The Church of Ireland
News Briefing

CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 26th October 2002

From: The RCB Library
Email: RCB Library

Dedication of Memorial to Dean Jack Shearer

Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Revd Alan Harper, will dedicate a memorial to the late Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd Jack Shearer who died in 2001. The Dean of Belfast, Dr Houston McKelvey, has invited a number of clergy who were associated with Dean Shearer's ministry to take part in the service. One of the lessons will be read by Monsignor Tom Toner from St Peter's Cathedral, the preacher will be Canon George Irwin, one of Jack Shearer's curates, and the cantor will be a former Dean's Vicar of the Cathedral, the Revd David Humphries.

The memorial will take the form of glass screens and doors for the Chapel of Unity. The screens are etched with the ecumenical logo which is in the wall behind the altar in the Chapel. They reflect the Cathedral's role in inter-church relationships and especially the creation by Dean Shearer and Monsignor Toner of the Cathedral's Partnership between St Anne's and St Peter's. The Chapel of Unity is used for daily services and the new screens will protect worshippers from the growing number of tourists who visit the cathedral.

This is the first part of a "Living Memorials" project which will seek to remember other Deans of Belfast. Already under way is the development of a Cathedral Centre in memory of Dean Shearer and his predecessor, Dean Samuel Crooks, while a badge of office, in memory of all the former Deans, is being designed.

Tomorrow (Sunday) RTE will televise a celebration of the Eucharist form St Nicholas' Collegiate Church, Galway, where the celebrant will be the Revd Tom Gordon and the preacher the Provost of Tuam, the Very Revd Patrick Towers. The Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames, will begin a lecture tour in the United States where he will be visiting the Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of North Carolina and Central Florida. He will also be launching an appeal for the renovations at St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. The appeal, which was first launched by the Primate during the summer, seeks to raise £500,000 to repair window stonework and glass, carry out interior repairs, refurbish the choir robing room and make improvements to the exterior landscaping. The total cost of these projects is estimated to be £1 million but grant aid is expected to meet half the amount.

In the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the preacher at the Sung Eucharist will be the Chaplain of the University of Bath, the Revd Jonathan Lloyd, while on Tuesday the Revd Dr Gabriel Daly will conclude a short series of Chaplaincy seminars on "Science and Religion".

On Tuesday in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, the final lecture in the current lunchtime history series, which has been organized in association with Dublin City Council, will be held. The speaker will be the Revd Roy Byrne, Curate of the Christ Church group of parishes, who will speak on "The Prebend of St Michan's".

The Derry and Raphoe Diocesan Synod will be held on Wednesday in the Synod Hall in Derry where the recently elected Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, the Rt Revd Ken Good, will preside for the first time.

On Friday the Bishop of Cork, the Rt Revd Paul Colton, will institute the Revd Adrian Wilkinson to the incumbency of Douglas Union in succession to the Archdeacon of Cork, the Ven. Robin Bantry White, who is now Rector of Moviddy Union. Mr Wilkinson has been Rector of Dunboyne in the Diocese of Meath since 1997.