Presbyterian Church voices concern to Stormont over vulnerable. Former Presbyterian Moderator, Rev Dr Norman Hamilton

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1 ! CNI Presbyterian Church voices concern to Stormont over vulnerable Former Presbyterian Moderator, Rev Dr Norman Hamilton Proper protection for the most weak and vulnerable in society must be built in to next year s draft budget arrangements, the Presbyterian Church has said. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 1

2 News Letter - In a submission to the Northern Ireland Executive, the Church said it appreciated the scale of the challenge in rebalancing the economy, but had concerns about welfare reform proposals. Co-Convener of the Church in Society Committee, the Very Rev Dr Norman Hamilton, said: A major concern of the Church in regard to the draft budget is the need to provide proper protection to the weak and vulnerable. The Church therefore welcomes the protection indicated within the Stormont House Agreement on welfare reform, though the impact of the new flexibilities is not yet clear, and may also have an as yet unspecified but significant downside for other areas of our public services. Rev Hamilton added: The Executive s current draft budget offers a measure of protection to the provision of health and some education services, (but regretfully not the higher education sector), as well as to the police. We have a particular concern that departmental cuts which will limit or reduce the skills capacity in Northern Ireland will be counterproductive in building the strong economy needed to underpin churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 2

3 a sustainable budget and adequate public services. We ask that specific attention be given to this issue as an outworking of the Stormont Agreement to ensure that it is properly addressed. We therefore urge all parties, including those not represented in the Executive, to proactively seek consensus on these difficult issues for the good of the whole people of Northern Ireland. The Presbyterian submission also highlighted what it called the significant costs associated with providing public services in a divided society, and welcomed a commitment to have an independent audit of each department on the impact of the ongoing divisions in our society. A frontline evangelist - The Irish Catholic interviews C of I archbishop of Armagh Given his strong ecumenical convictions, it was particularly fitting that it was in the Catholic Benedictine monastery outside Rostrevor, Co. Down where Dr Richard Clarke was elected churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 3

4 Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland in October Martin O Brien in The Irish Catholic - The Church s 11 bishops had chosen the monastery as the place where they would hold a retreat and then decide who among them would succeed Archbishop Alan Harper. Months earlier enhanced ecumenical relations by appointing Dom Mark-Ephrem Nolan OSB, the monastery s superior, an Ecumenical Canon of his cathedral, St Patrick s in Armagh. Two years on and over a cup of tea in his office in Church House, a stone s throw from that cathedral, Archbishop Clarke appears determined to lead a Church that will be above churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 4

5 all a beacon of hope in a rapidly secularising Ireland. But while Archbishop Richard stresses the huge honour and huge opportunity bestowed on him by his confreres, not to mention the huge responsibility placed on his shoulders, he concedes that, at the age of 63 and a half (in October 2012), it was a wrench to leave Meath and Kildare where he had been bishop for 14 years. At my age, [Armagh] didn t seem an obvious career opportunity he chuckles, and one is left with the impression that having lost Linda, his wife, and mother of their two grown-up children, after a long illness in 2009, he would have remained content in Meath and Kildare until perhaps retiring in his late sixties. He would have been expected to maintain his sustained ecumenical outreach and perhaps to have increasingly indulged his love for writing about theology and history, having written three books already, including A Whisper of God (Columba 2006). churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 5

6 But now, health permitting, he can remain in the top post in the Church of Ireland until he is 75. While there is little time for writing and scholarship, there are even greater opportunities for ecumenical endeavour for a Church leader who trained as an historian at Trinity College Dublin and as a theologian at King s College London. His role involves doing three jobs: being diocesan bishop in Armagh where he doesn t have an assistant bishop, being a national Church leader/primate of All-Ireland and being an Anglican bigwig, one of 38 Primates in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Richard Lionel Clarke is the son of a Church of Ireland rector of Drumcondra whose elder brother, John, recently retired as rector of Wicklow. First and foremost, he is a diocesan bishop with a mission to encourage every member of his Church to be a frontline evangelist in the secularised and secularising world that we live in. He has lost no time in getting out of his residence to get to know his flock and has organised a series of road shows in parish centres churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 6

