Tomorrow in St Fethlimidh's Cathedral, Kilmore, there will be a United Diocesan Service of Worship which will conclude the visit of representatives from the Diocese of Ohio to the United Dioceses of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh.
Since July 16th some 65 adults and 27 young people representing 29 of the 108 parishes in the Diocese of Ohio have been enjoying a series of events to enable them to meet people from Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, and to learn about the development of Celtic Christianity. For the first week the adults and young people had separate programmes and they came together in the second week.
The programme of events has included visits to Sligo, Drumcliffe, and Carrowmore and services in Kilmore Cathedral. There have been longer trips outside the united dioceses to Newgrange, Tara, Slane, Monasterboice, Kildare, Kells and Glendalough, and a day in Dublin took in the cathedrals of Christ Church and St Patrick's.
Such links with dioceses in other parts of the Anglican Communion are becoming more common with the relative ease of travel and the increase in leisure time. For the Church of Ireland, and in particular the church in rural areas, these are important links, providing an invaluable breadth of experience and a validation of a local ministry which is all too often taken for granted.
Today the annual sale in aid of St John's Church, Kill, Co Kildare, will begin at noon and at 1 p.m. local historian Brian McCabe will give a lecture on church and graveyard monuments. In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Evensong will be sung by Vox Humana, from Wales, who will also sing the services tomorrow.
Tomorrow RTE will televise Morning Service conducted by the Rev Cecil Wilson, general secretary of CMS Ireland, while BBC Radio Ulster will broadcast Morning Prayer from St John's Church, Newcastle, Co Down, where the officiant will be the rector, the Rev Dr Ian Ellis. The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, will consecrate a Garden of Remembrance at Holmpatrick.
In St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, the 40th anniversary of the ordination to priesthood of the Dean of Armagh, the Very Rev Herbert Cassidy, will be marked by a celebration of the Eucharist at 3.15 p.m., while in Clonmac noise the preacher at the annual open-air service at 4 p.m. will be the former Bishop of Cork, the Right Rev Roy Warke.
In New Zealand the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will conclude its tour by singing the services and giving a concert in Auckland Cathedral.
Choral Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Tuesday and Thursday will be sung by the choir of St Peter's Parish Church, Presbury.
In the coming week there is a varied programme of musical events in Church of Ireland venues. Tomorrow evening the Philomel Chamber Choir, conducted by Ian Sexton, will sing in the Church of the Ascension, Timoleague, while on Monday and Tuesday there will be concerts in Christ Church, Clifden, by the KUFM Choir from Sweden, and the Face Trebel Choir of Montreal.
On Wednesday Andrew Smith, the director of Music of St Peter's, Eaton Square, London, will give an organ recital in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, while in St Werburgh's Church there will be a programme by the American soprano Donna Cox. In St Barrahane's Church, Castleownshend, the Danish Trio Divertimento will play on Thursday evening, and on Friday in Kill o' the Grange Church there will be a concert of sacred and secular music by Bablake School from Coventry.
