|
April '98 around and about Dublin'sChrist Church Cathedral |
 |
 |
| Home Page | What's New? |
"The Great Week" was how Egeria, a Spanish nun of the fourth century, described Holy Week and Easter in Jerusalem. She must have been the first of many to take a package tour to the Holy Land for the for purpose of experiencing the land of Jesus. Beginning on Palm Sunday we, her successors, make our spiritual journey through the same week.
On Palm Sunday, 5 April, at 11 a.m. the congregation, weather permitting will gather on the cathedral lawn. There the choir will sing "Hosanna to the Son of David", the gospel of the entry into Jerusalem will be read and the palms of the people will be blessed. To the singing of "All glory, laud and honour" the choir will lead this procession into the cathedral where the Eucharist will begin. The passion reading will be dramatically enacted with the people taking the role of the crowd on that first day of palms. How soon their cries of "Hosanna" had turned to "Crucify".
Maundy (Command - "Love one another") Thursday is a day of double celebration. On Thursday at 12 noon the archbishop will celebrate the Eucharist, renew his own ordination vows and renew those of the priests and deacons of the dioceses. He then blesses the holy oil which the clergy will take for use in the parishes. Lay people from the parishes are warmly welcome to attend this service. City traffic being what it is now is, we advise early arrival and parking in the Werburgh Street mullti-storey car park. Please do not block the cathedral access as the Gardaí have warned us that our bad parking habits are sooner or later going to the cause of a major hazard.
On Thursday evening at 8 p.m. we mark the Liturgy of the Lord's Supper with the footwashing. Representatives of various local organisation which show Christ-like love for others have been invited to share in this moving ceremony. At the end, during the singing of psalm 22, the altars are stripped and left bare as our Lord was left deserted in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Good Friday is a quiet day. At 11 a.m. Ante-Communion will be said. At 3.30 p.m. there will be sung a full Choral Evensong with the procession of the Cross through the cathedral with appropriate anthems and hymns. This service has been found by many to be of great devotional help and considerable numbers have been in attendance.
Easter begins with the Paschal Vigil at 9 p.m. on Saturday evening, ending about 10.30 p.m. It is dramatic with its lighting of the paschal fire in the ruins of the old chapter house, its renewal of the baptismal vows and the ringing of both the tower bells and handbells before the singing of the "Gloria" for the first time since the beginning of Lent. On Easter morning at 11 a.m. the archbishop will preach his Easter sermon and the dean hopes to officiate and celebrate the Eucharist thus re-commencing his ministry within the cathedral for the first time since his taking of sick leave in mid-September. Easter Evensong will be sung at 3.30 p.m. All are welcome to be present with us for this magnificent week of devotion and celebration.
The music, of course, is always a resonant and integral part of Holy Week and Easter, and 1988 is no exception. The music for the triduum includes Pablo Casals' moving 'O vos omnes' on Good Friday, the Missa cum populo by Petr Eben (a modern Czech composer) at the Easter Vigil and the ever-popular Schubert Mass in G with trumpets and timpani at 11.00 a.m. on Easter morning. The Choir 500 Foundation, part of our new appeal, was established in 1994 to secure the future of the cathedral music and to date can count the founding of the Cathedral Girls' Choir and the Guinness organ scholarship amongst its achievements. The Foundation has recently received approval from the cathedral board for four new projects. A junior organ scholarship is to be awarded to a promising potential organist from amongst the ranks of the Girls' Choir. Singing lessons for the choristers are now to be a regular part of the life of this choir. In July there will be a Sunday Sung Eucharist accompanied by full orchestra - the first of what is hoped may become a regular feature of summer in the cathedral. There is also to be a series of lunch time recitals running through May, June and July, taking place on Fridays at 1.15 p.m. and featuring local and visiting choirs and organists.
Doctors permitting the dean hopes to be able to attend the annual meeting of the English Deans' and Provosts' Conference in St Albans from 20-23 April.
Saint Michan's Church, after extensive refurbishment following structural damage, is to be re-dedicated by the archbishop in the presence of Her Excellency the President at 8 p.m. on Thursday 23 April. Members of the cathedral congregation are encouraged to attend. Many will also have noticed the scaffolding around Saint Werburgh's church. They will be even more delighted when it is removed and they see the glory of the stone front of the building cleaned, renewed and seen in wonderful condition for the first time in many years.
Evening Prayer in Irish is said in the Lady Chapel of the cathedral on the fourth Sunday of each month. All are welcome. Archbishop Donald Caird is to preach at the service at 5 p.m. on Sunday 26 April.
Material for May must arrive with the Dean by 12 April 1998.
|
|
| Home Page | What's New? |