7 throughout the diocese both last year and this year. These take the form of a talk, workshops, questions and answers and a wrap-up by himself. They have each attracted around 200 people in parishes around towns such as Markethill, Dungannon and Cookstown. This is different from confirmations and ceremonial occasions and the response has been very encouraging when people see me in their own parish contexts. With the assistance of his six rural deans and the laity, they are about going into every parish and seeing what kind of community do you want to be with the intention to encourage people to understand their own responsibilities as disciples, what it means to be an apostle today. Warming to his theme, the archbishop says: If we are talking about [a] faith that is actually alive, then we all need to be able to communicate it, not just the clergy. It should be a reasonable faith, able to stand up to the scrutiny of [Richard] Dawkins, it should be a biblical faith because that is what we are and it should be an active faith. It should be seen to be working. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 7

8 Asked what is most distinctive about the Church of Ireland s contribution Dr Clarke says: We believe we are very much part of a Catholic tradition, but also part of a reformed understanding of that tradition, and this should [ideally] be a sort of bridge between that which we believe is our Catholic heritage and that which we believe is part of a Reformation belief of being ecclesia reformata et semper reformanda, always reforming, always in need of reform. At our best, I would hope we do show an attentiveness to the world as the world is. Bishop Crean asks for prayers for all affected by tragic deaths in Cobh Bishop William Crean, Bishop of Cloyne, has asked for prayers for all of those affected by the tragic events in Cobh on Sunday afternoon. Bishop Crean said, I was deeply shocked to hear of the deaths of Michael and Valerie Greaney and the serious injuries suffered by their daughter, Michelle. I ask the faithful of the churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 8

9 diocese to pray for all of those affected by these sad events. May the light of Christ, whose coming into the world we celebrate at Christmas, help to guide us through this great darkness which has fallen on the community of Cobh, and on the diocese as a whole. Epic journey for Meath s singing priest Fr Ray Kelly s dream of becoming a professional singer is now a reality, thanks to the popularity of an internet video featuring the Co. Meath cleric singing at a wedding. The singing sensation has a record deal with Universal Music Ireland and churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 9

10 his Christmas album, Where I Belong, was launched on the Late Late Show in time for Christmas. Singing Leonard Cohen s iconic Hallelujah last April, for newlyweds Leah and Chris O Kane, transformed Fr Kelly s life. Fr Kelly, almost 62- years-old, performing as the singing priest at weddings for decades, now has 38.5million hits on YouTube. Since then Fr Kelly has been a guest on the hit US television show Ellen hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and has appeared on the Late Late Show with Ryan Tubridy twice. His debut performance at the Olympia Theatre will take place on February 19 and Fr Kelly will star in a four-hour television show in Germany this January, a country that he has taken by storm. A tour of the United States is planned for 2015.Before signing with Universal, he had spent almost two months in talks with record chiefs, including representatives from Sony and a smaller independent company. I did not expect this, I have been singing for many years, it was part of who I am, Fr Kelly told The Irish Catholic. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 10

11 When Fr Kelly became parish priest of Oldcastle, Co. Meath, he converted one of the rooms into a virtual studio so that he could continue to sing. Often asked to sing at local events and weddings, he did not expect his meteoric rise to fame. Although Fr Kelly secured a major record deal, he made it clear that he was not prepared to give up his responsibilities as parish priest. The producers built a recording booth in Fr Kelly s house to facilitate recording the album. It has been fairly hectic, there is a lot associated with recording an album, he said. However, his commitment is clear admitting that in the run up to Christmas he has had to cut back on appointments to concentrate on pastoral work. Radical and inspiring progressive headmaster - atheist and church organist The Irish Times - Ruarc Gahan, who has died aged 88, was the radical first headmaster of Sutton Park School, whose vision was for it to be a free, non -denominational, co-educational churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 11

