Faultless bishop earns degree; Methodist president speaks on abortion and assisted suicide; Showcasing the Irish language; Godless funerals thrive in post Catholic Ireland; Irish male teens four times more prone to suicide; North cannot afford current teacher training costs; Orange Parades generate £55m for economy
Faultless bishop earns degree
The Bishop of Cork has successfully defended his PhD thesis at Cardiff University Law School. The oral examination (viva voce) was held yon 21st May, in Cardiff University. Afterwards the examiners announced that they had awarded a category 1 pass – an outright award of the PhD with no corrections required.
Dr Colton, studied law in University College Cork as an undergraduate. In 2006 he was awarded the degree of Master of Laws at Cardiff University where he is also a research associate at the Centre for Law and Religion.
The area of research he undertook part-time in the course of the last six years relates to the sources of law – religion law (law the State makes governing religion) and religious law (the law religious entities make for themselves) – with, of course, particular reference to the Church of Ireland. The title of his doctoral thesis is Sources of Law of the Church of Ireland: Identification, Investigation and Reform. He wrote the doctorate under the supervision of the internationally renowned Professor Norman Doe at Cardiff University, specialist in Constitutional Law and Ecclesiastical Law.
Video: Methodist president speaks on abortion and assisted suicide
News Letter – Rev Dr Heather Morris will be officially installed as Methodist president at the denomination’s annual conference in Carrickfergus on June 12.
At a press conference on Wednesday the 48-year-old mother-of-two spoke on some of the big issues facing the church today.
When asked about her position on abortion she said that, while believing strongly that abortion on demand is wrong, she stands by the church’s position saying in certain “narrow situations that an abortion may be a permissible option”.
And, when questioned on the issue of assisted suicide, Rev Morris warned that “Life is not a commodity that can be thrown away”.
“The paper that is coming to conference voices huge reservations about any moves towards assisted suicide on the grounds of vulnerability of those who are ill or dying, on the grounds of any pressure that might be perceived on them, or on their relatives, with regards to movements towards the position of assisted suicide,” she added.
For more see the News Letter on Thursday. Video at:
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/video-methodist-president-speaks-on-abortion-and-assisted-suicide-1-5117240
Showcasing the Irish language
Welsey College, Sligo Grammar, Ashton College and Killenny College were all winners in Comórtas Bedell
From Brian Burú’s March to Blind Date and from Soap Box orations on the influence of celebrity footballers to the Harlem Shake, it was all happening through Irish.
There was a wide range of activities and great imagination shown in the applications submitted to the Bedell Competition – a competition organised by Cumann Gaelach an hEaglaise (The Irish Guild of the Church) to encourage the greater use of the Irish language among young people in the Church of Ireland and, in particular, post–primary Protestant schools.
Wesley College won first place this year and they were presented with the Bedell Cup and a cheque for €250. Ashton School, Cork and Sligo Grammar School came joint second and each received a cheque for €100 and Kilkenny College came third and received a cheque for €50. Every school that took part of the competition is commended for the effort made by the teachers and pupils to ensure that the language is used as a living language – and enjoyed.
William Bedell, was an Essex man who became Provost of Trinity College and later became Bishop of Kilmore. It was he who organised the first complete translation of the Old Testament into Irish in the 17th Century.
Wesley College and the Church of Ireland have a noble tradition in the history of the language. These links are still there. Archbishop Richard Clarke, Primate of all Ireland and a former pupil of Wesley College, gave his blessing in Irish during the General Synod service earlier this month.
This is the second year of this competition. It will be running again next year as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge. Further photographs and details of Wesley College’s entry are available on www.facebook.com/Gaeleaglais and/or contact Caroline Nolan, Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise for further information.
Godless funerals thrive in post Catholic Ireland
RNS & Washington Post – Irish funeral directors estimate that 10 percent of the nearly 30,000 funerals conducted annually are nonreligious. Government data show that about 30 percent of the 21,000 weddings annually are outside any church, up from 5 percent two decades ago.
The growth has come amid a backdrop of church decline. The number of people who call themselves Catholics is at an all-time low. Seminaries have grown barren. And as the government scales back church control of schools, fewer children may be exposed to Catholic rites of passage.
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/05/21/godless-funerals-thrive-in-post-catholic-ireland/
Irish male teens four times more prone to suicide
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/male-teens-four-times-more-prone-to-suicide-231820.html
North cannot afford current teacher training costs
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/tribal-politics-are-preventing-merger-of-two-teacher-training-colleges-we-cant-afford-claim-29286139.html
Orange Parades generate £55m for economy, research finds
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/parades-generate-55m-for-economy-research-finds-1-5116250