CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 25th May 2002
From: The RCB Library
Email: RCB Library
Retirement of RCB Chief Officer
Next Friday Mr Robert Sherwood will retire from the
post of Chief Officer and Secretary of the Representative Church Body
and from Church of Ireland House where he has spent his entire working
career.
From Barna, Co. Galway, Robert Sherwood joined the
staff of the RCB straight from the King's Hospital in 1960. The
experience of school life in Thomas Ivory's stately building evidently
prepared him well for work in the gracious environment of the RCB
offices in 52 St Stephen's Green, the former town house of the Huguenot
banker, David La Touche, where he worked his way through the office
gaining invaluable experience of the many faceted life of an
ecclesiastical civil servant.
In 1969 he moved, with the rest of the staff, to new
purpose built offices in Rathmines and there he was largely responsible
for introducing the then revolutionary idea of computer applications to
the administration of the Church of Ireland. As Computer and Accounts
Manager from 1979 until 1989 he was at the heart of the modern office
which Church House had become and his appointment as Chief Officer
seemed to be a sound investment in the future.
The last thirteen years have proved the wisdom of his
appointment. An encyclopaedic knowledge of the workings of the RCB, an
apparently infinite capacity for hard work, a willingness to trust
others to get on with the tasks which have been delegated to them, and a
persona which combines professional discretion and an evident sense of
authority, tempered by countless unheralded instances of kindness and
generosity, have been his hall marks. They are traits which have served
the Church of Ireland well and he will be a hard act to follow.
Today (Saturday) the Bishop of Tuam will be
the speaker at the Church's Ministry of Healing Conference in Belfast
while in Bantry the Bishop of Cork will preside at the GFS Diocesan
Festival Service. In St James' Church, Crinken, Co. Dublin, the
Principal of the Free Church of Scotland Theological College, Professor
Donald McLeod, will lead a seminar on "Meekness and Majesty. A
Fresh Look at Jesus in St John's Gospel" and will preach at the
morning and evening services tomorrow (Sunday).
Tomorrow (Sunday) in St Mary's Cathedral, Tuam,
the Bishop of Tuam will ordain the Revd Maria Jansson, curate of Galway,
to the priesthood. In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin the Patronal festival will be celebrated with Orchestral Sung Eucharist with the
Cathedral Choir and Christ Church Baroque while after lunch the annual
Joe Coady Memorial Lecture on "How Cathedrals began" will be
given by the Canon Precentor, Professor Adrian Empey. In Belfast
Cathedral the Ven. Stephen McBride will be installed as Precentor by the
Dean, Dr Houston McKelvey. Dr McBride, who is Rector of Antrim, has
recently been appointed as Archdeacon of Connor. At 7.00 pm in St
Bartholomew's parish church, Dublin, the Annual Summer Concert with the
Parish Choir will begin.
On Tuesday Dr Ferdinand von Prondzynski, President of
DCU, will give the final lecture in the current lunchtime series in
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, where he will speak on "The 20th
and 21st Century Irish Church". In Abbeyleix parish church the
Cashel, Ossory and Ferns Mothers' Union Festival Service will be held
while on Wednesday the Derry and Raphoe Diocesan MU Festival Service
will take place in St Columb's Cathedral, Derry.
On Thursday, Evensong in St Patrick's Cathedral,
Dublin, will be followed by a fund raising concert on the eve of the
Cathedral Choir's trip to Coventry and Worcester. The recitalists will
be the cathedral's organists, Peter Barley and David Leigh.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the Irish
Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com/ |