12 community school. Gahan, headmaster of Sutton Park from its establishment in 1957 until his resignation in 1972, wrote to the Department of Education in 1971 making just such a proposal, only to have it rejected. At that time, he was described by the late Rex Cathcart, a pioneering professor of education at the University of Ulster in the 1960s, as one of the most significant educational thinkers in Ireland or the UK. Gahan introduced to Ireland the ideas of AS Neill and the Progressive Schools Association, creating a school council, on which Sutton Park s pupils had a majority, which decided on day-today matters such as discipline. He promoted the introduction of sex education into Irish secondary churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 12

13 schooling, inviting the well-known Dublin gynaecologist Michael Solomons to speak to his pupils as early as From its foundation also there was no corporal punishment at Sutton Park. Gahan was seen as extreme, even dangerous, and that brought him into conflict eventually with the school s board of directors. An attempt to dismiss him was made in 1970 after he had written to parents, without the board s permission, outlining a proposal that bursaries be provided for less well-off pupils. The attempt at dismissal led to a threat of strike action by the teaching staff. The solidarity shown by Gahan s colleagues stemmed from their sheer admiration for him. Johnny Medlycott, former headmaster of Mount Temple Comprehensive School, also in north Dublin, and a colleague of Gahan s from 1960, recalled that he was exceptionally inspirational to work with. Medlycott stresses that Gahan didn t want Sutton Park to be a flash in the pan, he wanted it to be a contribution, and, in that capacity, was a very active member of the English Teachers churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 13

14 Association of Ireland, serving on a committee chaired by the late Augustine Martin which oversaw dramatic syllabus reform. He was also a regular attender of the meetings of the Irish School Heads Association, a largely Protestant body, although he himself was an atheist. In this connection, another of his innovations was to teach religious education at Sutton Park, not as doctrine but as wide-ranging philosophy. This was perhaps ironic. Beresford Ruarc de Fremery Gahan was one of five children of a Church of Ireland rector, Beresford Townsend Gahan, and his wife, Helen de Fremery. He was educated at St Columba s College, Rathfarnham, after which he took a degree in English and French at Trinity College, Dublin. At school, he studied the organ under the renowned music teacher Joseph Groocock, and became in time what another former colleague, the historian Julian Walton, describes as a really, really good organist and choirmaster. In retirement from the 1980s, he was organist at three Church of Ireland parishes in Co Wicklow, having made his atheism plainly known to the churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 14

15 rectors concerned in each case. He co-founded the Millennium Choir at Blessington. A composition of his, Alone with none but Thee, my God, based on a prayer attributed to St Colmcille, won an RTÉ prize in Before Sutton Park, Gahan had taught at Castle Park School in Dalkey, Co Dublin, and then, for three years, in Buenos Aires. After leaving Sutton Park, Gahan, a lifelong vegetarian who was also very committed to social equality, worked in the wholly different atmosphere of Ballyfermot Vocational School in one of the poorest parts of Dublin. He was a co-founder of the Green Party and an active member of the Irish Campaign Against Blood Sports and of the Anti-Vivisection League. He also campaigned against live animal exports. The legacy which Gahan left will be felt for a long time after it was bequeathed. He is survived by his beloved partner Catherine Morrow, 15 cats, and many deeply mourning former pupils and colleagues. 'Fenian' Christmas carol in NI Assembly protest Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald was reminded of the plight of Northern Ireland nationalists by a letter which outlined complaints in the Stormont churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 15

16 Assembly about "Fenian Christmas carols" being taught in State schools. Irish Independent - The document, released in the 1984 State archives, showed Dr FitzGerald being asked to consider a response to Roy Thompson who had raised the issue of so-called "Fenian carols" being taught to Northern Ireland youngsters. Mr Thompson raised the issue before the Northern Ireland Assembly on November 20, He cited a Christmas carol, which was of historic French origin, being sung by children from the Newtownabbey area. It was recorded by the BBC for a special Christmas radio musical broadcast. Part of the carol's chorus includes the lines: "Sing carols to Mary at this Christmas time, the purest of mothers our mother sublime, Ave Maria. To Mary so lovely our prayers we bring, All people on earth raise our voice and sing, Ave Maria." Mr Thompson said local families were outraged over the precise content of the carol. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 16

