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March '98 around and about Dublin'sChrist Church Cathedral |
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Raymond Gordon Finney Jenkins' connections with Christ Church began in 1910 with his attendance at the memorial service for King Edward VII and ended, so far as this earthly life is concerned, with his requiem on Monday 19 January 1998. It is probably true to say that in the years between no priest or even bishop of the Church of Ireland can have had as varied a ministry or as much influence over generations of clergy as did he.
Having first worked in the old Royal Bank, his date of ordination was later than was common then, being made deacon for the parish of Saint Thomas in 1930 at the age of 31 and priest in 1931. This was the Gloucester Street (Sean MacDemott Street) and East Wall area made famous by O'Casey and Jenkin's three years work there enabled him, despite his scholarship, to talk with understanding with people - whatever their educational background. His own educational skills were formidable. He was fluent in Classical Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Aramaic; his theological appetites were almost insatiable; his knowledge of day-to day work affairs was broad for he was an avid reader of current events. This was no clergyman living a sheltered lifestyle but one who was part of life: his, the incarnational theology of Bishop Gore.
His obituaries have been written more fully and better elsewhere. This note is simply to record the debt that we in Christ Church owe him over a period of seventy eight years, thirteen of them in the stall of the archdeacon and almost twenty more as a member, until the age of ninety eight, as a member of the cathedral board. May he rest as he lived - in the peace of Christ his Saviour.
Thomas Noel Desmond Cornwall Salmon, Old Testament scholar, lecturer of many years in the Hebrew and Divinity Schools of Trinity College and, not least, dean of this cathedral church from 1967-88 where his quiet piety infused the building with a sense of the numinous, will mark the golden jubilee of his priestly ordination on Wednesday 25 March. He will celebrate the Eucharist at 6 p.m. The service will be sung by the Cathedral Girls' Choir.
We expect many of his friends will want to be with him for this happy occasion and to wish him many more years of priestly ministry. If you plan to be present, do remember the horrendous traffic problems around the cathedral at that hour of the day and allow plenty of time for driving and parking. The Werburgh Street multi-storey car park is close by and is also secure.
To Stuart Kinsella who was recently awarded his M.Phil. by Dublin University and is now engaged in further research under the tutorage of Professor Roger Stalley. No one will be surprised to know that Christ Church features largely in his researches.
To David Taylor, one of our bellringers, for a double honour. First for being elected a member of the Ancient Society of College Youths - not some secret society but one of the most prestigious teams of ringers in the world, those entitled to ring the bells at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London. Secondly, for his recently being awarded his MA in Journalism by Dublin City University.
Dr Peter Harbison, a member of council of the Royal Irish Academy and its academic editor, will give an illustrated lecture on "Beranger's Eighteenth-Century Watercolours of Dublin City and County" in the cathedral's Music Room at 8 p.m. on Tuesday 24 March at 8 p.m. A lecture from Dr Harbison is always worth attending. Admission free.
The music repertoire this month is being further extended. Of particular note are the "Missa Caput" of Johannes Ockeghem (1425-95) at 11 a.m. on Sunday 15 March and Bach's beautiful motet "O Jesu Christ, meins lebens Licht" at 5 p.m. Evensong on Saturday 21 March. An Evensong, in memoriam for Michael Tippett who died recently, will be held on Sunday 22 March at 3.30 p.m. His canticles written for Saint John's College, Cambridge will be sung together with his five Negro spirituals from "A Child of our Time". Not to be missed.
The Cathedral Girls' Choir is making its first tour in March - a four day trip to Derry over the Saint Patrick's weekend. The choir will sing the Saturday evening Mass in Saint Eugene's Cathedral. On Sunday they will join the Saint Columb's Cathedral boys for Sung Eucharist and Evensong and will themselves give a Sunday evening concert. The girls will be staying with the families of Derry choristers and there are plenty of social events planned - including a trip to the Giant's Causeway.
It is with enormous pleasure to be able to announce that the Arts Council has agreed to fund an early music project this year in which the core element is Christ Church Baroque - the professional orchestra founded in 1996 with the cathedral as its home and the music and playing styles of the baroque period as its raison d'être. Many will remember the debut of this group: the monumental performance, together with both cathedral choirs, of Charpentier's Mass for double choir and double orchestra as part of (and funded by) the 1996 Organ and Choral Festival. Now that Arts Council support has been forthcoming, the orchestra can at last play again and can go about creating a more permanent structure and securing ongoing funding. A concert in early summer is planned. Details will be announced shortly.
Material for April must arrive with the Dean by 12 March 1998.
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