CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 5th May 2001
From: The RCB Library
Email: RCB Library
Founder of the RCB Library Remembered
At first sight, a book entitled An Englishwoman in Belfast does
not suggest itself to a Church of Ireland readership. But the sub-title, Rosamund
Stephen's Record of the Great War, makes, at least for some, the
connection, for Rosamund Stephen was, in effect, the founder of the Representative Church Body Library. Her
gift of the Library of the Guild of Witness, which she had formed in 1901,
and the determination of the greatest leader which the Church of Ireland has
had this century, Archbishop John Gregg, that this gift should be accepted,
created, in 1931, the RCB LIbrary.
Rosamund Stephen came from a family which was part of the political and
intellectual elite of England. Her father was a High Court judge, her
grandfather had been Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, her
uncle was the editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, and her cousin
was the novelist, Virginia Woolf. The story of how this apparently
quintesessential Englishwoman became a member of the Church of Ireland and
sought to use that as a springboard for ecumenical mission is admirably
outlined in the introduction to this book. The substance of the volume,
Stephen's own record of her life in Belfast between 1914 and 1918, contains
many valuable insights into the politics of the time and in the words of the
editor "apply an idiosyncratic moral perspective to Ireland's political
history.
An Englishwoman in Belfast is a volume in Cork University Press's "Irish
Narratives" series and has been edited by Dr Oonagh Walsh, an
Irishwoman who teaches history in the University of Aberdeen.
Today (Saturday), in Maynooth, the Bishop of Meath, Dr Richard Clarke,
will conduct a Quiet Day for his auxiliary clergy. In Christ Church
Cathedral, Dublin, following Evensong, there will be a presentation of the
medieval liturgical drama Visitatio Sepulchri, written for the parish church
of St John the Evangelist which stood in Fishamble Street. This is part of
the Marsh's Library tercentenary celebrations. In St Patrick's Cathedral,
Dublin, Evensong will be sung by the choir of Beechwood Park School who will
also sing Evensong in the Chapel of Trinity College on Sunday and give a
lunchtime recital in St Patrick's on Monday.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the preacher in Trinity College Chapel will be the Revd
John McDowell, Rector of Kildollagh, Co. Antrim, and a member of the General
Synod Broadcasting Committee. In Monkstown parish church the Revd Kevin
Dalton will dedicate gifts in memory of Canon Billy Wynne which have been
given by old friends in the Mission to Seafarers. A the same service a piano
in memory of Eileen Ball, and choir and pew editions of the new Church
Hymnal, in memory of Dolly and Bob Bell will also be dedicated.
On Tuesday the Cashel and Ossory Clergy Conference begins in Dungarvan
and continues until Thursday while on Wednesday and Thursday the Meath and
Kildare clergy will meet in Bellinter where the guest speaker will be the
Rector of Bandon, Canon Michael Burrows.
On Wednesday evening in St Patrick's Cathedral, the George Hewson
Memorial Recital will be given by Professor Ian Tracey, Organist and Master
of the Choristers in Liverpool Cathedral. The St Patrick's choir will give a
fund raising concert on Friday evening when the programme will include
Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Britten's Hymn to St Cecelia.
On Friday evening in Tobermore the Bishop of Derry, Dr James Mehaffey,
will institute the Revd David Morrow to the incumbency of Kilcronaghan and
Ballinascreen. Mr Morrow has been Rector of Tempo, Co. Tyrone, since 1994.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com/ |
