There can be little doubt that there is currently more curiosity about the Church of Ireland than at any time since disestablishment. This is most evident in the explosion of interest in the localities and in greater community participation in church services, local history projects and restoration schemes. Arising out of such endeavours is a heightened awareness of the place of Church of Ireland families in local communities, but also a realisation of how little is known of many such families.
A valuable contribution to filling this lacuna is a new book by Homan Potterton, formerly director of the National Gallery of Ireland. Rathcormick, A Childhood Recalled is a marvellously accessible guide to the life of a Church of Ireland family in Co Meath in the 1950s. Written from the perspective of the youngest child of a large - at least by Protestant standards - family, the book is replete with amused detachment, evident affection and acute observation. It is at once both an account of the life of the Potterton family and of the society in which they lived. This is the world of a middle-class Church of Ireland farming family whose lives were informed by The Irish Times, the Church of Ireland Gazette and Kildalkey Church. These are people who epitomised the popular perception of Protestants as hard-working, honest and reliable, but somewhat detached from their Catholic neighbours, for this is also the world of the Ne Temere decree, of Protestant socials and Protestant boarding schools.
All these matters are skilfully woven together through the eyes of a small boy. This is no Protestant apologetic but a deceptively simple account of how life was 50 years ago. Rathcormick, A Childhood Recalled by Homan Potterton is published by New Island Books at £15.75.
Today Canon Patrick Rooke, Rector of Agherton, will lead the Church of Ireland Men's Society Annual Quiet Day in Holy Trinity Church, Ballywillan. In St Deiniol's Library, Wales, the Dean of Clonmacnoise, the Very Rev Andrew Furlong, will speak on "Pain and Integrity - Reform from Within" during a weekend programme on "Non Realism and Spirituality".
Tomorrow morning in Dublin, the Right Rev Mgr Peter Cookson, from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, will be the preacher at the annual Citizenship Service in Christ Church Cathedral, while in the chapel of Trinity College, the preacher at the Sung Eucharist will be the Rev Prof John Webster, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in Oxford.
At Evensong in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, the Rev Robert Reed will be installed as Precentor and the Rev Cecil Mills as Treasurer, while two new canons, Dr Ian Ellis, Rector of Newcastle, and Dr Jonathan Barry, Rector of Comber, will also be installed. In Belfast Cathedral the Band of the Royal Irish Regiment will play at an Evening Service of Remembrance.