Sixteenth century plate among silverware stolen from Belfast Cathedral; C of I accused of excluding gay members; Row over sectarianism comments by Dublin archbishop; Northern Irish Leave For Greener Pastures; Events this week
Sixteenth century plate among silverware stolen from Belfast Cathedral
A sixteenth century plate is among silverware which has been stolen from St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.
Belfast Telegraph – A silver chalice and two silver collection plates were taken from the cathedral – with the theft discovered on Thursday morning last week.
The items were taken from an office located at the back of the building, police have said.
They have appealed for anyone who may have witnessed someone behaving suspiciously in the area on Wednesday or Thursday to contact them.
Police are asking the public to also be aware of anyone trying to sell the items on.
One of the plates is from the 16th century and is described as being 5.5″ in diameter with an inscription on the underside reading ‘St Anne’s Parish Church Belfast’.
A second plate is a copy of the first, made in 1894 with the inscription “The Parish Church 1895” on the underside of the dish.
A seven-inch tail chalice – with a small ovoid bowl, short knot stem and wide trumpet foot – was also taken.
C of I accused of excluding gay members
Pink News – The Anglican Church of Ireland has been accused of excluding openly gay and lesbian members from an event which was planned as part of its “listening process” on same-sex relationships.
Changing Attitude Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland’s pro-LGBT group, claims Saturday’s public discussion in Armagh will not feature any “out” self-identifying gay or lesbian members. More than 150 church members have been invited to attend.
Secretary of Changing Attitude Ireland (CAI), Canon Charles Kenny said he “had offered a list of names to the organisers of openly gay and lesbian members of the church who were willing to attend, but not one of them has been invited.”
Canon Kenny added that “the whole ‘listening process’ will be seen to be a sham if out LGBT church people continue to be deliberately excluded from these tripartite diocesan events”. In March 2012, the Church of Ireland was criticised by CAI for hosting a similar two day conference in Cavan, where it was alleged gay and lesbian members were also excluded.
PinkNews has contacted the Anglican Church of Ireland for a response.
CNI note – for an update on this report see NI Edition of yesterday’s Sunday Times. The Aragh conference was of representatives of three dioceses – Dublin, Armagh and Derry, following up the strategy agreed following the Cavan conference.
C of I row over sectarianism comments by Dublin archbishop
Irish Times, Sat 19 – A major row has broken out in the Church of Ireland between two previous archbishops of Dublin, a previous dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, and the current Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson.
It follows Archbishop Jackson’s comments last Monday on his “bitter experience” of sectarianism since assuming office.
In his presidential address to the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan synods on Monday night, he said: “When I came here in 2011, my impression would have been of two dioceses which saw themselves as all-tolerant, all-liberal, all-inclusive. I have learned through much bitter experience that exclusionary attitudes, and indeed sectarianism itself, is alive, not least in the Church of Ireland community. To me this has been a deep and shattering sadness.” ‘Deeply shocked’
His observation appears rooted in reaction to a decision that the Church of Ireland College of Education is to sever links with Trinity College and become part of a new institute of education also involving St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, the Mater Dei Institute and Dublin City University.
In a letter to The Irish Times today, Archbishop Walton Empey, archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough from 1996 to 2002, said he was “deeply shocked” by Archbishop Jackson’s comments. It was true, he said, that people were “deeply concerned” about protecting the Church of Ireland ethos in education, its links with Trinity College when it came to teacher education and possible deterioration of its ethos at Tallaght hospital.
Such views, he said, were “not sectarian” but about maintaining “our ethos as a minority church”. He shared such views, he said, adding: “But I do not think anyone could accuse me of sectarianism.”
‘Disappointed’
Archbishop Empey said yesterday he was “disappointed” with what Archbishop Jackson had said and people he had spoken to were “appalled” by what they considered “absolute nonsense”. He also complained about “lack of consultation” on preserving the ethos of the College of Education.
