Parish Matters May 2018

The Rector writes……

Those attending services in St Luke’s Church will have recently noticed the addition of a ‘Baptism Tree’ near the font. This small wooden tree was made, at my request, by John Kershaw of Blackrock parish. I am very grateful to him for again using his skills with timber in this way. It has its origins in something I saw in Porvoo Cathedral in Finland when I visited there last year. It is a tradition of the Lutheran Church there and I think the concept has much to teach us here too and can be adapted to our circumstances.

Easter is a traditional time for baptism and on Easter Day this year in Douglas I dedicated the tree at the start of the service. It is now decorated with six wooden leaves to represent the six babies that have been baptised in the parish so far this year. Every time there is a baptism, a new leaf will be added to the tree with the individual’s name and date of baptism on it. As the year progresses, more leaves will be added so that by the end of the year, we hope the tree will be full of leaves!

In early January each year, on the Sunday after the Epiphany, we mark the Baptism of our Lord. It is my intention to invite all those parents who have had a child baptised, as well as any adults baptised during the year, back to church that day. At the end of our service, I will then ask them to remove their leaf and bring it home. The tree will then be bare until it gradually fills up with new leaves in the year ahead. In this way I hope we will be all reminded of two things; that we are all connected to each other, all part of the one tree because of our baptism, and that as leaves derive their water and nutrients from the tree roots, so too we should be rooted in Christ throughout our lives.

This point brings me on to the topic of confirmation. This year our confirmation group is made up of thirteen parishioners. They are Luke Barry, Elizabeth Cotter, Georgia Curtin, Sam Dale, Hugo Doherty, Amy Donovan, Rebecca Ferguson, Jake Hanafin, Ben Heas, Debbie McCarthy, Felix Pujade, Rebecca Ryan and Isaac Sutton. We pray for them as they approach the service which will be held in St Luke’s Church on Sunday 20 May which is Pentecost. We hope that for each candidate, it will be an important step in their faith in Jesus Christ and a deepening of their involvement in the life of the church and their service to others.

Finally, this month we have the opportunity to vote in the referendum as to whether or not to repeal the 8^th Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland. This is an important issue for us all. The Church of Ireland has consistently maintained that the Oireachtas and not the Constitution is best the place for dealing with complex ethical issues such as abortion. However, speaking in a purely personal capacity, some Church of Ireland bishops have expressed concerns about aspects of the proposals being considered by the government, should the 8^th Amendment be repealed. At the end of the day, there is no ‘Church of Ireland view’ on this matter. The substantive issue is whether the 8^th Amendment, should be repealed or retained.   What the Church of Ireland advocates to all voters and citizens, is the prayerful use of scripture, reason, tradition and experience to inform personal conscience.

With this in mind, I have written the following prayer. I hope it will prove useful to you, as you read the material provided by the Referendum Commission, and consult other reputable sources, prior to going to the ballot box.

A prayer before voting in the forthcoming referendum.

Lord God, as the referendum approaches, we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our country, and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community at this time. We ask for eyes that are free from blindness so that we might see the pertinent issues clearly, ears that are open and attentive to hear the insights and experience of others and hearts that are aware of your loving presence in all people created in your image. Guide us by your Holy Spirit to have a right judgement in all things and the courage and wisdom to vote in accordance with our informed conscience. This we ask in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yours in Christ,                 Adrian.

St. Luke’s School Notes:

On Wednesday 15th March we hosted a most enjoyable “Grandparents Day”. Over 100 grandparents visited their grandchildren in their classrooms and experienced the differences in school now from school long ago! Interactive whiteboards and laptops were a huge interest and talking point. They were entertained by the school choir and enjoyed a cup of tea and chat. This was superbly organised by our Student Council. Thank you to the Parents’ Association who organised a St Patrick’s Disco for the pupils. A great night of dancing was enjoyed by the young and not so young! All our Junior Classes had Easter Egg Hunts in the playground just before Easter. 5th and 6th classes attended the dramatic production of “High Street Musical” at Ashton School. It was great to see some of our past pupils treading the boards. Our school choir did us proud at Feis Maitiu and came 3rd in their section. Sincere thanks are due to Ms Guinane and Ms Collins who work really hard each week keeping our choir up to this high standard.

St Michael’s School News:

St Michael’s pupils have had a really exciting term. For Seachtain na Gaeilge we had a week of fun with a quiz, kariokí and a Feis to entertain our parents! On Mothers Day we invited our mums to a special assembly in St Michael’s church. We enjoyed our Dress up day and lots of literacy activities for Book Week and a really fun Easter maths trail and egg hunt on the final day of term. A highlight was a visit from Dr Tim Jackson who told us about his incredible adventures as a young doctor in India and showed us a slide show of photographs.  Building of our new classroom should begin very soon. The Parents’ Association have contributed to the purchase of a new Interactive White Board for our senior room. This term we are busy training for the Interschool Sports competitions and preparing our end of year drama production.

