Added on 12/01/2013

Programme for Centre for the Study of Irish Protestantism
The Centre for the Study of Irish Protestantism (www.irishprotestantism.ie) was launched at an inaugural conference entitled ‘Shaping identities’ last June. Linked to the Departments of Adult and Community Education and History at NUI, Maynooth it is interdisciplinary in nature and builds on the work carried out by a number of academics in the university over the last decade. Its role is to support research, discussion and exploration , and to act as a resource for Irish Protestantism. The Centre plans to hold a number of seminars and colloquia each year as well as an annual conference.

This year’s seminars will focus on three areas: the role of the churches in reconciliation; the problems and opportunities facing Protestant education; and a workshop on narrative and identity. The Centre will host the first visit by a Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to NUIM in March, and the second annual conference entitled ‘Irish religious history: Protestant, Catholic and beyond’ will be held in September 2013. Further information may be obtained by consulting the Centre’s web page or by contacting the Centre’s director at tony.walsh@nuim.ie

The Trinity College Dublin Chapel Choir will travel to Cavan this weekend  for their first tour of 2013. This evening (Saturday) they will sing at the 7.30pm Vigil Mass in the Cathedral of Saint Patrick and Saint Felim in Cavan town. Tomorrow (Sunday) morning  they will sing at the Morning Service in Urney parish church, Cavan, where Canon Mark Lidwill is the rector. The TCD Dean of Residence, the Revd Darren McCallig, will preach.

This morning (Saturday) at 11am in the Cathedral Hall, Enniskillen, Baraka – Journeys to Africa by Canon James Carson, Rector of St Paul’s Lisburn, will be launched in the presence of the Bishop of Clogher and Mr Ronnie Briggs, Mission Director of CMS Ireland. Copies of the book, which explores the meaning of mission and partnership, are available from the Good News Bookshop in Donegall Street, Belfast, at £10. At lunchtime there will be a concert in St Nicholas’ Collegiate church, Galway, by the Tufts University Concert Choir from Boston, Massachusetts.

Tomorrow (Sunday) morning on RTE television at 11am the Dean of Cashel, Dr Philip Knowles, will conduct a Service of the Word with members of his parish and the Gospel Choir. In Derryvullen North parish church, Irvinestown, the Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Revd John McDowell, will commission Dr Margaret Knox as Clogher Diocesan Mothers’ Union President.

Tomorrow (Sunday) the Bishop of Derry & Raphoe, the Rt Revd Ken Good, will preach in Holy Trinity church, Culmore and St Peter’s parish church, Belmont, which are part of the Christ Church, Derry group of parishes where the rector is the Archdeacon of Derry, the Ven. Robert Miller. On Monday Bishop Good will again be in Derry to launch a new diocesan website – www.derry.anglican.org

On Tuesday evening at 7pm the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, will launch the Biblical Association for the Church of Ireland‘s Lent 2013 Bible Study Resource entitled, ‘Gender Justice’. This set of five Bible studies pairs passages relating to this theme from the Old and New Testaments each week, offering reflections, notes and questions for group discussion. A selection of prayers on the theme and a bibliography are included. The materials have been written by Dr Katie Heffelfinger, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, Canon Ginnie Kennerly, the Revd Dr William Olhausen, Dr Jason Silverman, Canon Helene Steed and Ms Jacqui Wilkinson.

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’