Street Pastor Training; Interchurch Service in Irish; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to Preach at St Saviour’s, Arklow; Certificates Presented for Archbishop’s Course in Theology; Bishop’s Medal dedicated; Vacancy – Warden, Lapp’s Court, Cork
Street Pastor Training Newtownabbey
Street Pastors is an inter-denominational Church response to community problems, engaging with people on the streets to care, listen and dialogue.
In Newtownabbey the churches a looking to be involved in their local areas, towns and parks. They want the local church to respond and help with local issues. They need volunteers from all sectors of the community and all age ranges.
So, whether you are 18 or 70, male or female, there is a role for you to help in this important project.
There is an INFORMATION EVENING on Thursday 10 January 2013 at 7.30pm at Corr’s Corner Hotel.
Proposed Street Pastor TRAINING (to be confirmed) will take place in Corrs Corner Hotel on:
Saturday 2 February, 2013, 9am to 3.30pm, and Saturday 9 February 2013, 9am – 12.30pm Breakfast and lunch will be provided
You can apply for training by contacting Mark Walsh on 07774695511 or Andrew Irvine on 02890242111
For more info on Street Pastors go to http://www.belfast.streetpastors.org.uk/
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 January 25. This service, which has become a tradition over the past 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 from County 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 Catholic Church will be present, and the Revd 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 see www.gaeleaglais.ie or email gaeleaglais@gmail.com
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to Preach at St Saviour’s, Arklow
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Diarmuid Martin, will preach at St Saviour’s Church, Arklow, on Sunday January 20 at 3.00 pm as part of the 2013 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Certificates Presented for Archbishop’s Course in Theology
Participants in the Archbishop’s Course in Theology were presented with their certificates yesterday, January 6, in the Church of Ireland College of Education. The presentations took place following a service at which the sermon was preached by Archbishop Michael Jackson.
Dr Jackson suggested that too often theology was seen as the preserve of experts. While he acknowledged that there would always be a need for professional theologians, he said theology could not be professionalised “in such a way as to be put in a glass case, shut behind closed doors and allowed to tick on in eccentric abstraction, with the sound off”.
The Archbishop said that too often theology which was badly handled gave “authorisation and ventilation” to extreme positions. “And extreme positions erode those who, with very little thanks, seek to hold the ring of the middle ground for others. They also destroy those whose voice cannot ever be heard. Too often churches silence those with genuine theological voices also,” he stated.
He added that the primary role of theology was not to enable us to polish our private treasure or to admire our personal righteousness. “Its primary role is to disclose the integrity of God as a deeply loving concern for the whole of creation,” he said.
The Archbishop stated that Anglicans needed Biblical authorisation for what they think and do but have never been required to conform to an exclusive Biblical template as the Bible is not an exclusive template. “It is a witness to talking with God, to theology as a world–wide conversation. And this gives all of you here today who have, in your own time and with your own talent, completed The Archbishop’s Course in Theology permission and encouragement to take your own insights with you and to respond with the knowledge and the perceptions you now have to everything which happens around you – theologically,” he said.
He added: “Scripture, tradition and reason are the hallmarks of the Anglican theological way of thinking, of praying, of acting. There is an interplay and, what I might call, an amoeba–like quality about these three parts. And it remains our stubborn conviction as Anglicans that what we teach is to be found first and foremost in our worship.”
The Archbishop concluded by congratulating the participants and thanking Dr Anne Lodge, principal of CICE, for devising and coordinating the course.
Bishop’s Medal dedicated
On 16th December 2012, at the annual carol service in Templecarne Parish Church, Pettigo, a historic Bishop’s Medal was dedicated by the Rt Revd John McDowell, Bishop of Clogher.
The medal was originally awarded to Gladys E. Bishop some ninety-five years ago in 1917. It was gifted to the Parish by Miss Helen Humphries, a relative of Miss Bishop. Gladys was 15 years of age when she received the Medal. She had been organist in Templecarne Parish Church from she was a teenager until six months prior to her death in January 1988 when she was 85 years of age.
Vacancy – Warden, Lapp’s Court, Cork
Due to retirement, a Warden is required to take charge of this housing development which is under Church of Ireland management.
The complex consists of thirty–four units for retired and elderly people and is situated in its own grounds at Hartland’s Avenue in Cork City. The duties of the Warden include general oversight of the property and grounds and attention to residents’ welfare.
Remuneration will be by agreement, and an attractive house, accommodating two people and containing an office, is provided on site.
Further particulars may be obtained from:
Wilfred Baker,
Secretary, Lapp’s Charity,
St. Nicholas’ House,
14 Cove Street,
Cork.
E–mail: secretary@cork.anglican.org
Fax: 021–4320960
Closing date: 25/01/2013. Information on Lapp’s Court – http://www.cork.anglican.org/organisations/lapps.html