Added on 09/02/2013

Saturday 9 February 2013

Christian Unity Meeting in Edinburgh
Every two years or so the secretaries of the Christian unity committees of the Anglican provinces of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales meet to exchange notes. This year’s event took place in Edinburgh in January under the auspices of the Scottish Episcopal Church (it is hoped that Dublin will be the venue next time), and was attended Dr Kenneth Milne, Honorary Secretary of the Church of Ireland Commission for Christian Unity. 

The other three Churches are particularly interested in the progress that the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland are making in the context of their covenant relationship, and are also following with interest contacts that we have made with the Moravian Church in Ireland. There was an assessment of the current status of the Anglican Covenant. From the Irish perspective, the recent comprehensive review of its ministry and structures carried out by the Church in Wales suggests the possibility that a similar exercise could be of value in Ireland. Recent developments in training for the ministry of the Church of Ireland are also looked at with interest by the other provinces.

What is clear is that all four Anglican provinces in these islands face a multiplicity of questions, not least those created by an ever–increasing ethnic diversity, to be addressed with diminishing resources. Such issues are made even more complex by mounting debate on the implications for the Churches and their members of possible Scottish withdrawal from the United Kingdom and of the prospect of the possible withdrawal of the UK itself from the EU. Such historic developments would have major implications for Ireland, north and south. Likewise, our neighbouring Anglican provinces are aware of the unique position of the Church of Ireland, ministering as we do in two political jurisdictions, and of the significance for us of the decade of commemorations which is being marked in both parts of Ireland.

On Monday evening in the Visitor Centre of St Audoen’s church, Dublin, Professor Raymond Gillespie, from NUI Maynooth, will launch The Vestry Records of the Parish of St Audoen, Dublin, 1636–1702. Edited by Dr Maighréad Ní Mhurchadha, this is the sixth volume in the RCB Library’s Texts and Calendars series which in published by Four Courts Press.

On Tuesday morning the Archbishop of Dublin will participate in a Service of Remembrance at the Salvation Army’s Granby Centre, and in the evening he will be in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute where he will deliver a talk at the Continuing Ministerial Education session in ‘Gospel and Culture’. At 7pm in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, Professor Des O’Neill, Professor of Medical Gerontology in TCD, will deliver the 2013 TCD Ecumenical Chaplaincy Lecture on ‘Raiding the Inarticulate: Religion, Spirituality and Healthcare’. Admission is free and all are welcome.

The Bishop of Connor’s Lent talks, which will focus on the Ministry of Healing, will begin in Bushmills on Tuesday and continue at venues throughout the diocese until 19 March. In each of the three archdeaconries there will be a one–evening seminar followed up with a service of prayer for healing with the laying–on of hands. Details may be at rpatterson@dioff-belfast.org

During Lent the parish of Bray will host a Narnia Festival as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations. The interactive exhibition will be launched at 11am on Ash Wednesday by the Archbishop of Dublin  and will run until Sunday 31 March. Further information may be had from Christ Church, Bray, at christchurchbray@gmail.com or 01–2862968

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’