Discovery Community Worship Evening; Eco–Congregation Ireland Conference; Mother’s Union Thanksgiving Service; Postcode lottery for pupils awaiting special educational needs assessment; Ulster abortion figures concern; Children’s referendum booklets to be delivered to voters by mid-October
Discovery Community Worship Evening
A time to reflect, to praise, to focus and engage – Discovery Worship creates a space for people to meet with God and share with others through prayer, music reflection and intercultural worship. (A Third Saturday monthly event). The next Discovery Worship takes place on Saturday August 18 at 7.00 pm in St George’s & St Thomas’s Church, Cathal Brugha Street.
dublin.anglican.org/cmsfiles/files/Discovery-Community-Worship-Nite-1.pdf
Eco–Congregation Ireland Conference
Eco–Congregation Ireland (ECI) is holding its inaugural conference in Dromantine Retreat and Conference Centre, near Newry, Co Down, on September 14 and 15 2012, and warmly invites all those interested to attend.
The theme of the two–day event will be ‘God’s Creation – Our Responsibility?’ with talks and workshops on a variety of topics related to faith and the environment.
The line–up of speakers includes:
Prof
David Horrell – teaches modules on a wide range of New Testament topics in Exeter University, including New Testament ethics and the Bible and environmental ethics. He is co–author of Greening Paul: Rereading the Apostle in an Age of Ecological Crisis.
Dr Alastair McIntosh – Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, Glasgow; Honorary Fellow of the Schumacher Society and Visiting Professor of Human Ecology at the University of Strathclyde. His books include Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment and Spirituality.
Revd Peter Owen–Jones – Anglican clergyman, author and television presenter. His 2009 BBC documentary, How to Live a Simple Life, saw him turn his back on consumerism to follow in the footsteps of St Francis. Dr
Anne Primavesi – Fellow of the Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion, Birkbeck College, University of London. A systematic theologian focussing on ecology, her books include Cultivating Unity within the Biodiversity of God.
Prof Stephen Williams – Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological College, Belfast. He has published in different areas in biblical studies, theology and intellectual history, including Revelation and Reconciliation: a Window on Modernity.
Workshop topics will include God’s Creation and poetry, Celtic spirituality, ecology and the eucharist, ethical investments, ecology and the economy, climate change, how to become an eco–congregation and helping children and young people nurture respect for the earth.
Workshop facilitators will include: Dr Una Agnew SSL, Revd Grace Clunie, Robert Cochran, Mary Kate Hagan RSM, Alex Hill, Hugh O’Donnell SDB, Tony Weekes and Fitzroy Presbyterian Caring for Creation Group as well as Dr Alastair McIntosh and Revd Peter Owen–Jones.
Mother’s Union Thanksgiving Service
To celebrate 125 years of Mothers’ Union in Ireland there will be an All Ireland Thanksgiving service with a Sung Eucharist in Christchurch Cathedral on Sunday 23rd September at 3.30pm. The speaker will be the Central Chaplain of the Mothers’ Union, The Rt Revd Ken Clarke, Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh.
Postcode lottery for pupils awaiting special educational needs assessment
Belfast Telegraph – Pupils with learning difficulties face a postcode lottery when it comes to waiting times for assessment by educational psychologists.
Children struggling in the classroom are waiting on average just two weeks to see a psychologist in the Western Education and Library Board’s Educational Psychology Service (EPS), whereas those in the South Eastern Education and Library Board are waiting on average 309 days.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/postcode-lottery-for-pupils-awaiting-special-educational-needs-assessment-16197695.html
Ulster abortion figures concern
Newsletter – There have been massively more abortions in Northern Ireland where the official reason is to “save the life of the mother” than in England and Wales, it has emerged.
Northern Ireland has some of the strictest prohibitions on abortion in Europe, unlike the rest of the UK where almost 200,000 pregnancies are medically ended each year.
However, although the number of abortions in Northern Ireland – less than 100 a year – is miniscule by comparison to the rest of the UK, concerns have been raised that some doctors may be getting around the strict ban on abortions in all cases other than those where the mother’s life is in immediate danger.
Figures released in the House of Lords to the Crossbench peer Lord Alton show that in 43 years there have been just 143 abortions in England and Wales to save the mother’s life.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/ni-news/co-tyrone/ulster-abortion-figures-concern-1-4162165
Children’s referendum booklets to be delivered to voters by mid-October
Examiner – The Government has signalled a late autumn date for a referendum on children’s rights, with 2m information booklets to be delivered to homes across Ireland. The Office of Public Works this week advertised the tender for the information booklets.
The pamphlets will be delivered to 10 distribution hubs throughout the country, the tender advised.
Crucially, it stipulates the booklets must be delivered to the distribution centres by the week commencing Oct 15.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/childrens-referendum-booklets-to-be-delivered-to-voters-by-mid-october-204138.html