Dean to visit projects in India supported by Black Santa; Mere Christianity – 60th anniversary; Commemorative Service; Tales from a timeline; Ecumenical Canons installed in St Anne’s; Vacancy for Chaplain in Dublin Institute; Big Christmas Sing; Media Review – Archbishop Jackson to address major conference on educational changes; Bethany Home children angry at Irish authorities; Fr Brian Darcy to be featured in BBC programme; Rathdown school principal’s week; Uganda fraud – Irish aid goes missing
Dean to visit projects in India supported by Black Santa
Belfast’s Black Santa, Dean John Mann, will travel to India in November to see how funds raised on the steps of St Anne’s Cathedral each Christmas are making a difference to lives far away. Dean Mann and his wife Helen will visit a number of Christian Aid projects.
They will be accompanied by Rosamond Bennett, newly appointed Chief Executive of Christian Aid, and Deborah Doherty, Head of Church and Community with the charity. When he distributed cheques totalling £180,000 at the annual Good Samaritans’ Service last February, the Dean expressed a desire to visit some of the projects which had received funding for the charitable work they do. Christian Aid, which is supported by Black Santa for its work overseas, extended an invitation to Dean Mann and his wife to view some of the work the organisation is doing in India.
The group will leave Belfast on November 14, arriving in Delhi the following day where the Dean is scheduled to visit the Christian Aid offices in the city and get an overview of the charity’s India programme. They fly to Tamil Nadu the following day. Here the group will visit two Christian Aid partners. The first partner, SASY, works on Dalit human rights and the economic empowerment of Dalit women. The second partner, Arogya Agam, is a project focused on HIV prevention and the prevention of parent to child HIV transmission. There is also the possibility of a trip to Bangalore to view a similar project. On November 20, the group will travel to Andrapradesh to visit two partners. COVA works with Muslim women, and DDS is a project working with Dalit women and agriculture
“Heading to India is something that Helen and I have dreamt of doing for a long time, but to go with Christian Aid will be very special as we visit projects supported through the gifts of many fundraisers and personal donors in Ireland,” said Dean Mann.
“The Black Santa fund has contributed to this important work over a number of years – so I shall be wearing that hat as I learn where the money is being spent. Scarf and gloves and black cloak will not be needed – it will be hot!” Dean Mann said he was looking forward to this year’s Sit–Out which begins on Saturday December 15.
Mere Christianity – 60th anniversary
Next Tuesday 30th October at 12 noon in The Good News Bookshop, Belfast, Sandy Smith, a member of Strandtown Baptist Church and an organiser of CS Lewis Literary Tours, will give a brief lecture on ‘Mere Christianity’ which celebrates its 60th anniversary this month.
Richard Ryan of Good News says, “‘Meet the author’ is held in the shop on the last Tuesday of each month at 12noon. We’ve produced a few podcasts of earlier meetings which you can access on our website”.
http://www.goodbookshop.com/index.php?id=48
Commemorative Service
A special cross-community service arranged by Changing Attitude Ireland to mark the 30th Anniversary of Decriminalisation of Same-sex relations in Northern Ireland will be held in St George’s Church, High St, Belfast, Sunday 28th Oct at 3pm. The speaker is Jeff Dudgeon MBE
Tales from a timeline
St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin recently launched a new digital learning exhibition entitled ‘Tales from our Timeline’. The exhibition, part-funded by the Heritage Council, is a collection of videos which tell the stories of this historic building and the site
on which it was built.
Access to these videos is through a series of QR Codes which can be found around the building. QR codes are similar to barcodes in function and appearance and they are easy to use by anyone who owns a smart-phone. Smart-phone users can simply download a QR-Code Scanner App using the cathedral’s free Wifi, then hold their phone up to one of the codes and they are taken directly to an online video about the Cathedral.
For those visitors who do not own smart-phones, the ‘Tales form our Timeline’
video scan also be watched on the Cathedral’s website at
www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/OurHistoryHome.aspx where you can also find an
Interactive Timeline, detailing every significant moment in the Cathedral’s history from the time of Saint Patrick to the present day.
Ecumenical Canons installed in St Anne’s
Two new Ecumenical Canons were installed at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, on Sunday October 21. The new Canons are the Rev Dr Ruth Patterson OBE, a Presbyterian Minister and Director of Restoration Ministries, and the Rev Dr Brian Fletcher, North East District Superintendent of the Methodist Church in Ireland. They were introduced to the Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann by the Ven Barry Dodds, Archdeacon of Belfast, and the Ven Philip Patterson, Archdeacon of Down. The address was given by the Rt Rev Alan Harper, former Archbishop of Armagh.
Vacancy for Chaplain in Dublin Institute of Technology
The Dublin Institute of Technology seeks to appoint a full time Chaplain. Ideally, the successful candidate should be an ordained person and have a vision of outreach for the pastoral care of students.
To apply for this position please send a current CV to: The Venerable David Pierpoint, The Vicarage, 30 Phibsborough Road, Dublin 7 Ireland. Please mark your envelope DIT application. Closing date for applications is 16th November 2012.
Big Christmas Sing
Christian Aid Ireland is encouraging churches to hold a Christian Aid Big Christmas Sing and raise voices to bring hope and healing to some of the world’s poorest communities. Join Christian Aid supporters throughout Britain and Ireland this December and raise funds by singing carols in the community, hymns at home or jingles at your job. Links for resources at:
http://www.christianaid.ie/getinvolved/christmas/big-christmas-sing/index.aspx
MEDIA REVIEW
Archbishop Jackson to address major conference on educational changes
Galway Advertiser – Entitled “Rethinking Education in Ireland – State and Church’s role in Irish Education: Sharing Responsibility for Renewal”, the conference is building on recent events which have been highlighted in the news concerning who will run schools in Ireland.
http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/56058/jes-to-host-major-conference-on-rethinking-education-in-ireland-
Bethany Home children angry at Irish authorities
BBC – More than 220 children died in Bethany between 1922 and 1949: that’s one death every six weeks.
Niall Meehan, the Head of Journalism at Griffith College found the unmarked grave of 219 Bethany Home children at Mount Jerome cemetery near Harold’s Cross in south Dublin.
He said none of the children had been hospitalised and they died mainly from neglect, malnutrition and tuberculosis.
“There are 219 nameless, faceless unwanted so called illegitimate children in this graveyard,” he said.
“And they need to become recognised by the state in which they lived, and the churches they were members of. They suffered abuse and they suffered neglect. This was avoidable at the time and this needs to be recognised now.”
Those who survived Bethany said they feel discriminated against by the Irish government…
…The Irish government denies there is discrimination on grounds of religion.
A spokeswoman at the Department of Education, which is overseeing the compensation process, said Bethany was excluded because it was deemed “not to qualify” since it was a home for mothers and children…
…A spokesman said that the Archbishop of Dublin, Michael Jackson, had met survivors and afterwards had written to Ruairi Quinn, the Irish education minister, asking him to reconsider “as a matter of urgency” the group’s plea for access to compensation.
He also said the archbishop “was open” to supporting their request for a memorial and had personally sought to make people in his dioceses aware of the memorial fund.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20084994
Fr Brian D’arcy to be featured in BBC programme
He states that he felt like giving up when the church tried togag hom, and that marriage would have made him a better priest.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/brian-darcy-i-felt-like-giving-up-when-the-catholic-church-tried-to-gag-me-16229997.html
Rathdown school principal’s week
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2012/1023/1224325573630.html
Uganda fraud – Irish aid goes missing
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/4m-in-irish-aid-funding-is-missing-212052.html