Irish Times Notes16 Mar 24

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

St Patrick’s Celebrations

Tomorrow (Sunday) is St Patrick’s Day when  there will be celebrations in churches and cathedrals across the Church of Ireland and especially in those dedicated to the national saint.

Radio listeners around Britain, Ireland and further afield will join in worship with the choristers and clergy of St Patrick’s cathedral, Dublin, on St Patrick’s Day as the BBC’s weekly Sunday Service will come from the Church of Ireland’s National Cathedral – a place of worship for over eight hundred years. The Service will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 8.10am and BBC Radio Ulster from 10.03am.

This Service of Matins will be introduced by the Dean of St Patrick’s, Dr William Morton, and led by the Dean’s Vicar, Canon Charles Mullen.  The preacher will be Canon Simon Doogan, Rector of Ballyholme parish in Bangor, County Down. Music will be led by Stuart Nicholson, as Master of the Music, and the organist will be Dr Harry Meehan.  The service will include an anthem by the Dublin–born composer Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924), who had connections with St Patrick’s in his early years while growing up in the city.

The programme will be available to play back after broadcast at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xcgx

In St Patrick’s cathedral, Dublin, on St Patrick’s Day, the Eucharist will be celebrated in Irish, by Canon David Oxley, at 9.15am, while at 11.15 the preacher at Patronal Choral Eucharist will be Canon Mark Gardner.. At 6.00pm, the Dublin Council of Churches will hold an ecumenical service in Saint Patrick’s on the theme: “From a Slave to a Servant of God.” The two Archbishops of Dublin hope to be in attendance.

In Armagh, where both cathedrals are dedicated to St Patrick, the St Patrick’s Vigil Walk will begin at 7.30 pm this evening (Saturday). The Vigil walk by torchlight will be led by the representatives of the city’s two cathedrals starting from the Church of Ireland cathedral and moving to the Roman Catholic Cathedral, a symbolic reflection of St Patrick’s own journey to unite through Christianity.

Light the Beacons is the theme for the Diocese of Down and Dromore’s annual St Patrick’s Day festival which will focus on praying for a rekindling of the fire of faith that Patrick lit in Ireland almost 1,600 years ago. 

The diocesan celebrations will begin today (Saturday) and will continue with special prayer services in parishes tomorrow (Sunday) when the guest preacher at the Festival Service at 11.45am in Down Cathedral will be the Rt Revd Dr Jill Duff, Bishop of Lancaster. The Festival Service will be preceded by a celebration of the Eucharist in St Patrick’s Memorial church, Saul, where the preacher will be Canon Bill Press, Rector of Knockbreda, followed by a Diocesan Pilgrimage from Saul to Downpatrick.

The Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Rt Revd David McClay, will light a symbolic fire at the end of the Festival Service and a representative from each church in the diocese will take a torch and a container of consecrated paraffin oil back to their parish.

In Cork, on St Patrick’s Day, the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne & Ross will preach and preside at the Civic and Festival Eucharist in St Fin Barre’s cathedral, after which the Lord Mayor of Cork will join Bishop Colton in planting an oak tree in the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace to mark Bishop Colton’s silver jubilee as a bishop, and after which the Bishop and Mrs Colton will host a reception at the Bishop’s Palace.