Gilmore warns over sectarianism; Limerick Mother’s Union 125th Anniversary Showcase; Glendalough Institution; Forgotten Refugees – remembered in Newtownabbey; Limerick recital; We Are Church claims women priests are celebrating mass in Ireland; Volunteer scheme is finding housing solutions for Ireland; ‘Indecent images’ priest cleared; Paedophile former priest guilty; David Park: a life in books; Group to hold vigil against Vatican’s silencing of liberal priests; Liberal jolt has positive role to play in church
Gilmore warns over sectarianism
Belfast Telegrph – Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has warned that sectarianism could affect poor children across the island of Ireland.
The Irish deputy prime minister told the Alliance Party at its annual conference in Belfast that politicians on both sides of the border must not lose sight of the issue if it is to be stamped out in the future.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/gilmore-warns-over-sectarianism-16147836.html
Limerick Mother’s Union 125th Anniversary Showcase
The special Showcase event has the theme: Your Gift – Discover and Celebrate. It will be a great chance to discover more about the Mohter’s Union in the diocese and the world. It takes place in: St. Kieran’s Hall, Cloughjordan, Saturday 19th May from 2 – 5:30 p.m.
MU Faith and Policy officer Patsy Devoy will be the special speaker
The event will be a fun day for everyone with all sorts of demonstrations and exhibits including:
• Arts and crafts by Jackie Eastwood and Patsy Kearney
• Nutritional Therapist Janette Austin
• Hair by Millie
• Projects
• Branch Profiles
• Delicious Homemade Refreshments
Everyone is welcome
Glendalough Institution
On Wednesday April 25, the institution of the Revd Olive Henderson as incumbent of the grouped parishes of Donoughmore and Donard with Dunlavin by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, will take place in St Nicholas Church, Dunlavin at 8.00 pm.
The appointment means a welcome return to the Diocese of Glendalough for Revd Henderson who previously served as Rector of Rathdrum and Derralossary with Glenealy. From Rathdrum she moved to the parish of Killeshin in County Carlow. She then became Chaplain of Kingston College, in Mitchelstown, County Cork.
Revd Henderson studied at the Church of Ireland Theological College and was ordained a Deacon in 1997 and a Priest in 1998. She served as an auxiliary Minister in Tallaght Parish and later as Priest in Charge of Moyiddy Union of Parishes in the Diocese of Cork.
She began working in the Rathdrum Union of Parishes in 2001, first as a Non–Stipendiary Minister and as a curate of the parish in 2004. She was appointed Rector there in 2007.
Revd Henderson is married to Ernest – without whom, she says, her work would not be possible. The couple have seven adult children and 16 grandchildren. Prior to her marriage she worked as a paediatric nurse.
Revd Henderson said she was looking forward to getting back to parish ministry in Donoughmore and Donard with Dunlavin. “I am delighted to be coming home to Glendalough and to rural ministry,” she commented. “I’m really looking forward to meeting the parishioners and not alone the parishioners but the wider community.”
Forgotten Refugees – remembered in Newtownabbey
” A real eye opener”. “I knew that it happened, but I hadn’t a clue how it was done”. “The Arab states managed what Hitler aspired to, they made entire lands Juden frei” (free of Jews).
Just some of the reactions to NIFI’s Forgotten Refugees event in March when over 170 people gathered to hear the story of Jews from Arab lands. In 1948, nearly a million Jews lived from Morocco to Iraq – today they number less than a few thousand.
The film the Forgotten Refugees provided an account of the history and culture of Jews from Arab lands, who arrived in the lands of their dispersal centuries before the rise of Islam. The hard-hitting film also recorded the ethnic cleansing of Jews from across the Middle East during the late 1940s and 1950s.
NIFI’s event was held at the Mossley Mill in Newtownabbey (provided courtesy of Newtownabbey Borough council). Deputy Mayor of Newtownabbey, Victor Robinson, welcomed NIFI to the Mill.
A presentation was given by Lyn Julius of the Association of Jews from Arab lands, based on her family’s experiences as refugees from Iraq.
The event dealt with the airlift of Jews from Arab lands to Israel – “borne on eagle’s wings”, including Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, which brought over 100,000 Jews from Iraq to Israel. Today Jews from Arab lands comprise one of the largest communities in Israel, part of the dynamic and multi-cultural Israeli society.
“Thank God for the state of Israel – a place which was able to take these refugees in,” was the verdict of Rev Gary Mason MBE who gave the vote of thanks.
On the following day NIFI’s co chair Steven Jaffe and Lyn Julius met representatives of Christian Aid and Trocaire to discuss this often neglected aspect of the Middle East.
Limerick recital
The lunchtime piano recital in St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, on Wednesday will be given by Lorna Moore.
Thinking anew
Irish Times – Archdeacon Gordon Linney writes -The gospel which brought the Christian church into being is proclaiming something which is beyond us and which has the effect of widening our vision at times beyond the bearable.” He suggested that some people cannot accept the fact of the resurrection …
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0421/1224315009770.html
We Are Church claims women priests are celebrating mass in Ireland
RTE.ie – The Catholic organisation We Are Church has said that women who say they are validly ordained priests are celebrating mass in people’s homes here. Its spokesman, Brendan Butler, said many Catholics are attending the gatherings.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0420/group-claims-women-priests-are-celebrating-mass.html
Volunteer scheme is finding housing solutions for Ireland
Global charity Habitat for Humanity was set up in 1976, but has had an Irish branch since 2002. We found out more about the work they do in housing people around the world.
‘Indecent images’ priest cleared
BBC – It is understood a meeting in Pomeroy to discuss the investigation of a parish priest has been told that Father Martin McVeigh has been exonerated.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17794663
Paedophile former priest guilty
BBC – A convicted paedophile and former priest has pleaded guilty to 10 charges of sexual abuse at Belfast Crown Court.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17790521
Possible school paedophile ring
David Park: a life in books
The Guardian – The Northern Ireland tourist board is currently running a campaign with the slogan: “Our Place, Your Time”. The idea is to change perceptions of Northern Ireland. This is no longer the land of the Troubles: it is a land flowing with milk and honey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/20/david-park-life-in-books?newsfeed=true
Group to hold vigil against Vatican’s silencing of liberal priests
Irish Examiner – The group, We are Church Ireland, said the planned vigil was “to express solidarity with our silenced priests and others who wish to remain anonymous”. Gina Menzies, lecturer in medical ethics at the Royal College of Surgeons and a friend of Fr Fagan, …
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/group-to-hold-vigil-against-vaticans-silencing-of-liberal-priests-191277.html
Liberal jolt has positive role to play in church
Irish Times – There are strands of opinion in Irish society that see Catholicism as inimical to progress, and wish to see its influence diminish to a vanishing point. Ironically, those strands were one (but by no means the only) factor in the creation of an …
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0421/1224315007475.html