C of I plea as Girl Guides drop God from promise; Events; Malahide National School Extension Opens; Praying for those with cancer
C of I plea as Girl Guides drop God from promise
Belfast Telegraph – The Church of Ireland has called for all Girlguiding organisations to give Christian members the option of putting God back in their ‘promise’ in a growing row which has stunned the organisation.
Following an “in-depth consultation process” earlier this year, the wording of the promise has been updated to make guiding “truly open to all girls and women,” according to the Girlguiding movement.
In the new promise, which has been in place since the beginning of September, the words “to be true to myself and develop my beliefs” replaced “to love my God”, and the words “to serve the Queen and my community” have replaced “to serve the Queen and my country”.
The Church of Ireland has now publicly expressed its concern and says it cannot support the new promise being used.
The issue was raised at the most recent meeting of the Standing Committee of the General Synod.
In a statement the church said: “We request that Girlguiding Ulster and Girlguiding UK, as soon as possible, provide its many children and leaders from a Christian background the option to make a promise to serve God.
“In addition, we request that no Church of Ireland-based Guiding unit compel its new members to make this new promise.”
It is also believed that a Co Antrim troop was forced to relocate after adopting the new promise.
Executive manager of Girlguiding Ulster Claire Flowers said she wanted to wait until after talks with the churches to comment.
“We’ve a good relationship with ministers and churches and we want to maintain that,” she said.
The Girl Guides are hoping to meet with the major churches within the next month to discuss “issues and concerns”.
An urgent meeting is scheduled to take place this evening among Girl Guide leaders ahead of the talks with churches.
The new promise reads:
I promise that I will do my best:
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs,
To serve the Queen and my community,
To help other people
And to keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.
Events
Today (Saturday) there will be a rural affairs conference, ‘Caring for Rural Communities in Times of Change: A Church of Ireland Response’ at the Horse and Jockey, Co. Tipperary, while, in the CITI, Affirming Catholicism Ireland will host a conference on ‘Clerical Formation in the Catholic Tradition’ with contributions from the Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd John Mann, Canon Michael Kennedy and Canon Patrick Comerford.
In Derry the 400th anniversary of the London–Londonderry link will be marked by a visit of the Bishop of London. Dr Richard Chartres. He will give the autumn lecture of the Friends of St Columb’s cathedral this evening (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) will preach at the Choral Eucharist and give a reflection at Choral Evensong.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11 am RTE will televise the Harvest Thanksgiving Service of Athy parish which will be conducted by the Very Revd Philip Knowles with the Tipperary Singers Choral Group while in the evening in St Mary’s church, Dungarvan, the Bishop of Cashel & Ossory will preside at an ecumenical bi–lingual Harvest Festival with members of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise and Cór Fear na nDéise. The 25th anniversary of the Flying Angel Centre in Belfast will be marked with a Service of Thanksgiving in St Anne’s cathedral, Belfast, where the preacher will be the new Mission to Seafarers Secretary–General, Canon Andrew Wright.
A number of events will be taking place to celebrate 25 years of welcome and ministry in the Mission to Seafarers’ Flying Angel Centre, Belfast. The first takes place tomorrow, Sunday October 13 when a Service of Thanksgiving for 25th Anniversary of The Flying Angel Centre will be held in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.
Preaching at the Service of Evensong will be the new Secretary General of Mission to Seafarers, Canon Andrrew Wright. This service replaces the annual Harvest Thanksgiving normally held in The Flying Angel Centre, and will incorporate a memorial for 60th anniversary of the Loss of the Princess Victoria on her way to Larne.
On Friday October 18 the Northern Ireland Film Premier of ‘Capt Phillips’ will take place in the Strand Cinema at 6.15pm , with a buffet from 5.30pm. Starring Tom Hanks this is the story of a hijacking at sea and is based on a true story.
This is a private showing in aid of The Mission to Seafarers. Tickets at £20 per person can be booked by contacting Doreen on 028 9075 1131, and can be collected at the centre or picked up on the night. This event is sponsored by Hamilton Shipping.
An Open Day will take place at The Flying Angel Centre on Saturday November 16 from 11.30 am to 3pm. Refreshments will be served and this will be an opportunity for the public, neighbours and supporters to see the revamped lounge and new artistic feature celebrating 25 years in the present centre.
The Flying Angel Centre is located at Prince’s Dock Street, (Sailortown), Belfast, BT1 3AA (close to Cityside Shopping Centre and beside main gate to Port of Belfast).
