A busy month in Derry Cathedral; Belfast visit by best selling author;
Queen’s launches Conflict Studies Institute; Gove proposes split in exams system; Teacher training reform ‘is needed’; Number of abuse allegations against Catholic church increasing
A busy month in Derry Cathedral
May has been a very busy month in St Columb’s Cathedral, Londonderrry.
A Service of Thanksgiving was held to mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘turning of the tide’ in the Battle of the Atlantic when Prince Michael of Kent was present. The Band of HM Royal Marines, Scotland took part. Over 700 people attended including Sea Cadets and naval veterans from Canada. Representatives of the Canadian, Australian, Italian and Norwegian navies were present.
The’ Three Choirs Festival’ included the Cathedral Choir, Renaissance, from Belfast, and Cantemus from Limavady, Coleraine, Portrush areas.
Last Sunday The Lord Mayor of London, Rt Hon Alderman Roger Gifford was present with the Governor from The Honourable The Irish Society, Alderman Ian Luder.
There was an attendance of best part of 1000 last Sunday afternoon for a Service of Thanksgiving in connection with the Freemasons – thanks to all those clergy who took part.
This Sunday, Morning Service will be broadcast from the Cathedral : 8.10 am on BBC Radio 4 and 10.15 am on BBC Radio Ulster.
At 4 pm on Sunday, Archdeacon Scott Harte will preach at a special service marking International Day Against Homophobic/Transphobic oppression. Everyone most welcome.
Belfast visit by best selling author
In just 2 weeks time, Nick Page- one of Britain’s most prolific Christian authors is making a rare trip to Belfast on behalf of The Good Book Shop. Nick has written over seventy books for adults and children including The Wrong Messiah, The Longest Week, God’s Dangerous Book, The One-Stop Bible Guide, and The Big Story.
Richard Ryan, manager of the booksho, said, “Nick will be speaking exclusively in St Molua’s Parish Church Stormont on Tuesday 4th June at 8pm. This will be his first visit to Belfast in nearly 20 years, and one of a series of events that we are running this year to mark the shop’s 10th anniversary. This is a rare opportunity to hear a great speaker, so do try and come along if you’re free.
“We have invited him to Belfast exclusively to promote his new book Kingdom of Fools- The Unlikely Rise of the Early Church which is now out in paperback.”
The blurb on the book states –
“To the rest of the world they were fools. Rebels. Ignorant peasants. People who shunned wealth and power and welcomed the poor and uneducated. These first followers of Jesus were persecuted and their leaders killed, yet this ragged collection of lowly tradesmen, women, and slaves created a movement that changed the world. How did this happen? How did the kingdom of fools conquer the mighty empire that was Rome? In this fascinating new biography of the early church, Nick Page sets the biblical accounts alongside the latest historical and archaeological research, exploring how the early Christians lived and worshipped – and just why the Romans found this new branch of the Jewish faith so difficult to comprehend.
“KINGDOM OF FOOLS is a fresh, challenging, accessible portrait of a movement so radical, so dangerous, so thrillingly different that it outlasted the empire that tried to destroy it and went on to become the driving force of our cultural development – and claims more followers today than ever before in history.”
Queen’s launches Conflict Studies Institute
Belfast Telegraph – Former Northern Ireland arms decommissioning inspector Martti Ahtisaari is due to officially launch a new conflict studies institute at Queen’s University Belfast.
The ex-president of Finland has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on helping end violence around the world. In 2000 he surveyed IRA arms dumps for the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) as part of the peace process.
The Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen’s will allow researchers and political activists from different parts of the world to connect.
Mr Ahtisaari said: “In order to really understand the nature of conflicts, we need to invest in thorough, high-quality research and analysis. I’m pleased to witness this taking place now here in Queen’s University Belfast.
“Conflict studies have to be approached in a multidisciplinary manner and the fact that the Institute has decided to focus on challenges of social justice proves (to) us that the direction is right.”
Next month the Institute will host a lecture by author, academic and former politician Michael Ignatieff, who has written extensively on nationalism and peacekeeping.
Other academics at the Institute include Prof John D Brewer, an authority on peace processes and the role of religion, Prof Peter Shirlow, an expert on ex-combatants, Dr Cathal McCall, part of an international consortium examining post-Cold War border issues, and Dr Neil Jarman, recently appointed research fellows exploring the Cyprus conflict and the Occupy movement, the Israel-Palestine situation and the role of civil society in building peace.
The Institute is led by Professor Hastings Donnan, an expert on border areas which have experienced conflict.
He said: “No university in the UK or Ireland can claim to be a more appropriate place in which to establish an Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice. These are significant issues in Northern Ireland every single day.”
Gove proposes split in exams system
Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove says its time for England, Wales and Northern Ireland to go their separate ways on GCSEs and A-levels.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22604899
Teacher training reform ‘is needed’
The Employment and Learning Minister tells the Stormont Assembly that the current system for training teachers in Northern Ireland is inefficient and needs to be reformed.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22609767
One allegation of abuse within Catholic Church in 2012
Jornal.ie – The annual report of the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) said two allegations of abuse have taken place since the turn of the millennium.
http://www.thejournal.ie/one-allegation-of-abuse-within-catholic-church-in-2012-918662-May2013/
Number of abuse allegations against Catholic church increasing
BreakingNews.ie – There has been a slight increase in the number of allegations of abuse being reported to the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.
The group says 242 new allegations of abuse were reported to the Board between April 1 last year and the end of March this year.
That is five more than what was reported to the group the previous year.
Most allegations relate to abuse allegedly having taken place between the 1940s and 1990s, with the biggest number of allegations relating to the 60s, 70s and 80s.
All of these have also been passed to the Gardaí, the PSNI and, where appropriate, to the HSE.