Resource for Christian-Muslim Dialogue in Ireland Launched in Cork; Interchurch Service in Irish in Christ Church Cathedral; Ethics and culture lecture; Christ Church dispute settled; ‘Hundreds’ face homelessness in NI; Colleges to merge in biggest third-level shake-up
Resource for Christian-Muslim Dialogue in Ireland Launched in Cork
On Wednesday of this week a significant step forward in the landscape of interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims in Ireland was launched at the City Hall, Cork by Deputy Lord Mayor , Councillor Emmet O’Halloran. A new resource booklet A Journey Together, the fruit of a two year project between Christians and Muslims sponsored by the Cork based organisation Cois Tine, aims to help Muslims and Christians living in communities to be good neighbours, colleagues and friends, as well as to understand each other better. Cois Tine is a multicultural organisation that respects and promotes the integration of people from all communities, cultures and faiths. The resource was researched by Gerard Forde.
The Reverend Daniel Nuzum, Ecumenical Officer in the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross was a member of the Muslim-Christian Steering Group for the dialogue project. During the last two years the project has engaged with Muslims and Christians in Dublin, Limerick and Cork.
Jointly welcoming the new resource, Bishop Paul Colton (Church of Ireland) and Bishop John Buckley (Roman Catholic) said:
This resource, especially with its firm focus on the ordinary everyday interaction between Muslims and Christians is a welcome contribution to the promotion of mutual understanding, respect and cooperation between Muslims and Christians in Ireland.
A Journey Together covers these subject areas: the nature of inter-religious dialogue; what each faith (Islam and Christianity) teachers; different kinds of dialogue; engaging in dialogue; a focus on Ireland; and, suggested additional resources. Further information is available from http://www.coistine.ie
Interchurch Service in Irish in Christ Church Cathedral
An Interchurch Service in the Irish language will be held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Friday, 25 January 2013. This service, a tradition for over 20 years, will celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, with hymns, prayers and readings. Hymns will be sung by the choir of Gaelscoil na Cille, Co. Meath. A consort of Christ Church Cathedral choir will sing canticles and an anthem. There will also be music played on the uilleann pipes. Clergy from the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church will be present, and the Rev Elaine Dunne, Church of Ireland, will preach this year. Representatives of the Lord Mayor are normally present also. Refreshments will be available in the medieval cathedral crypt after the service. This service is being organised by Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise and Pobal an Aifrinn, and there has traditionally been a large attendance. All are most welcome to this service, which will begin at 8pm. Further information: www.gaeleaglais.ie gaeleaglais@gmail.com
Ethics and culture lecture
Professor Elaine Graham, University of Chester, will speak on“Ethics and Cultural Engagement in Post–Secular Public Theology”on Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 17:00 in the Neill/Hoey Lecture Theatre, Trinity Long Room Hub
Elaine Graham is the Grosvenor Research Professor at the University of Chester and was until October 2009 the Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester.
Western society is entering an unprecedented political and cultural era in which many of the assumptions of classic sociological theory and of mainstream public theology are being overturned. Whilst many of the features of the trajectory of religious decline, typical of Western modernity, are still apparent, there are compelling and vibrant signs of religious revival, not least in public life and politics – local, national and global.
A number of scholars have adopted the terminology of the ‘post–secular’ to denote this supposedly problematic co–existence of re–vitalized religious activism as a decisive force in public life, both globally and locally, alongside the continuing trajectory of organisational religious decline, accompanied by robust defence of secularism in Western societies. This new dispensation of ‘post–secularity’ presents novel challenges for the way in which religious voices are mediated into public spaces. They must learn to negotiate a path between the ‘rock’ of religious revival and the ‘hard place’ of secularism.
Using examples from her own field of public theology, Prof Graham will consider how religious discourse and activism are having to renegotiate this new contested public space.
Elaine Graham is the author of Making the Difference: Gender, Personhood and Theology (1995); Transforming Practice: Pastoral Theology in an Age of Uncertainty (1996), Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture (2002) and Words Made Flesh: Writings in Pastoral and Practical Theology (2009), and co–author, with Heather Walton and Frances Ward, of Theological Reflection: Methods (2005).
Christ Church dispute settled
Irish Times – A long-running dispute in which the dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin was accused of “bullying” and being “physically aggressive” towards a former musical director was settled yesterday after lengthy negotiations at an Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The case – which has been running since last July – involves allegations of constructive dismissal by Judy Martin, who claimed she was unfairly treated, and subjected to “persistent, serious bullying” by dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev Dermot Dunne.
‘Time and patience’
After more than four hours in talks, Michael Mac Namee, for Rev Dunne, thanked the tribunal for its “time and patience”. Peter Shanley for Ms Martin said the two sides were “pleased to announce they settled amicably to the satisfaction of both parties”.
He did however request that they be allowed the liberty to re-enter the matter any time before April 15th. Thereafter the file will be closed.
Ms Martin (45) took up her post in 2003 but resigned in February 2011 amid claims her role had been “dismantled”. She claimed last November that she found Rev Dunne “quite frightening” at a meeting on December 16th, 2008.
Resignation ‘precipitous’
Mr Mac Namee said his client believed there was no need for Ms Martin to resign. “It was unwarranted” and “precipitous”, he said.
It emerged during last November’s hearings that Ms Martin had threatened to resign while working with Rev Dunne’s predecessor.
Under cross-examination, she agreed she had written two letters to the late dean, Rev Desmond Harmon, in 2005 and 2007. The 2005 letter contained “talk of resignation”.
Ms Martin – who studied in Cambridge and Oxford – had complained of “constant anti-English references” and said she was ignored and patronised. The claims were denied.
She said she developed shoulder and back pain and attributed this to stress.
‘Hundreds’ face homelessness in NI
BBC news – Hundreds of people in Northern Ireland are facing the prospect of homelessness in 2013, the Simon Community says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-21046956
The HEA proposes merging 39 colleges into 24
The Journal.ie – By reducing the number of institutions, the HEA believes it will improve quality, increase capacity and be better value.
http://www.thejournal.ie/the-hea-proposes-merging-39-colleges-to-24-756521-Jan2013/
Colleges to merge in biggest third-level shake-up
Independent – The number of publicly-funded third-level colleges in Ireland is to be cut from 39 to 15 in the biggest ever shake-up of higher education.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has proposed a radically altered third-level landscape aimed at improving quality, meeting demand and getting better value for money.
Colleges will have to merge or get involved in closer collaborations, either on a regional level or on the basis of specialism.
Initially, the HEA envisages a reduction to 24 colleges, but ultimately it wants just 15, which, in turn, would be part of five regional clusters.
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/education/latest-news/colleges-to-merge-in-biggest-thirdlevel-shakeup-3354720.html