Christmas Message From the Archbishop of Dublin; Former Dublin Rabbi to be next UK chief rabbi; Pastor carries cross for peace in Belfast; Community Carol Service in Enniskillen; Contemporary Christianity book launch; Media Review – President Higgins’ message for Christmas and New Year; Dept of Education to issue guidelines on suicide prevention; Children among 15 arrested during protests across Northern Ireland; Equality Commission’s concerns over Newry playpark naming
Christmas Message From the Archbishop of Dublin
Christmas is upon us. I imagine that, like me, many of you still have quite a lot of preparation to do. For each one of us it will be different. But there is something in common about all of it and it is this: we want, at this time of year, to do our best for other people. It might just strike us that we have omitted to send some people Christmas cards or indeed forgotten to visit someone who will be alone at Christmas or it might have to do with the preparation we do in our own homes for Christmas Day, in ways we have always done and love to repeat as each Christmas embraces us.
For many people, and for an increasing number, preparations of this sort are luxuries beyond their wildest dreams. Words like poverty are what they see staring them in the face of mirrors and shop windows as they see others on the inside participating in warm merriment or rushing into car parks and on to buses and trams with Christmas shopping. All of the myth of Christmas has fallen asunder and it has become little more than a focus of anger fuelled by alienation.
For so many visible and tangible reasons all of us are aware of the diminishing and deadening effects of changed economic circumstances. We might even talk sagely about the collapse of the Western capitalist model. But this cuts no ice with people for whom the present and the future offers nothing other than the real absence of necessities of life. This cuts no ice for people for whom a consumerized Christmas is now nothing other than a taunt and an affront.
The first Christmas began in hastily improvised circumstances on the edge of a little town. Those who met God and greeted God were in so many ways outsiders to the social hierarchies and privileges of their day. It is always the challenge of the Gospel to the disciples of this same God incarnate to embrace those who are today’s outsiders, whatever their circumstances. Like any of us, they are human beings who crave dignity and love. Christmas is about these positive values and, in the middle of our rejoicing, let us always remember those who simply cannot rejoice.
+Michael Dublin and Glendalough
Former Dublin Rabbi to be next UK chief rabbi
Jewish Chronicle – Britain’s chief rabbi-designate is to be Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of Finchley Synagogue, the United Synagogue has announced.
He will be Anglo-Jewry’s 11th chief rabbi. And, like most of his predecessors, Rabbi Mirvis is not British-born.
But the 56-year-old South African-born rabbi, the son and grandson of religious leaders, has spent a large part of his career serving Anglo-Saxon communities.
This, of course, is not his first chief rabbinate. He was Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1985 to 1992, and for three years before that was minister of Dublin’s Adelaide Road Synagogue.
Rabbi Mirvis comes from a family of rabbis and teachers. His grandfather, Rev Lazar Mirvis, was a minister in Johannesburg, while his father, Rabbi Dr Lionel Mirvis, led the Claremont Synagogue and also the Wynberg Hebrew Congregation in Cape Town.
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/94506/rabbi-ephraim-mirvis-be-next-uk-chief-rabbi
Pastor carries cross for peace in Belfast
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/3/pastor.carries.cross.for.peace.in.belfast/31266.htm
Community Carol Service in Enniskillen
On Sunday 9th December a memorable community carol service, in aid of Cancer Focus, was held jointly between St Macartin’s Church of Ireland Cathedral and St Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Enniskillen.
The carol service commenced in Saint Macartin’s Cathedral and then midway during the service the choirs, clergy and congregation processed the short distance across the town’s Church Street to Saint Michael’s Church for the second half of the service. In a sense the pathway Her Majesty The Queen journeyed by crossing the road earlier in the year, was further cemented in a most significant way with over 400 people doing likewise.
Many became rather emotional as all joined in the singing of ‘Away in a Manger’ continuously until all the congregation had made their way from one church to the other. It was a truly spectacular occasion, with Christian voices proclaiming the good news in a continuous link across the street, with ‘Away in a Manger’ resounding in St Michael’s and St Macartin’s and on the street simultaneously, accompanied by the organists in both churches at the one time.
This no doubt gave witness to the unity in Christ in a very public and powerful way and shows a sign of hope amidst all the street violence that has flared up in recent days in Northern Ireland. The Very Revd Kenneth Hall, Dean and Rector of St Macartin’s Cathedral, and the Very Revd Canon Peter O’Reilly, Parish Priest of St Michael’s, led the service and presented almost £1,000 to Cancer Focus, the proceeds from the service.
The readings were read by parishioners from both churches. The choirs of St Macartin’s Cathedral and St Michael’s Church led the singing. Jayne Haslett directed the choir of St Macartin’s and the organist was Glenn Moore, whilst the organist and choir director in St Michael’s was Helen Hamill. The Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Revd John McDowell, the Revd Precentor Noel Regan, and the Revd Alistair Warke, Diocesan Curate, were also in attendance.
Contemporary Christianity book launch
“At Home in Exile: The Journey Towards a New Paradigm” by Peter McDowell
will be launched on Tuesday, 15 January 2013, 7:30pm 3rd Floor, 21 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast.
Copies of the book will be available at the launch, and afterward by contacting the office, or via the website (see below).
The numbers of people attending church are declining. Churches are closing and the influence the church once had in society is waning. The natural response is to immediately look for solutions to the problems. However, finding appropriate solutions depends on a correct understanding of the problem.
In ‘At Home in Exile’ Peter McDowell shows how the experience of exile in the Old Testament can provide a way for the church to understand its current experience of marginalisation. The feelings associated with the three stages of the exile experience resonate with our current experience. The first stage is entering exile, and has associated feelings of shock and denial. The second stage, being in exile, has feelings of anger and depression. The third stage, departing from exile, is associated with acceptance and integration.
“Peter’s book is an invaluable companion for the people of God being taken into exile. Its challenging insights, observations and analysis are complemented by encouragement and hope to journey into an unknown future with a known God and to be at home in exile.”
Roy Searle
Northumbria Community
Parish record on line
Kilrush (Ballinabearna) (Ferns) – The Parish Registers of St Brigid’s Church, Clonegal (Moyacombe) Baptisms 1878–1903 Marriages 1845–1903 Burials 1878–1903 Download the complete St Brigid’s Church, Clonegal registers as a PDF by clicking here.
http://dlvr.it/2fkgN9
MEDIA REVIEW
President Higgins’ message for Christmas and New Year
The President of Ireland offers his best wishes to the people of Ireland and the Irish family, “wherever they may be”. Ireland is a community of communities.
Dept of Education to issue guidelines on suicide prevention
It comes after a number of secondary school girls have been found dead in the past year.
http://www.thejournal.ie/dept-of-education-to-issue-guidelines-on-suicide-prevention-720327-Dec2012/
Children among 15 arrested during protests across Northern Ireland
An 11-year-old, a 12-year-old and two 13-year-olds were among those arrest after disorder broke out at loyalist protests.
http://www.thejournal.ie/loyalist-protests-northern-ireland-720641-Dec2012/
Equality Commission’s concerns over Newry playpark naming
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/headlines/equality-concerns-raised-over-ira-playpark-in-newry-1-4599678