CHURCH OF IRELAND NOTES
For Saturday 14th December 2002
From: The RCB Library
Email: RCB Library
Church of Ireland Contribution to the National Forum on Europe
The National Forum on Europe met last Wednesday in Dublin Castle
where the Church of Ireland was represented by Dr Kenneth Milne.
In its submission
the Church of Ireland welcomed the establishment of the Convention
on the Future of Europe and recognised that for the first time
an Intergovernmental Conference was being preceded by a participative
process rather than being simply a closed discussion between governmental
representatives. It similarly welcomed the creation of a Working
Group on Social Europe and it hopes that national governments
will avail of this opportunity to reinvigorate democratic political
life by ensuring that citizens sense that their concerns are being
heard and taken seriously.
The Conference of European Churches, to which the Church of Ireland
belongs, brings together 127 Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and
Old Catholic Churches in every country of the continent. The submission
to the Convention by the Conference’s Church and Society
Committee, makes two important points. First, that for many people
in the member and candidate states there is a mistrust of political
life which threatens to discredit and destabilise representative
democracy. Secondly, many people in the member states do not have
a great sense of European identity as their primary identification
is with their nation, region or locality. However, the perception
that the EU makes a positive difference to everyday life could
do most to deepen a sense of European identity.
The Church of Ireland hopes that whatever constitutional text
or treaty emerges from the present process will define the fight
against poverty and social exclusion as a key objective of the
EU, and would welcome the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental
Rights.
The Church of Ireland submission also emphasised its strongly
held view that consultation must go beyond formality: that there
should be clear signs that the organizations of civil society
will be heard and that there will be feed back from the Convention
and its working groups to demonstrate this. Indeed it urged that
the rights of consultation with civil society should be built
into any constitutional text or treaty.
This evening (Saturday) in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Amnesty
International will present “Carols for Freedom” while
in St George’s Church, Belfast, the St George’s Singers
will perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Tomorrow (Sunday), at Evensong, in St Patrick’s Cathedral,
Dublin, the Canon Treasurer, Canon H.C. Mills, will preach at
the presentation of choristers’ awards. This will be followed,
at 4.30 pm, by an organ recital by David Leigh of Messiaen’s
La Nativite du Seigneur. The Annual Dublin Civic Carol Service
will begin in St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, at 7.00 pm
and will be attended by the Lord Mayor, Councilor Dermot Lacey,
the Archbishop of Dublin, and civic and community leaders. There
will be a civic dimension also to the lunchtime carol service
in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Thursday, which will be
sung by the Cathedral Girls’ Choir. The proceeds will go
to the Mansion House Christmas Fuel Fund, formerly the Lord Mayor’s
Coal Fund.
On Monday the Vicar of St Ann’s, Canon Tom Haskins, will
begin a sit-out for charity which will continue until Friday 20
December. From 9.00 am until 6.00 pm each day Canon Haskins will
be outside the church to receive contributions which will be divided
between the Bishops’ Appeal Fund and the Society of St Vincent
de Paul.
On Monday the Choir of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast will
be featured in the BBC’s Holiday programme which will be
devoted to Christmas weekend breaks in cities in Britain and Ireland.
Church of Ireland Notes appear in the
Irish Times whose web site may be found at
http://www.ireland.com
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