe, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Dr James
Mehaffey, will ordain Mr Kenyon Homfray to the diaconate to serve in the
parish of Convoy. The Bishop of Cork, the Rt. Revd Paul Colton will
re-dedicate St Mary's Collegiate Church, Youghal, while in Armagh the
preacher at the annual Friends' Festival Service in St Patrick's
Cathedral, will be the Dean of Ossory, the Very Revd Norman Lynas. In
Belfast the congregation of St George's Church, High Street, will begin
a period of worship in the Chapel of Unity in the Methodist College
while their church is refurbished. On Monday evening in St Jude's parish
hall, Belfast, the AGM of the Irish branch of the Church Society will be
held. The speaker will be the Revd David Phillips, Director of the
Church Society in England. The Bromma Church Choir from Stockholm will
begin a short Irish tour in Clifden where they will sing in Christ
Church. On Tuesday they will be in Dublin for a concert in All Saints
Church, Blackrock, and on Wednesday they will give a recital in St
Patrick's Church, Greystones.
The Irish College of Preachers will begin a conference in the Church
of Ireland Theological College, Dublin, on Wednesday which will continue
until Friday. The principal speaker will be the Bishop of Meath and
Kildare, Dr Richard Clarke, and the bible studies will be led by the
Revd Dr Alan McCormack, Chaplain in Trinity College, Dublin.
On Thursday the Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, the Rt. Revd Edward
Darling, will preside at an ecumenical service to launch an appeal for
St Brendan's Cathedral, Clonfert, the medieval doorway of which is one
of the great icons of Irish heritage.
On Friday the Bishop of Tuam, Dr Richard Henderson, will conduct a
quiet day for the clergy of the dioceses of Down and Dromore. The Revd
Nigel Waugh, Rector of Delgany, has been appointed All Ireland Chaplain
of the Mothers' Union in succession to Canon Thomas Haskins.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com/ |
