Friends of Armagh Cathedral 75th anniversary concert; ‘Protestant’ theatre group is launched; Creative Spirituality Day; Dublin Interfaith Walk to Mark International Day of Peace; Exciting times at JIMS Kilkeel
Friends of Armagh Cathedral 75th anniversary concert
A special concert is taking place this September to mark the 75th anniversary of the Friends of Armagh Cathedral.
The Lowry Singers will perform at the concert in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral on 13 September at 7:30pm.
The Friends of Armagh Cathedral was formed in 1938 as a collective of people who care for the ancient foundation of St Patrick and its continuing Christian witness.
The group also assists the Dean and Chapter and the Cathedral Board in maintaining the cathedral for posterity.
Directed by Earl Moffitt, the Lowry Singers, with Elizabeth Ross singing soprano and Phillip Elliott on the organ, will perform music to celebrate the Cathedral’s spiritual heritage.
The programme ranges from classics of the sacred choral repertoire to contemporary compositions, interspersed with organ pieces and solo items.
The audience will also join the choir in singing some well known hymns.
Tickets (£10 including refreshments afterwards in the Deanery) are available from committee members, the Cathedral Shop, Armagh Public Library (028 37523142/admin@armaghpubliclibrary.co.uk) or at the door.
‘Protestant’ theatre group is launched
A new theatre group has been launched to help working-class Protestants express themselves and their politics through the arts.
The launch of the Etcetera group at the Linen Hall Library was attended by politicians, including Sammy Douglas and Mike Nesbitt, playwrights like Martin Lynch, as well as representatives from academia, community sectors, writers, journalists and people from the theatre community.
Board member Connal Parr is completing a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast on Protestant working-class politics and culture.
“Basically, the group has been constituted because there is a specific problem with working-class Protestants who are unwilling to involve themselves in the theatre, and the arts generally, associating such channels with Irish nationalism,” he told the News Letter.
He said that playwright Martin Lynch stood up at the launch of the company, last Wednesday, and said that he wanted to cast his play The Titanic Boys (2012) as ‘a Protestant story’ with actors from that background but got no response to his advertisements from these areas. The Etcetera group partly came into being following a performance in 2009 of his ‘Chronicles of Long Kesh’ play.
“At a discussion afterwards a number of loyalists complained about how they were presented. Lynch, quite correctly, said: ‘If you object to how I presented you, present and create something yourselves’. Many loyalists would have complained and done nothing, but it is testament to the founders of this group that they actually acted on this advice.
“Personally speaking I was asked to join the board because of my academic background; Protestant working-class politics and culture is the area of my own research. But for me it’s also to do with giving something back. I, and the rest of the board, feel it’s vital we don’t lose a section of the society who have in many respects a noble history. Rather than losing faith we sense much potential.”
Also on the board is playwright Marie Jones, the Reverend Chris Hudson, Billy Hutchinson, William Mitchell and writer, Bobby Niblock.
“The latter three men are ex-combatants (formerly associated with the UVF, as is well known) but I personally feel strongly – and said during the launch – that just because you have a past should not deprive you of a future.
“All served their time and have played a positive role since their release.”
Creative Spirituality Day
Where – Corrymeela, Ballycastle on Saturday 7th September 2013 from 10am -4.30pm.
Come and spend a day at Corrymeela focussing on the Creative Arts.
To book: email Catherine at faredos@fsmail.net Cost £20 (including lunch)
Dublin Interfaith Walk to Mark International Day of Peace
The Dublin City Interfaith Forum is inviting people to participate in the Interfaith Walk of Peace 2013. Leaders and members of various religious communities, members of the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and others will gather at St Patrick’s Cathedral Park, on Sunday September 15 at 2.00 pm and walk together behind a peace banner to the Mansion House, where they will be welcomed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisin Quinn at approximately 2.45 pm.
The International Day of Peace was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981. In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace. This year’s Interfaith Walk of Peace is being held on the Sunday.
Dublin City Interfaith Forum (DCIF) is a network of people from the different Faith Communities in the City of Dublin. It aims to create awareness and dialogue through building relationships that nurture harmony, and deepen understanding and respect. The World Faiths currently present and active in Dublin City and represented on DCIF are: Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.
The Jewish Gathering, Dublin,
In terms of relationship building and new understandings between people who are different, not least members of the different faiths in Ireland, as elsewhere, it is often the things unseen rather than those in the limelight that can have unmeasured significance., writes Susan Hood.
So it was at the end of the week–long Jewish Gathering organised by a Committee of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, chaired by Mr Maurice Cohen, that included a series of events culminating at the normal Shabbat service on Friday the 26 July at Terenure Synagogue, where the Rabbi Zalman Lent and the Dublin Hebrew Congregation were joined by many international visitors who returned to Ireland for the Gathering, including Rabbi David Rosen, a former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and pioneer of inter–faith dialogue.
Alongside them as special invitees for the evening were the two Primates of All Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, and the Most Revd Richard Clarke, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, with Archbishop Charles Brown Apostolic Nuncio, the Most Revd Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, the Revd John Finlay former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Revd Ken Lindsey former President of the Methodist Church, and the Revd Alan Martin, of the Presbyterian Church.
Following the service in the Shul everyone proceeded to the Samuel Tacca Hall for the weekly Shabbat meal where the Service of Kiddush (grace before meals) was said before the shared food was enjoyed by all. It was indeed a moving occasion, at which Dr Rosen spoke about the ever closer relations that had developed between Christians and Jews over the past 30 years since he had been Chief Rabbi in Ireland, and a particular honour for the community to demonstrate the high regard with which the community are held by the main Christian churches in Ireland. He made specific reference to the international dialogues with Anglicans and Roman Catholics and their importance in contemporary Jewish self–understanding. Archbishop Michael Jackson co–chairs the Anglican–Jewish Commission on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
After sundown, in accordance with Jewish traditions, no machinery or devices may be worked, and so the historic event was not captured on film, but history was most certainly made with the collective presence of the Christian representatives in the Shul, which has never happened before in Ireland. There have been recent precedents abroad, however. In May 2008, during the Irish Church leaders visit to the Holy Land, Cardinal Brady, Revd Finlay, the then Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Alan Harper, and Revd Roy Cooper, then President of the Methodist Church attended Friday prayers at the Kehilat Kol HaNeshama Synagogue in Jerusalem and afterwards shared a meal together in the home of Rabbi Levi Weiman–Kelman and his family.
In 2010, the Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders of Ireland held a day of dialogue at Farmleigh House, during which they were hosted for a shared meal at Aras an Uachtarain by then President Mary McAleese. The recent invitation of the Jewish community to the leaders of the Churches and the resulting quiet and humble encounter that took place in Dublin recently was another significant step along the road of building bridges.
Exciting times at JIMS Kilkeel!
It was a busy weekend at JIMS Kilkeel with ‘Souled Out in The Country’ finishing up on Sunday afternoon after 3 fantastic days of worship, teaching, Bible readings and seminars. JIMS is reaching a new generation of local young people and seeing the older youth move into leadership.
In addition, this summer, JIMS has joined with Latin Link to take a team to Nicaragua and they left early on Monday 5 August– exciting times!
The team consists of 7 young people aged 14–17 with 3 leaders and a short–term partner already in the country who is acting as an interpreter.
The group is based in the city of Granada, with the intention of serving the local church in whatever way necessary. They will undertake some construction work, working with children and adults and getting involved in church services.