Methodist churches are being asked to observe tomorrow as a day of special prayer for Ireland. For many years it has been the custom of the conference to designate the Sunday nearest to St Patrick's Day for this purpose.
In Dublin an ecumenical service in St Patrick's Cathedral at 7.30 p.m. will also mark St Patrick's Tide.
This service will be a celebration of the life and legacy of St Patrick and is jointly arranged by the Dublin Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Ecumenical Committee. It will particularly, and appropriately, focus on the theme of St Patrick, the stranger in Ireland.
National Bible Week (March 19th-26th) begins tomorrow. This year the theme is "The Word that Sets Us Free". During the course of the week there will be references to this in various programmes on national and regional radio, and exhibitions have been mounted in libraries in several areas.
In Cork, the exhibition "The Bible Comes to Life" will be on display in the Ardfallen Centre, Douglas Road, from March 25th to 29th. This presents the Bible in pictures and models, and there will be demonstrations of biblical customs.
The exhibition is open in the afternoon and evenings (except Sunday evening).
An ecumenical service for Bible Week will be held in Cashel Cathedral on Sunday, March 26th. Resource packs for the study of the theme, useful beyond the week, are available from the Bible Society at Bestseller, Dawson Street, Dublin.
The Methodist Lay Witness Movement will hold its 25th annual conference at Portrush from March 24th to 26th. It will meet in Castle Erin. The speaker will be the Rev Robert Amess, chairman of the Evangelical Alliance in Britain. His theme will be "The Greatness of God".
The lay witness arranges for the exchange of lay teams between churches in Ireland to share their experience of faith.
The IMAYC weekend takes place in Enniskillen from March 31st to April 2nd. This annual festival of the Irish Methodist Association of Youth Clubs combines worship, sports, and community concern.
Visiting Enniskillen gives the members the opportunity of exploiting the facilities for water sports there. One feature of the programme will focus on the Third World.
Edgehill College is planning a development which is expected to provide for an expansion of the college library. It will also improve the facilities for seminars and small conferences, and will include improved residential arrangements for the students.
The college was founded in the 1920s for the training of Methodist ministers, and has, in recent years, developed very effective daytime, evening and correspondence courses for lay people.
The President of the church, Dr Kenneth Wilson, is touring the Caribbean. For the past week he has been in Antigua, and on Monday next moves to Haiti, where he will spend four days. He will then travel to Honduras and return to Ireland at the beginning of April.
On Sunday, March 26th, RTE Radio 1 will broadcast morning worship from the Methodist church in Lucan. The service will be led by the minister, the Rev Rosemary Lindsay.