Patrick, The Renegade Saint; Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving for Titanic; Archbishop of Dublin’s Easter Message; Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland Archbishops to Lead Good Friday Procession in Dublin; Good Friday Service at St Ann’s Dublin; In conversation with
Tony Macaulay; Verger’s 50 years of service; 2000 volunteer for Eucharistic Congress
Patrick, The Renegade Saint
The Archbishop of Armagh will be a contributor to RTE’s programme ‘Would You Believe?’on Easter Sunday. RTE says: The hero of the story of Ireland’s conversion from paganism to Christianity – appropriate within the context of Easter–day celebrations – is St Patrick. The Christian Churches in Ireland claim their heritage back to Patrick and their foundation to Armagh. Tradition has it that he banished snakes, used the shamrock to explain the doctrine of the Trinity, climbed Croagh Patrick, lit a paschal fire at Slane and single–handedly turned the Irish into an Easter people. Reporter Mick Peelo goes back to Patrick’s own 5th century writing to disentangle the real figure – his faith, life and legacy – from the figure of myth and legend.
Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving for Titanic
There will be special service of commemoration and thanksgiving on the anniversary of the sinking of Titanic at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, on Sunday 15 April at 3.30pm. It will begin by remembering those who died and include elements of the original memorial service in the Cathedral in 1912. The “Titanic Funeral Pall” will also be dedicated. It was commissioned by St Anne’s as a permanent reminder of the loss of life and of the Christian hope of resurrection.
As the service progresses it will reflect the trauma felt in Belfast in the aftermath of the sinking but move on to capture and celebrate the emergence of the Titanic Quarter.
Special guests and the congregation are invited to join clergy as they walk from the cathedral to the Titanic Quarter. They will stop for brief reflections at ‘The Kit’ and the Drawing Office, finishing at the Thompson Graving Dock.
Archbishop of Dublin’s Easter Message
If the manger is the abiding image of Christmas, the garden is the abiding image of Easter. This is the place where it all happens in the half–light of resurrection. The patient expectation of Mary is rewarded by that most glorious of human reactions – her friend still recognizes her, knows her and calls her by name. Her own instinct is to respond in love.
Respect simply flows from her, without contrivance, when she says: Rabbouni! in response to his: Mary! The emptiness of sorrow which brings us through Holy Week to Easter Day is replaced by a different type of emptiness. It is an emptiness of expectation. A loving carefulness towards those who have been traumatized by the events of Good Friday in particular marches alongside it. This carefulness is shown by the very One who lived and died through it all and for all. All of who we are is under God. As we embark on the Decade of Commemorations, each of them invested with political and religious meaning and with the potential for reconciliation, we would do well to hold before us such loving carefulness in relation to those whose ancient and modern memories will be trawled and exposed in this process. Clarity brings its complexity and need for compassion. This Decade asks significant questions of the maturity of modern Ireland, both North and South, and of our capacity to ask the simplest of questions of one another with the deepest of graciousness: I am willing to tell you who I am. Please will you tell me who you are? May the Alleluia! of Easter ring in your hearts during this great time of festival!
Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland Archbishops to Lead Good Friday Procession in Dublin
The Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland Archbishops of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin and Michael Jackson, will lead an ecumenical procession through Dublin city centre on Good Friday. The procession will be the first of its kind in the capital and in an act of visible witness will see a cross being borne from Christ Church Cathedral to St Mary’s Pro Cathedral. Members of the congregation, including the Archbishops, will take it in turns to carry the cross along the route which covers a distance of almost two kilometres.
Participants will gather at Christ Church Cathedral on Friday April 6 at 7.15 pm for a prayer service. The procession will depart at 7.30 pm and is expected to arrive at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral at 8.00 pm when there will be a Taizé Service with prayers at the foot of the cross.
The procession is the brainchild of the two Archbishops who felt they wanted to join together to establish an ecumenical event for the city on one of the most significant days in the Christian calendar. They hope that people of both traditions will come together to pray and produce a visible sign of the churches’ work together in the wider community.
“The Good Friday Procession between Christ Church Cathedral and St Mary’s Pro Cathedral holds together a common Christian witness to the love of God in the depth of suffering and loss,” explained Archbishop Michael Jackson. “It shares with the citizens of Dublin the conviction which both Archbishop Martin and I hold, that what unites us in Christ is more significant and transformative than whatever divides us. I invite and encourage as many people as possible to walk with us this journey of Jesus today.”
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin welcomed the opportunity this unique event provides for Christians in Dublin to walk together and bear the Cross in the streets of the city. Archbishop Martin said “Our common witness to Jesus Christ is more necessary if we wish to be heard and appreciated and contribute to the common good of a society which is becoming increasingly secularised. We offer the symbol of the Cross as we commemorate the day in which God revealed himself in an extraordinary way as the one of who would lead us to salvation. We offer it to those who join with us on our journey and in our meditation. We offer it to those who pass by. Together, we offer it to those who care to notice and those who do not. ”
Good Friday Service at St Ann’s Dublin
Archbishop Michael Jackson will lead a three hour Good Friday service at St Ann’s, Dawson Street, from 12.00 noon to 3.00 pm. All are welcome to attend and those unable to attend the full service may enter and leave during the hymns.
Faith, Community and Creativity
Contemporary Christianity hosts “ In conversation with . . .Tony Macaulay” on Faith, Community and Creativity. Tony Macaulay is a writer, broadcaster and consultant. He has worked in community development, youth work and peacebuilding for the past 30 years. He carries out research and evaluation to inform and shape government and agency policy and programmes, most recently scoping faith based community work in Northern Ireland. His first book, ‘Paperboy’, a memoir of growing up in the Upper Shankill in the 1970s, has just been published by HarperCollins in the UK, Australia and Canada and the film rights have been picked up by Titian Red Pictures. He is currently working on a range of creative writing, community and peacebuilding projects.
Tuesday 17 April 2012, 7:30pm
3rd Floor, 21 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast
Verger’s 50 years of service
At a recent service in the Cathedral Church of St Macartin, Enniskillen, the Dean of Clogher, the Very Revd Kenneth Hall, led the tributes to Mr Jack Watson who has been Verger of the cathedral for a period of fifty years. Mr Watson was appointed at a meeting of the Select Vestry held on 15th March 1962. Jack has worked under five Rectors; four of those have also been Deans of Clogher. In addition to the Rectors there have been twelve Curates or Assistants and fifty different churchwardens during his time as Verger. Jack has maintained an excellent and harmonious working relationship with all these people. Mrs Maud Shaw, People’s Churchwarden, on behalf of the parish presented Jack with a gift in recognition of his fifty years service. The Rector’s Churchwarden Mr Raymond Campbell, said “we trust that Jack will be long spared to continue giving the standard of service which we, the parishioners of St Macartin’s Cathedral, value so highly.”
Almost 2,000 volunteer for Eucharistic Congress
TheJournal.ie – Up to 25,000 people a day are expected to attend the event when it takes place in Ireland this summer for the first time in eighty years.
http://www.thejournal.ie/almost-2000-volunteer-for-eucharistic-congress-407465-Apr2012/