Tomorrow, Sunday, 13th October, the first of the three special events to celebrate the completion of the restoration of the historic Hill organ in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral takes place. On the second Sunday in October each year, the cathedral congregation celebrates Harvest Thanksgiving at all services. This year, the evening service has been moved to 4.00pm when a special Harvest Songs of Praise will be held. All are welcome!
This is a unique opportunity for all to come along and join in the singing of many of their favourite harvest hymns such as ‘We Plough the Fields and Scatter’, All Things Bright and Beautiful, Come ye Thankful People Come, and many others. The cathedral choir will also sing three harvest thanksgiving anthems. All are welcome – this being an act of worship, there is of course no charge. A collection will be taken for the organ restoration fund during the service.
On Tuesday the Armagh Diocesan Synod will be held in the Alexander Synod Hall while in Taney parish centre the Dublin & Glendalough Diocesan Synod will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
In Limerick on Thursday the Church of Ireland Inter–Faith Working Group will host a seminar, ‘Building the Common Household’, which will examine how the gender of those engaged in inter–faith dialogue impacts on their involvement.
Malahide National School Extension Opens
The latest step in the long history of St Andrew’s National School in Malahide was celebrated yesterday (October 11) with the official opening of the school’s new extension. The fabulous new facility is the result of a 10 year campaign and the official opening was performed by Susie Hall, a long standing member of the school’s board of management. The new building was dedicated by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson.
The ribbon cutting ceremony followed a service in St Andrew’s Church across the road. Introducing the service the Rector, the Revd Dr Norman Gamble noted that the day came at the end of a long, long process. He observed that the last time the school had had a similar service was in 1995 and at that time the whole school had been able to fit into the church. Now however, the school had grown so much that only a selection of the pupils could attend today.
In his address Archbishop Jackson referred to the Gospel reading (Matthew 7, 24–27) and said it contained a warning that any project needed homework and preparation. He said he was sure that in the case of the new school extension, both homework and preparation had been done.
He said it was important that school should be a safe and happy place for children and that it should be a place where children can grow in a community which is religious in an easy way. He added that there should be a sense of fulfilment for the pupils that they are making progress socially and academically.
The Archbishop thanked the Department of Education and Skills for making the extension possible and all those who had helped to bring it to fruition. He also paid tribute to the board of management and the rector.
All the children were able to join the official opening ceremony which took place in the schoolyard. There, Dr Gamble pointed out that the school had served the parish and the community for 189 years and pre–empted the National Education System itself.
He gave a brief outline of the purpose of Church of Ireland schools. He said that traditionally the schools have been truly multi–denominational, catering for the children of the various Reformed Christian traditions and shared a vision as Christian schools, seeking to educate all aspects of a child’s life in harmony, body, mind and spirit. “We seek to help children develop in Christian faith in whatever tradition they may come from, at the same time seeking to provide the best possible academic and physical development as we can,” he said.
School Principal, Trevor Richmond, said that the memorable day marked the end of a 10 year wait during which staff and pupils had put up with terrible conditions. He said there were many people who had helped along the way and thanked the architects and contractors for their work. He also thanked the parents’ association for their fundraising efforts and the Department of Education and Skills for their funding.
Susie Hall said it was an enormous honour to have been asked to open the extension. “It has been a long hard road. Over 10 years we have been campaigning. We didn’t get it in the good times,” she said. She recalled offers of prefabs from the department and thanked the principal for agreeing to stay with the fight for the extension.
She paid tribute to all her colleagues on the board of management and those who served on previous boards whose efforts were being seen today. In a message to the Minister for Education, who was not present, she said that investment in education was one of the biggest investments made in society and pointed out that money invested in education came back to society 100 fold.
Mrs Hall told the pupils that they were very lucky as there were millions of children all over the world who did not have the right to education. “This is the key to your future and you can be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough,” she stated.
Praying for those with cancer
There will be a special service on praying for those with cancer in St. Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast on Monday, 21 October 2013 at 8 p.m.
There probably is not a family in the land that has not been affected by this illness. A couple of years ago official statistics showed that 29% of people in Northern Ireland who die do so from cancer. The service on 21 October will introduce people to the spiritual dimension of healing. Brother David Jardine, Director of Interdenominational Divine Healing Ministries, will preach the sermon. He will talk about the healing that can come through prayer, focusing in particular on how to pray for ourselves, which can be very powerful.
Personal prayer for healing and a blessing with oil will be available at this service.
For further information please contact Brother David Jardine, Tel: 028 9031 1532.