17 The objections centred on the Marian references in song. "I understand from parents as far afield as Portavogie that their children had already learnt the carol before they knew about it," he said. "Now the same situation has developed in primary schools in the Newtownabbey area." "It concerns me that in one such State school in Newtownabbey some pupils said: 'We are not singing this Fenian thing'. I am quoting the words that were said." Mr Thompson said he found the matter both "shameful and deplorable". In reply, he was informed that the assembly had written to the BBC about the Christmas carol and the concerns of local parents. "I did not even get the courtesy of an acknowledgement," one assembly official said. However, the assembly paid tribute to those who had first raised the issue over the carol and the BBC broadcast. Details of the matter, which were also published in the 'Church of Ireland Gazette', were included for Dr FitzGerald's attention. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 17

18 There was no indication of what action, if any, the Taoiseach took over the matter. The file indicated that no response was made by the BBC over the carol protest. Gorey church renovated and restored Jordan Redmond and fellow students moving back the seating at St Michael's Church A transformed St Michael's Church greeted Gorey parishioners at the weekend after months of renovation and restoration work. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 18

19 Gorey Guardian - For the past few months they were very well looked after with Sunday Masses held in the local Christ Church, with other chapels and venues used during the week. The week running up to the big reopening was a busy one, with main contractor Pat Gregan ensuring the finer details were looked after. A team of volunteers turned up in their droves with trailers on Thursday to help reinstate the revarnished church pews which had been in storage. 'We had great help from the parish,' said Fr Willie Howell. 'Gorey Community School sent us 20 Transition Year students and they helped carry in the pews. They were absolutely outstanding.' Among the changes are a restoration and remodelling of the Sanctuary to its original design, and the gates introduced 30 years ago have been removed. The church has a new paint and lighting scheme which enhances the beauty of the church's architectural features. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 19

20 The stained glass windows have been restored and cleaned. 'They are absolutely beautiful,' said Fr Howell. 'You have to see them in the daytime. People are stunned.' He added that some of the original paintwork on the wainscoting was found behind one of the Confession boxes, and this was recreated. 'This is one of the finer points of the work,' said Fr Howell, adding that the new carpet tiles give the church a very warm feeling. He said the contractor and local sub-contractors did an 'absolutely fantastic job.' 'It's an especially joyous feeling of coming home again, no matter how nice your holidays have been,' he added. 'I can't emphasise enough how grateful we are, particularly to the Church of Ireland, who were fantastic and facilitated all our needs.' Church of Scotland welcomes US- Cuba thaw The Moderator of the General Assembly has welcomed a thawing of relations between the US and Cuba. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 20

21 In a letter to the Presbyterian Reformed Church of Cuba, Rt Rev John Chalmers expressed his gratitude that the two governments had reopened diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of hostility. He wrote: "We have we witnessed a step forward in the journey to the lifting of sanctions over Cuba by the USA. "Both presidents publically announced the necessity of bringing to an end more than 50 years of difficult relationships and of once again developing diplomatic relations between the two countries. churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 21

22 "The Church of Scotland, at its General Assembly in 2013 agreed the following deliverance: 'Instruct the World Mission Council to engage with the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba and others to support measures to entreat the USA to lift its embargo on Cuba and promote the re-engagement of Cuba on the world stage.' "As part of our continuing engagement, we have ensured dialogue with the Presbyterian Church, USA and also with you, the Presbyterian- Reformed Church in Cuba (PRCC). "We were grateful for the opportunity to visit Cuba at Eastertime last year as part of the Moderatorial visit of Very Rev Lorna Hood. This visit has gone a long way to deepening our relationship and our understanding of each other as churches. "We give thanks to God for the new developments but realise there is still much to be agreed before real change will be seen by the people of Cuba. We also are thankful for the unwavering presence, even in difficult days of the churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 22

23 PRCC, and your fight for peace and justice for the people of your beautiful country." "We look forward with you, in faith and continued action to a time where Cuba can take its rightful place on the world stage." Are you a Twitter user? Please click on TWITTER on home page to receive daily headlines from CNI Facebook user? Click on FACEBOOK on home page to receive daily headlines Share CNI with your friends churchnewsireland@gmail.com Page 23