The Church of Ireland
News Briefing

CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 9th November 2002

From: The RCB Library
Email: RCB Library

Remembrance Observances

Tomorrow (Sunday) in parish churches and cathedrals throughout Ireland there will be acts of remembrance. These will vary in scale and scope but all will have as a common theme the need to remember the tragic consequences of conflict.

In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, the dead of the many wars of the twentieth century, and all who have lost their lives in the Northern Ireland "troubles", will be remembered. The Eucharist will be a requiem, this year the setting by Gabriel Fauré, and the preacher will be the Revd Professor Adrian Empey. A somewhat different perspective may be provided in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, where the address at the College Act of Remembrance will be given by Dr Patrick O'Meara, Professor of Russian.

In the afternoon the preacher at the Remembrance Day Service in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, will be the former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr Trevor Morrow. President McAleese will attend the service as will be Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councilor Dermot Lacey, and diplomatic representatives from several countries including the ambassadors of Britain, Australia, Germany and China.

During the service the standard of the Burma Star Association, Republic of Ireland Branch, will be laid up in the cathedral. The Branch is closing down and its standard will join the other military flags in the north transept of St Patrick's.

In contrast a military association which is flourishing is the Dublin Fusiliers Association which in recent years has provided a dynamic focus for recalling the contribution of Dubliners to World War I. On Tuesday the lunchtime history lecture in City Hall, organised by Dublin City Council in association with Christ Church Cathedral, will be given by Mr Tom Burke who will speak on "The Dublin Fusiliers and the Great War, 1914-1918".

Tomorrow (Sunday) the Bishop of Kilmore, the Rt Revd Ken Clarke, will preach in Ohio Cathedral. The Bishop and a delegation from the Dioceses of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh are visiting their Link Diocese of Ohio. The bishop will also address the Ohio Diocesan Convention and he and Mrs Clarke will attend a course on congregational development.

In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, at 6.00 pm, the Cathedral Choir with Christ Church Baroque, will host an Abendmusik concert in the cathedral.

Thursday is the Feast of St Laurence O'Toole, the patron saint of Dublin, and one of the occasions on which, by tradition, the chapter of Christ Church Cathedral meets. This year, following the transaction of business, the chapter will be addressed by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Rt Revd John Neill, who will also be the celebrant at the Sung Eucharist at 6.00 pm.

In St George's Church, Belfast, the second discussion group, organised by Catalyst, on the Thirty Nine Articles will begin at 7.30 pm. The title for this session is "The Thirty Nine Articles are Sectarian". All are welcome and the organisers hope that many people will come, learn and put their point of view.

A new edition of Dr Alan Acheson's A History of the Church of Ireland has been published by Columba Press. The first edition, which was sold out, covered the period from 1691 to 1996. The new edition brings the story up to 2001 and comments on some of the controversies of recent times such as Drumcree, eucharistic hospitality, the training of ordinands and the failure of synodical reform. The writing of such "contemporary history" is a difficult exercise but for the modest investment of 35 euro/£20 readers can judge for themselves how well Dr Acheson has interpreted the near past.