Reports include – Discussion on Social Welfare Reform Hosted by the Church Leaders[ RB Library Archive – Douglas Hyde; Education Newsbrief (RI); Rector on song at Women’s InstituteService to remember all victims of Troubles
Belfast Telegraph – An “open and all inclusive” service to remember those killed or injured during the Troubles will take place in Belfast at the weekend.According to organisers, the service, held at St Anne’s Cathedral on Sunday (3.30pm), is intended to represent both sides of the community who have been caught up in the violence — including those killed by both paramilitaries and the security forces. Organiser Alan McBride of the WAVE Trauma Centre said he had personally invited both The First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness — along with MLAs and TDs from the Republic and religious representatives.
Church Leaders call for Government and Executive Clarity on Welfare Reform
Northern Ireland’s church leaders have called for more clarity regarding the proposed legislation on welfare reform and an indication of what will be decided by Westminster legislation and the areas in which the Northern Ireland Assembly will have autonomy. The call was made at the beginning of a discussion event organised by the church leaders and held tonight, Wednesday 29 February at 7.30pm in the Presbyterian Assembly Hall, Assembly Buildings, Fisherwick Place, Belfast. (ref: media invitation issued Monday 27 February.) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, and Social Development Minister, Nelson McCausland, addressed an invited audience and took questions from a panel representing various interest groups whose work will be directly affected by changes to the legislation. The church leaders involved were Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop Alan Harper, Presbyterian Moderator Dr Ivan Patterson, Methodist President Rev Ian Henderson and President of the Irish Council ofChurches, Dr Richard Clarke. Last December the church leaders travelled to London to voice their concerns to Lord Freud, the Minister for Welfare Reform who is drafting the legislation. Subsequently they have held meetings with the Secretary of State and Minister McCausland. “Our primary concern as Church leaders has been to clarify the implications of the Social Welfare reforms passing through Westminster for the people of Northern Ireland,” said Cardinal Brady. “We want to respectfully challenge those who hold authority in civil society to act with justice and to show compassion to those most in need. Those with the least capacity to suffer cuts should not be made to suffer more. We want to express our concern at the potentially dramatic and negative consequences for some of the most vulnerable in our society and for the wider economy in Northern Ireland.”
http://ireland.anglican.org/news/3972
Kisiizi Evening at St Paul’s, Glenageary
Over the past three years St Paul’s Parish, Glenageary, has supported the construction of four new operating theatres at Kisiizi Hospital in Uganda. The parish raised €200,000 for the building and for the training of an Ugandan surgeon. The work on site has been directed by parishioner, David Barrett, a retired engineer. On Thursday March 8 they are holding a Kisiizi evening in St Paul’s Parish Centre to celebrate the completion of the project and to thank all who contributed.
RB Library Archive – Douglas Hyde’s ‘modern Irish’ translation of St Patrick’s Breastplate
Irishness and complex identity issues within the Church of Ireland in the early 20th-century are revealed in the RCB Library’s Archive of the Month online feature for March. This covers the story of Douglas Hyde’s ‘modern Irish’ translation of the St Patrick’s Breastplate hymn, which he provided at the request of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise, the Irish Guild of the Church of Ireland, in 1915.
In the context of rapidly-changing political and cultural life in Ireland, the Guild was founded the previous year for interested members of the Church of Ireland ‘to promote the objects of the Irish Revival’. The early minute books of this organization are kept safe in the RCB Library (MS 131), and reveal its early activities including promoting the use of the Irish language for worship, and collecting and publishing suitable Irish prayers and hymns and other religious literature.
Dr Douglas Hyde, then Professor of Irish at University College Dublin, was invited by Ethne (Anne Beatrice) Culverwell a young member of the Guild to provide a modern version of ‘the great Trinity Hymn of Irish Christianity’, St Patrick’s ‘Lorica’ or ‘Breastplate’ which survives as an 11th-century manuscript. This would later be published in a collection of hymns the Duanaire Diadha (Dublin, 1916) circulated by the Guild. Whilst various English translations of the Breastplate had been made during the 19th century, the Irish original had never been modernized, with the result that the language had changed so much that the text had become incomprehensible. A note penned by Culverwell in 1980, when she presented the translation to the RCB Library, reveals that she was deputed ‘to get a modernized version of the Breastplate’ from Hyde ‘being known to be rather a pet of his’.
www.ireland.anglican.org/library/archive
Education Newsbrief (RI), Spring 2012
The Spring 2012 edition of Education Newsbrief (RI) newsletter may be accessed at:
http://ireland.anglican.org/news/3967
Rector on song at Antrim Women’s Institute
Antrim Times – The Rev. Ian and Mrs Hillary Magowan of Connor were the guest speakers. Hillary had ladies singing and tapping their feet to songs from the Six Counties and quizzes. She then produced items from bygone days for the members to say what they were used for. Hillary and Rev. Ian then sang a duet, which was followed by the Rev. Ian telling the ladies about his hobby, photography and he had cameras from his large collection with him. He then finished with a summary of how he entered the Church Of Ireland Ministry. This was an enjoyable and relaxing evening followed by a lovely supper of homemade pancakes by May and rhubarb tart.
http://www.antrimtimes.co.uk/community/on_song_at_antrim_women_s_institute_1_3566535