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The Dean and Chapter and the Board of Christ Church Cathedral are delighted by the announcement that Canon Kenneth Kearon is to be the new director of the Irish School of Ecumenics in succession to Sr Geraldine Smyth. The school, unique in the English-speaking world, was set up in 1970 to build on the ecumenical "thaw" in relations between the various Christian Churches following the second Vatican Council. The first director was Fr Michael Hurley, SJ, still involved and enjoying retirement. He was succeeded by the Revd Dr Robin Boyd, from the Presbyterian tradition, now living in Australia. The next directors were Dr John D’Arcy May (Roman Catholic), the Revd Alan Falconer (Presbyterian), and Dr Geraldine Smyth, now to be superior of the Irish Dominican nuns. Canon Kearon takes up the reins to face the new millennium. He will, of course, still be a priest of the diocese of Dublin and a canon of Christ Church.
The group, which welcomes all who wish to attend, will hold its next meeting on Monday 8 February at 8 p.m. in the chapter house. A discussion on training for ordinands will be led by the Reverend Norman McCausland, chaplain-tutor at the Church of Ireland Theological College.
This popular series begins its spring session on Tuesday 2 February at 1.15 p.m. The general series title is Christ Church in Stuart Dublin. The first lecture will be given by Dr Kenneth Milne, historiographer to the Church of Ireland and keeper of the cathedral archives, with the subject title "Christ Church – The Smallest of Dublin’s Liberties". Mr Douglas Bennett, secretary of the Company of Goldsmiths of Dublin and an extra-mural lecturer with the National University of Ireland, will give the second lecture on 9th February. He is the author of several books on silver. On Tuesday 16 February Dr Colum Kenny, lecturer in communications at Dublin City University will bring before us the fact, little known to many Dubliners, that the original four courts building was south of the river and in the grounds of Christ Church Cathedral. The final lecture, to be given by Dr Edward McParland, senior lecturer in the department of the History of Art at Trinity College, will give us an architectural overview of the old four courts buildings. The lectures will be given in the south transept of the cathedral and all are welcome.
Lent I
Ash Wednesday falls this year on 17 February and will have the usual observances in the cathedral. There will be a said eucharist at 12.45 in the Lady Chapel. At 6 p.m. the choir will sing the eucharist and there will be the usual Ash Wednesday ceremonies. The solemn nature of this evening celebration seems to attract an increasing congregation year by year. All are welcome.
Lent II
Under the general title Faith for a New Millennium it is planned to have a series of questioning sermons by both local and visiting preachers from a number of Christian traditions. The twentieth century has been a momentous end to the second millennium. The changes in lifestyle and in working conditions have been unparalleled in human history – yet the Christian Churches and, to a large extent Christian Faith, have gone along placid and un-thought-out ways. The pattern of parochial life and organisation is largely unchanged since disestablishment in 1870: the only difference being that a smaller number of clergy and laity attempt to keep alive structures designed for a population more than twice its present size. Our faith, too, is often unexamined, accepted but perhaps insufficiently questioned. The series will explore the ways by which we must deepen thought and seek new ways of running our structures if we are successfully to enter the third millennium. The preachers are listed under Sermons: Lent - Easter 1999.
Joe Coady Lecture and Booklaunch
Lesley Whiteside, known for her biography of Archbishop George Simms and her survey of the long history of The King’s Hospital, is to give the 1999 Joe Coady lecture on Wednesday 10 March at 8 p.m. in the cathedral. Her subject will be the cathedral’s stained glass windows. Generally treated as if they were just another set of Victorian glass, Mrs Whiteside aims to show us that the glass of Christ Church is of a remarkably high standard and comparable with the best glass in Europe at that time. The lecture will be illustrated. She will also launch a new colour booklet on the glass, so her auditors will not only be able to listen to her lecture but also to bring home a souvenir of things seen as well as heard. All are welcome.
The general vestry list was revised at the January board meeting and copies for verification have been pinned up in the cathedral. If anyone feels that he/she should be on the list – or should not be on it – please send details to Mrs Whiteside, Honorary Secretary to the Board. The actual vestry meeting – to be attended by both canons and lay members – will be held at 4.30 p.m. on Sunday 18 April. Most parishes in the dioceses seem to find a Sunday as being most convenient for such a meeting. We shall give it a try this year ourselves. According to the cathedral constitution the next Easter Vestry will be in the year 2002 – and who knows where any of us will be then?
The dean, with the vicar and clergy of the cathedral grouped parishes, together with the rest of the clergy of the united dioceses, will be attending the annual clergy conference on Monday and Tuesday 1-2 February. Daily services will continue as usual.
Evensong will be sung on Sunday 21 February at 3.30 p.m. in memory of Arnold McKiernan, master of the choristers from 1956-1980. The canticles will be sung to Stanford in G and the anthem by Brahms will be How lovely are thy dwellings (both by request of Mrs Cicely McKiernan who hopes to be present). Arnold’s ashes will have been scattered at sea off Portsmouth from a Royal Navy ship a few days before the service. It is hoped that many of his friends and fellow musicians will be able to attend this service.
The cities of Dublin and San José have been twinned for some years. Last year Trinity Cathedral there and our own Christ Church Cathedral were also twinned. At Christmas we welcomed the Reverend David and Mrs Sandra Jones to Dublin. Now the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Taoiseach are to make an official visit to San José in early March and the City Council of San José and the authorities of Trinity Cathedral have invited the dean to be present also. There is to be a civic reception given by the Council – at which an award will be made to the Taoiseach – and an ecumenical service in Trinity Cathedral. The cathedral board has welcomed the invitation and is enthusiastically hoping for a new and close initiative between our cities and our cathedrals.
Dr Ivor Kenny is a member of our appeal fundraising committee. We offer him our congratulations and good wishes as he publishes his new book Freedom and Order: Studies in Strategic Leadership.
Unobtrusively, each first Thursday of the month a group of people assembles in the chapter house at 8 p.m. There they work and plan how best our cathedral may be adorned and beautified – to the glory of God and the welcoming of our 240,000 visitors each year. Recent gifts have included the fine kneeler at the communion rails and the refurbishment of the choir and chapter stalls. Some members are undertaking tapestry work for kneelers; others have restored the velvet on the presidential and lord mayoral pews. A major project is the gift of money to install a new kitchen when the crypt is restored, and to help with the work to be done on the perishing lead of the cathedral windows.
Reviewing Christmas simply gives all of us the opportunity to express our thanks to all who rang bells, sang services, played organs, arranged chairs, gave us beautiful flowers or preached and celebrated or assisted at the eucharist. Some seven hundred people – an astonishingly youthful congregation – joined us at the two services of Christmas and three hundred and fifty two received holy communion. We were delighted to be joined by the Reverend David Jones and his wife Sandra from Trinity Cathedral, San José, our California twin, and never expected that a visit in return would so soon take place.
Material for the March Church Review must reach the dean by 12th February.
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