CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 29th January 2000
From: The RCB
Library
Email: RCB Library
Retirement of Press Officer
Last month the Church of Ireland Press Officer, Mrs Elizabeth
Gibson-Harries, announced her intention to take early retirement. This
will take effect on Wednesday when she leaves the post which she has
held for fourteen years.
Liz Harries, as she was when appointed, was the third Church of
Ireland Press Officer. She succeeded the late Bobby Byers, who in turn
had succeeded Alan Johnston, and in her period of office the job, and
its demands, expanded considerably. This was due in part to Liz's
perception of communication which involved being pro-active, being
constantly available, and ensuring that the Church of Ireland view,
where appropriate, was always heard. But the expansion of the job was
due also to the escalation of the northern troubles. The seemingly
endless torrent of tragedy, political and personal, demanded a constant
response from the Church and the Press Officer was to the fore in
advising bishops and clergy on how to respond - heart rending funerals,
controversial political developments and, more recently, the protracted
problem of Drumcree were all part of the daily fare in the Press Office.
Elsewhere the Press Officer was a diligent and energetic secretary of
the Central Communications Board, a valued member of the Literature
Committee, and much more. She will be a hard act of follow.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Feast of St Brigid will be celebrated in St
Brigid's Cathedral, Kildare where the preacher at the festival Eucharist
will be the Rector of Kill o' the Grange, the Revd Ferran Glenfield. In
the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the preacher at the Sung
Eucharist will be the Revd Dr Oliver Rafferty SJ, Professor of
Ecclesiastical History in St Patrick's College, Maynooth. Dr Rafferty
will give the third in the current series of addresses on the theme of
"Community".
The Annual Service of Rededication of the Church of Ireland Men's
Society will be held in Lisburn Cathedral tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.
The sevice will be conducted by the Rector, the Revd W.S. Wright, and
the Act of Rededication will be led by the Chairman of the Society the
Very Revd Herbert Cassidy, Dean of Armagh. The preacher will be the
former Bishop of Connor, Dr Samuel Poyntz, who is also a former chairman
of the society.
Meanwhile, in Dublin, the third in the Bach Festival 2000 series of
concerts will be given in St Ann's Church, Dawson Street, where the
recitalist will be the harpsicordist, Malcolm Proud.
On Wednesday evening the Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, Dr
Richard Henderson, will institute the Revd Aean Ferguson as Vicar of
Killala and Kilmoremoy union of parishes. Mr Ferguson, who has been a
priest in the auxiliary ministry since 1990, has been curate in Killala
since 1997, and previously served in the Dioceses of Limerick and
Killaloe.
Wednesday is the Feast of Candlemas which brings the season of
Christmas to an end. In St John's Church, Sandymount, the Revd Dermot
Dunne, Dean's Vicar in Christ Church Cathedral, will preach at a
celebration of the Eucharist by candlelight while in the Chapel of
Trinity College there will be a Sung Eucharist and Processions at which
the preacher will be the Revd Dr Christopher Halliday. Dr Halliday, who
has been Rector of Rathdrum, since 1990, will shortly leave the Church
of Ireland to take up a parochial appointment in the Episcopal Church of
the United States of America where he will be joined by his wife, the
Revd Paula Halliday, who has been Rector of Crosspatrick, since 1997.
On Friday evening the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames, will be
the guest speaker at a meeting of the Tyrone Historical Society.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com/
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