The Rector writes……

 

This month, the Parish Book Club are reading detective novels. It is a literary genre which very much appeals to me. I love reading the detective creations of PD James, Dan Brown, Benjamin Black and Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling. However, I have a particular interest in clergy detectives! Perhaps the best known of these is Fr. Brown, the creation of the English novelist GK Chesterton. He featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936.  I like the medieval Brother Cadfael, in the work of Ellis Peters. More recent invented clerical sleuths include Fr. Anselm of Larkwood Priory, who is the creation of William Broderick. In the novels, Fr. Anselm was a barrister before giving up his legal career to become a member of a religious community, which is the reverse of Broderick himself. This allows Broderick to produce plots in which theological insights can shine light onto complex ethical dilemmas, while at the same time solving a complex crime. His work deserves to be better known. In contrast Canon, or more recently, Archdeacon Sidney Chambers, from the pen of James Runcie, enjoys a much higher profile in the public mind. He features in the ITV series Grantchester. Clergy and crime seems an unlikely and yet very potent combination!

Why is that? Yes, clergy come into contact with all manner of life, the good and the bad, or at least they should. Perhaps it is also part of their role to take the side of the underdog, and to see things from an oblique angle. The question of truth and justice should matter to everyone, but particularly to those who wear a clerical collar. Maybe this is what drives some of these clerical detectives to pursue matters to the bitter end and so uncover the truth.

The life of faith is about pursuing matters to the end and having the discipline to stick at things. Those of you who have been following the daily readings in John’s Gospel, as part of the #LiveLent programme, will have noticed that in this Gospel he talks about ‘signs’, or pointers to the identity of Jesus. It is a text written on several levels. These ‘signs’ point us towards a deeper understanding of who Jesus is as ‘the Word made flesh’, as God’s Son. We, the contemporary readers, see things that are often lost on the characters in the text. We know how the story ends. We have the benefit of hindsight.

It concerns me that many people today only encounter Jesus Christ at a fairly superficial level, if at all. They may attend services at Christmas and hear about the ‘child in the manger’ but are not in church at other times of the year, and probably not in Holy Week, or at Easter. They only get the start of the story. It is like reading the first few chapters of a detective novel over and over again, without every getting to the end!

This year Bishop David Chillingworth will be our speaker and guide this Holy Week. It is the most important week in the Christian calendar when the full drama of Jesus’ identity and what he is doing and has done for us, is explored. Bishop Chillingworth is a very gifted communicator and I hope that many parishioners will journey with him each evening in St Luke’s Church. You will find a brief introduction which is has written about himself, as well as the theme of his talks, elsewhere in this newsletter. I have brought him all the way from Edinburgh for you, so don’t let me down!

I look forward to continuing our Lent journey with you throughout the month of March, until we get to the end of the story and understand afresh what it means for each of us today.

Yours in Christ,                 Adrian.

 

 

Parish Bible Studies. Our parish Bible groups continue to be led by Florence Binions and we are grateful to her for all the preparation she puts into each session. These groups meet on a fortnightly basis in Blackrock and Moneygourney. We thank those who host these meetings in their homes.  Venue: Joan Miller’s home, Ballintemple on Wednesday the 7th & 21st March @ 2.30pm and Carol Boylan’s home, Moneygourney on Thursday, 8th & 22nd March @ 7.30pm.  For further information contact Florence Binions 0861604544 or any of the clergy.

 

 

AED and CPR Thanks to the great generosity of Tom and Gwen Chambers, an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) has been provided to both St Luke’s National School and to the parish. It is mounted on the wall of the school

near the main door. This AED has a special switch which means that it can be used on both children and adults. It is important that we have a pool of parishioners who are trained and confident in its use and in the basic techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). We are grateful to parishioner Peter McDaid, who will be providing certified training in this at a session in the Canon Packham Hall on Monday 12 March.

 

 

Eco Congregation We thank Gay Elmes who spoke at services in Passage West and Douglas recently on the work of Eco Congregation Ireland and how our parish might get involved in its activity. Some parishioners have expressed an interest in learning more with a view to greater involvement. We hope to make further progress in this area after Easter with the formation of a small steering group within the parish.

 

St Patrick’s Day

As always, our national day of celebration will be marked with a service of Holy Communion in St

Luke’s Church at 11.00am. The Revd Hazel Minion will preside as usual at this service. Recently she was involved in the Sunday morning TV broadcast service by Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise. It is appropriate that some of the readings and prayers will be in Irish at this service as we remember our national saint.

 

 

 

Douglas Churches Together. A meeting for volunteers willing to help in Holy Week will be held on Thursday, 8th March at 7.30pm in St Columba’s Parish Room.

 

 

Lent Men’s Breakfast The guest speaker for the Men’s Breakfast will be the broadcaster John Creedon from RTE. It will be on Saturday 10 March in Bull McCabes Bar and Restaurant on Airport Hill starting at 9.00am. Admission is by ticket only as numbers are limited and if our previous breakfasts are anything to go by, demand for tickets will be high. They are only available through the parish at €12.50 per person.

 

In his entry on Wikipedia, as he reflected upon the death of his granddaughter, the following quotation is attributed to him. ‘Death is not the opposite to life. It’s the opposite to birth.’ We are very grateful to John Creedon for accepting our invitation this year and look forward to what we know will be a very enjoyable and thought-provoking event.

 

 

 

Coffee Morning A Coffee Morning will be held on Saturday 24th March from 10 am -12 midday at Marmullane Church Hall. General Sales table, Raffle and Plants. €3 entry includes coffee/tea and homemade scone. Proceeds towards renovations of the annexe. This will be the first coffee morning in the newly refurbished church hall. Everyone very welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

Lent Old Schoolhouse Lunch As is customary during Lent, the proceeds of the monthly lunch in the Old Schoolhouse in Blackrock, are donated to charity. The lunch will be at 12.30 on Wednesday 28 March and all are welcome.