Archbishop John Neill, archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough from 2002 to 2011, said yesterday: “I absolutely assent to everything Archbishop Empey said [in his letter]. Archbishop Jackson’s sectarianism comments “didn’t ring a bell with me at all”, he added. He felt that, “coming from Northern Ireland [as Archbishop Jackson does] it is easy to read everything to do with preserving ethos as sectarianism”.
Rev Dr Robert MacCarthy, dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin from 1999 to 2012, said of Archbishop Jackson’s comments yesterday: “I don’t understand what he means.” He said he “never came across” sectarianism among Church of Ireland members in Dublin.
Northern Irish Leave For Greener Pastures
Almost half a million people came to live in the UK last year, but nearly two thirds as many emigrated.
Sky – There were 497,000 arrivals and 321,000 departures – hence the net figure of 173,000 migrants, published by the Office of National Statistics.
Nowhere has the exodus of talent been more apparent than on the Gaelic football pitches of Northern Ireland’s rural counties.
In the space of five years, the Kileeshill Club in County Tyrone has seen 30 of its best players depart.
Club president Anthony McGonnell said: “The senior team here at the minute would have a significant number of younger fellows who are still at school.
“A lot of those young fellows, whenever they leave school, may very well take the boat or the plane as well and head to Australia or elsewhere.”
A few miles further west and Claire Maguire, 24, was taking a final stroll around the scenic Lakelands of Enniskillen.
She has just secured a teaching post in Qatar, where her boyfriend has already settled in to his new job.
“The majority of my friends have already emigrated to Australia,” she said.
“Five of them have made the move and that’s not even counting any of my cousins or relations who had left previously so there’s a big gap in the community.”
Mark Charles, his wife Margaret and their two children are packing up their home for a move across the Atlantic.
The Methodist minister has swapped his church on Belfast’s Shankill Road for one in the sunshine state of Florida.
“We’ll obviously miss family, we’ll miss close friends and we’ll miss life in Northern Ireland,” he said.
“Life can be great in Northern Ireland and then again, life can be pretty dark and dismal here too and we’ll not miss that. We’ll not miss the tension we’re living in at the minute.”
More than 1,000 people a month took their leave of Northern Ireland last year, most from coastal and rural communities.
In some small towns, they are talking about “the missing generation”, such is the number of young people pulling out.
Employers now rely on immigrant workers but there are long-term concerns about the so-called “brain drain” from these shores.
The faraway fields seem greener than those they leave behind when it’s wheels up from the runway at Belfast International.
Immigration UK: A week of special coverage on Sky from October 14 to 18 – watch on Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 82, Skynews.com and Sky News for iPad
Events
Yesterday (Sunday) morning Abbot Mark Patrick Hederman OSB from Glenstal preached in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, while in Cashel cathedral, after the Cathedral Eucharist, Dr Alan Acheson spoke about his recently published study of Bishop John Jebb. At Evensong in St Fin Barre’s cathedral the Bishop of Cork re–dedicated the restored organ while in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, the Revd Daniel Nuzum was the preacher at the Annual Diocesan Service of Wholeness and Healing.
The Archbishop of Dublin will travel to Reykjavik today for a meeting of the Primates of the Porvoo Communion and will return to launch the Revd Marcus Losack’s book, Rediscovering St Patrick in St Patrick’s Deanery on Thursday evening.
On Wednesday the Cashel, Ferns & Ossory Diocesan Synod will be held in Enniscorthy and the Derry & Raphoe Synod in Clooney, Hall, Derry.
On Friday evening in Ballina the Bishop of Tuam will institute the Revd Jake Worley, from British Columbia as incumbent of the Kilmoremoy union of parishes.
Next Saturday, 26 October, in St Ann’s church, Dublin at 2pm, Changing Attitude Ireland will host a public lecture by Judge Catherine McGuinness, ‘20 Years after decriminalization: What Next for Same–Sex Couples’.