Cork Ecumenical Bible Week – Word Alive! – May 21st – 27th 2018.

Revd David Bowles writes “During the month of May the Inaugural Cork Ecumenical Bible Week will be held.  This is a joint venture between the Church of Ireland, the Roman Catholic Church and the Methodist Church in Cork.  The Church of Ireland will be represented by Florence Binions and also the Keynote speaker Dr. Katie M. Heffelfinger, a lecturer in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.  You will find the details of all the events advertised in this issue of the Diocesan Magazine and we urge you to support this exciting event!  Florence will be leading a Bible study on Wednesday, 23rd May at 7.30pm in Blackrock on Genesis 22:1-18, “The sacrifice of Isaac” and Dr. Heffelfinger, who is an engaging and thought-provoking speaker will be closing the week with her talk on Some Old Testament Resources for Contemporary Christian Discipleship”.

Summertide Fête

Venue: Garryduff Sports Centre

Date: Saturday 23rd June 2018 (10.30am – 1.00pm)

The organising committee are busy putting together an exciting Fête to raise funds for Douglas Union of Parishes with Frankfield. As part of the Summertide Fête we have arranged a Raffle with 30 fantastic prizes with an overall value of €5,000 in prizes. These prizes were generously provided by Parishioners and local businesses, ticket sellers will out soon selling tickets for this exciting raffle which will be drawn on the 23rd June 2018. More information to follow over the coming weeks about this year’s Fête.

Easter General Vestry Elections

Douglas Union of Parishes

Churchwardens and Glebewardens

Marmullane      Incumbent’s Churchwarden      Shirley Clarke-Swanton

Vestry Churchwarden               Alfred Hosford

Douglas           Incumbent’s Churchwarden      Philip Doherty

Vestry Churchwarden               Liam Cotter

Blackrock         Incumbent’s Churchwarden      David Kerr

Vestry Churchwarden               Keith Dawson

Incumbent’s Glebewarden         Mervyn Hosford

Vestry Glebewarden                  Benny Hayes

Select Vestry – John Kershaw (Hon. Treasurer), Kieran Hogan (Hon. Secretary)

Anne Hevers, Aoife Bhreatnach, David Perrott, Fred Cassidy, Ivan Johnston, Martin Brennan, Patricia Bogan, Stephen Daunt, Tom Chambers and Vicky Coomber.

Holy Trinity Church Frankfield

Churchwardens and Glebewarden

Incumbent’s Churchwarden         James Maythan

Vestry Churchwarden                    John French

Vestry Glebewarden                       John Kingston

Hon. Secretary                                 Noel Locke

Hon. Treasurer                                Roger Flack

Due to its trustee status, all parishioners in Frankfield are permitted to attend meetings of the Select Vestry.  We thank all those who serve the parish in this capacity. Their commitment is appreciated.

Service and Sausages: This occasional evening service is aimed at those of primary school age and their parents. The final one before the summer holidays will be on Sunday 13 May at 6pm in St Luke’s Church. We thank the Revd David Bowles for all the work he puts in to preparing for these services and for those who cater in the Canon Packham Hall afterwards.

Godly Play: On Saturday 14 April, six of our children’s workers in this parish, attended the Godly Play workshop run by the Children’s Ministry Group in the Diocese and facilitated by Cora O’Farrell a Godly Play trainer. Godly Play helps children discover more about God through play and wondering questions. Those who attended greatly enjoyed the experience of using specific play techniques and equipment as a way to engage young children with the Christian story and faith.

Confirmation: This year our confirmation group is made up of thirteen of our younger parishioners. They are Luke Barry, Elizabeth Cotter, Georgia Curtin, Sam Dale, Hugo Doherty, Amy Donovan, Rebecca Ferguson, Jake Hanafin, Ben Heas, Debbie McCarthy, Felix Pujade, Rebecca Ryan and Isaac Sutton. We pray for them as they approach the service which will be held in St Luke’s Church on Sunday 20 May. We hope that for each candidate, it will be an important step in their faith in Jesus Christ and a deepening of their

involvement in the life of the church and their service to others.

1st Cork Company of the Boys’ Brigade: The Annual Boys’ Brigade Display this year will be held on Thursday 24 May in the Canon Packham Hall at 7pm. We thank the Captain, Tanya Meikle and all the leaders and officers for all they do each week throughout the year to put a busy programme of events and activities together.  We look forward to seeing the fruits of what the boys and girls have been doing over the year at this display.

SERVICES THIS MONTH