 

 

 

 

The Coeliac Society of Ireland, Cork Support Group, will hold the following meeting on Wednesday, 7th March at 8pm in the SMA Centre Wilton.  Topics will be upcoming event, future events, feedback session, talk on Osteoporosis and a Dietician will be in attendance. All welcome.  €5 entry fee.

 

 

Our Holy Week preacher this year is the Rt Revd David Chillingworth, former Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

David was born in Dublin and grew up in Northern Ireland.  His links with Cork and with Douglas go back through his father’s family.  His grandfather was Rector of Carrigtwohill and of Corkbeg and Inch.  The family graves of previous generations are in the churchyard in Douglas.  After study in Trinity College, Dublin, and in Oxford, David was ordained in 1976 and served a curacy in North Belfast, a period as Church of Ireland Youth Officer and a further curacy in Bangor.  From 1986 he was Rector of Seagoe Parish, Portadown and successively Dean and Archdeacon of Dromore.

His ministry in Ireland was inevitably ‘troubles related’ with a major focus on reconciliation and on understanding sectarianism. In 2005, he became Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.  He and his wife Alison moved to Perth.  In 2009, he became Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.  In this role, he worked to shape a more missional future for the SEC.  The role of Primus also involved major responsibilities for the relationship between the church and wider Scottish society and for ecumenical and inter-faith relationships.  During this period, David was also actively involved in the Anglican Communion and travelled widely.  His work in strengthening the historic relationship between the Episcopal Churches in Scotland and the USA was recognised in the award of an honorary degree from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.  His period as Primus was full of challenge.  it included the Scottish Independence Referendum and ended with the controversial decision of the Scottish Episcopal Church to accept Same Sex Marriage.  He retired in 2017. He has had a significant presence in social media and writes a blog at www.bishopdavid.net.  He has also been a regular broadcaster and writer for many years. David’s wife Alison comes from Dublin and is a retired social worker.  They now live in Edinburgh.  David and Alison have three adult children and four grandchildren – all of whom live in Scotland. Bishop Chillingworth will be with us between 25th and 30th March.

He will join us for our Palm Sunday procession and Eucharist in Douglas and will preach each evening in Holy Week at 7.30 in the church. His overall theme for the week is ‘Facing the Cross’ and the titles for each evening are as follows:

Monday – Love or Common Sense, Tuesday – Sacrifice or foolishness,

Wednesday – Belonging or betrayal, Thursday – Do as I do and

Friday – Enduring the unendurable.

 

 

ADVANCE NOTICE OF PARISH FETE

 

Keep the 23 June 2018 free in your diary. On that day we will be holding a major social and fundraising event – A PARISH FETE. The venue is Garryduff Sports Centre and we are very grateful to the management committee there for making the facilities there available to us. It will start at 10.30am and end a lunchtime. Your modest entry fee will allow you to enjoy tea/coffee and cakes. Plans are in place for a Bottle Stall, Children’s Corner, Cake Stall, Tom Bola, Face Painting, Plant Stall, Craft Stall and Country Produce Stall as well as lots of lots of games, novelties and fun challenges. The stall organisers will be looking for help from parishioners over the coming weeks to get involved. The more we have on board, the lesser the load people will have to carry. It should prove to be a very enjoyable morning out for all the family. We hope to see you there.

 

CHURCH SERVICES – MARCH 2018 

 

 

Sun. 4th March 3rd Sunday in Lent – Violet

8.30        Holy Communion                 Blackrock

9.45        Service of the Word             Passage

10.00      Service of the Word           Frankfield

11.15        Service of the Word             Douglas

11.30        Service of the Word            Blackrock

 

Mon. 5th March

11.00        Morning Prayer                   Blackrock

Wed 7th March

11.00        Holy Communion                 Douglas

 

 

Sun. 11th March  Mothering Sunday  – Violet

8.30        Holy Communion                 Blackrock

9.45        Holy Communion                 Passage

10.00        Holy Communion               Frankfield

11.15        Holy Communion                 Douglas

11.30        Holy Communion                Blackrock

 

Mon. 12th March

11.00        Morning Prayer                   Blackrock

Wed. 14th March

11.00        Holy Communion                 Blackrock

Sat. 17th March St. Patrick’s Day

11.00        Holy Communion                 Douglas

 

Sun. 18th March  5th Sunday in Lent  – Violet

9.45        Holy Communion                 Passage

10.00        Morning Prayer                   Frankfield

11.15        Holy Communion                 Douglas

11.30        Morning Prayer                   Blackrock

 

Mon. 19th March

11.00        Morning Prayer                   Blackrock

Wed. 21st March

11.00        Holy Communion                 Douglas

 

 

Sun. 25th March  Palm Sunday  – Red

8.30         Holy Communion                 Blackrock

10.00        Holy Communion                 Frankfield

11.15         Holy Communion                 Douglas

 

HOLY WEEK – Guest Preacher Rt. Rev. David Chillingworth

 

Mon. 26th March

7.30pm    Evening Service                  Douglas

 

Tues. 27th March

7.30pm    Evening Service                  Douglas

 

Wed. 28th March

11.00        Holy Communion                 Douglas

7.30pm    Evening Service                  Douglas

 

Maundy Thursday

7.30pm    Holy Communion                 Douglas

 

Good Friday

12.00         ‘By the Cross’                      Blackrock

2.00pm    ‘By the Cross’                      Frankfield

7.30pm    Evening Service                  Douglas