Services will mark International Day against homophobia; Archbishop preaches at Easter Rising anniversary; First for Presbyterian congregation; Irish PM rules out abortion referendum
Services will mark International Day against homophobia
The Church of Ireland group Changing Attitude Ireland (CAI) each year marks IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, May 17th) by arranging church services for IDAHO on a Sunday near May 17th.
This year two new church venues are joining IDAHO- one of these is St Canice’s Cathedral, KILKENNY which will be holding an IDAHO church service on Sunday May 12th at 8pm where the speaker will be the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt. Rev’d Michael Burrows. Other services on Sunday May 12th include St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin at 3.15pm where the speaker will be Canon Mark Gardner; and St Mary’s Cathedral Limerick at 7pm where the speaker will be Canon Marie Rowley-Brooke.
The second new-comer to IDAHO in 2013 is St Catherine’s church, Dominic St, Newry which will be hosting an ecumenical evening of sacred song and relections for IDAHO on Friday 17th May at 8.30pm (arranged by CAI in association with Newry Rainbow Community)
St. Anne’s Shandon in Corkwill be filled with the sound of the Con Fusion choir and hear out gay Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer give the address at its IDAHO service on Sunday May 19th at 10.30am. In Derry the service on May 26th will be at 4pm at St Columb’s Cathedral where the speaker will be Archdeacon Scott Harte.
All welcome irrespective of faith background. Flyer for all six venues at
Changing Attitude Ireland – promoting inclusion in the Churches for LGBT people –
www.changingattitudeireland.org
Archbishop preaches at Easter Rising anniversary
Irish Times – This generation of Irish people should be cautious of those who politically manipulate and exploit the legacy of 1916 and surrounding events, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Dr Michael Jackson said at the annual State commemoration of the Easter Rising at Arbour Hill in Dublin.
Dr Jackson gave the main sermon at the Mass and commemoration service held at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Arbour Hill yesterday.
The archbishop said the legacy of 1916 lay in the bedrock of contemporary Ireland and it and the subsequent years of civil war and political accommodation to an emerging Ireland had made a contribution to “who we are and who we are yet to become”.
“But Ireland cannot forever hide behind an ‘emerging Ireland’ nor should we want to . . . No one event can be taken in isolation, particularly as generations come and go and also as less and less of history as it actually happened is part of the lived memory . . .
“History develops a new function, that of releasing new energy in a tired and repetitive world, porous to exploitation by those who know that old fears and old symbols still sell and who still suppress those who can think otherwise and think for themselves,” Dr Jackson told the congregation.
President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Chief Justice Mrs Justice Susan Denham were the chief dignitaries at the annual commemoration. It culminated with the President, at the invitation of the Taoiseach, laying a wreath at the shrine to the leaders executed in the wake of the Rising.
Most members of the Cabinet were also present. Garda Assistant Commissioner John Twomey and Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Seán McCann were the chief representatives of the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. Dublin Lord Mayor Naoise Ó Muirí also attended.
Aifreann na Marbh
The chief concelebrant at the Mass, Aifreann na Marbh, was Bishop Raymond Field, an auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, with Msgr Eoin Thynne, head chaplain to the armed forces, and Fr Jerry Carroll. The choir came from St Patrick’s senior national school in Corduff, Blanchardstown, with soloists Mykela O’Sullivan, Natasha Tuite and Janet Itambo.
The President and his wife, Sabina Coyne, arrived at the church shortly before 10am. The President then inspected a captain’s guard of honour.
Following the Mass, the 1916 commemoration ceremonies were conducted at the plinth of the shrine in the grounds of the church.
There were multidenominational readings from representatives of the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, the Jewish congregation, the Presbyterian Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Islamic community and the Methodist Church .
Belfast Telegraph – The great-grandson of one of the men at the forefront of the Easter Rising has led tributes to the revolutionaries who fought for Ireland’s independence.
Gearoid O Briain is the descendant of Cathal Brugha, who fought in the 1916 rebellion and went on to be one of the founders of Dail Eireann.
He was among family members invited to a state ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1916 Rising, led by President Michael D Higgins.
“It’s a very proud day for my family,” said Mr O Briain, a lieutenant at the Air Corps flight training school.
“We’re here as relatives and it is a great honour.”
The 25-year-old has attended the ceremony every year with his father and uncle since he joined the Defence Forces seven years ago. He said he was looking forward to the 100th anniversary in three years time.
A special Mass was held at the Church of the Most Sacred Heart at Arbour Hill to commemorate those who fought in the Easter Rising 97 years ago.
President Higgins was joined by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Defence Minister Alan Shatter and a string of senior Government ministers at the ceremony, which also included an armed guard procession, a Last Post played by Army Number One Band, a minute of silence and a raising of the Irish flag to full mast.
The President, who was accompanied by his wife Sabina, laid a wreath at a special memorial at the Arbour Hill military cemetery, where revolutionaries Patrick Pearse and James Connolly are buried.
The Taoiseach gave a reading during the special church service, before Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson preached a sermon.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has ruled out allowing abortion for women who have been raped or where the unborn child has a fatal foetal abnormality, or even holding a referendum on the issue.
First for Presbyterian congregation
New Letter – Reverend Anne Tolland is now minister in charge of one of the largest congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
Her predecessor was the Rev Wilfred Orr, who recently retired.
Until taking up her new post at St John’s, as the Newtownbreda-based church is also know, Rev Tolland had been minister of Cairncastle in Co Antrim since 2001.
The Service of Installation was conducted by the Moderator of the Presbytery of South Belfast, the Rev Brian Hughes and its Clerk, Mr Cecil Graham.
The ‘Charge to the Congregation’ was given by the RevTom Wilson while other members of the Presbytery Commission and the Ballynafeigh Clergy Fellowship participated in the service, and the readings were taken by the Rev Fr Paddy McKenna. Under the leadership of the Rev Wilfred Orr and the late Rev Pat Lowry, Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church has played a major role in the Ballynafeigh Clergy Fellowship – which consists of all the branches of the Christian faith in the Ormeau Road locality – over the past 40 years.
It has been a sustained beacon for ecumenical activity throughout this period which encompassed many of the bleakest episodes of the city’s recent history of inter-communal violence.
Clerk of Kirk Session, Sir Bruce Robinson, said last Friday evening: “We are delighted to have our new minister, the Rev Anne Tolland, with us; it was a unanimous decision of the congregation to invite her here. Her ministry has been characterised by a deep Christian love and practical concern for people as was shown by the attendance this evening of friends from every congregation she has ever served in. We in Newtownbreda are delighted that the Ballynafeigh Clergy Fellowship by participating in the service are welcoming Anne to the Christian family on the Ormeau Road.”
Irish PM rules out abortion referendum
Mr Kenny said the Irish people had already voted in previous referendums and had provided provision for the right to travel for abortions.
He said terminations will only be allowed where there is a real or substantial threat to the woman’s life.
Mr Kenny was questioned in the Dail by Independent Waterford TD John Halligan, who said it was “warped justice” that women who were raped could be jailed for 14 years for having an abortion under the Irish government’s new legislation.
Mr Halligan called for a referendum on this and the fatal foetal abnormality issue, but Mr Kenny ruled this out.
Mr Kenny also said the abortion legislation can be changed when the Oireachtas Health Committee completes its hearings on the heads of the bill.