The Rector writes……

One of the books I have on my shelf is The Voices of Morebath by the celebrated historian Eamon Duffy. It tells the story of a remote and tiny sheep farming village where thirty-three families worked the difficult land on the southern edge of Exmoor in England. Between 1520 and 1574, through nearly all the drama of the English Reformation, Morebath’s only priest, Christopher Trychay, kept the parish accounts on behalf of the churchwardens. Amazingly these survive to this day. In these accounts he includes vivid descriptions of parish meetings and the names and doings of his parishioners. Through his eyes we catch a glimpse of the life and pre-reformation piety of a sixteenth-century English village. He describes how West-Country families rebelled against the imposition of the Prayer Book of 1549 and how the church bells were confiscated and silenced. In this book, the author brings back to life the voices of those who lived in this little village over 450 years ago.

November is the month of remembrance in the church. Remembrance is not preservation. When we preserve, we chisel names into marble or granite memorials or we seal things up in special vaults where they are protected from the ravages of time. As someone who has an interest in history and archives, I agree that this has its place. But remembrance is different. It is about something dynamic and living, something which can appreciated in different ways and change subtly over time. It can help us in the present to appreciate from where we have come.

This way of remembering is very important in the life of the church. It has been said that tradition is the living faith of the dead, but traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. For us as Anglicans, tradition is important but we want to avoid traditionalism at all costs! We learn from the wisdom of our predecessors but adapt it to the context of our own time. We don’t slavish follow what we have inherited if it is no longer of any meaning or relevance.

To this end it seems appropriate that on Remembrance Sunday we will be using the traditional language service of Holy Communion at all our services. As we remember past generations, it is a good time to use the form of Holy Communion that would have sprung instinctively from their lips. In a way, as we remember, we are also hearing the liturgy afresh as we worship the living God today in our time. Just as Eamon Duffy in his book allowed us to hear the voices of the people of Morebath, so we may hear and give thanks for the past generations who have left us the church as it is today and perhaps also remember those who have encouraged us in our faith and walk with God.

Yours in Christ,                 Adrian.

St Luke’s School News –

Despite a very wet afternoon our pupils raised their Active Flag for the first time on 21^st September. Claire Mc Carthy, an accomplished marathon runner   came to speak to the children and joined in the celebrations. Congratulations to all involved, especially Ms Guinane and the Active Flag Committee. The following day we continued being active and all enjoyed taking part in skipping workshops. The pupils of 6^th Class represented us at the annual Diocesan Service in Bandon when they brought a contribution of 350euro for the work of maize production in Burundi.  Archdeacon Wilkinson and the Rev Bowles brought the Harvest Thanksgiving to school to us at a recent school assembly.  Many thanks to the parish clergy for putting a huge effort into our weekly assemblies. As a school we are always aware and appreciative of their constant support. Some of our middle classes enjoyed a concert in Rockboro School where they were introduced to barbershop singing. Thank you to our hardworking Parent’s Association for hosting another successful “Coffee to go” morning in the school yard before school. We are very fortunate to have an excellent library in Douglas. Many of our classes enjoyed visited it recently and met some interesting children’s authors.
Seafarers – Reminder to all knitters:

At the end of November, hats knitted for Seafarers will be delivered to the Mission to Seafarers headquarters. Please pass on finished hats to me.  Do knitters wish to continue? Please let me know. Rev. Hazel

not alone: Easy-Access Information

An up-to-date information guide for your wallet, the size of a credit card, with contact details for useful services in the Cork area: from emergency numbers to advice services, form addiction to helplines to health, and more besides.

This useful little resource is intended for young people when they or their friends need access to telephone numbers, websites or addresses of helping agencies. Produced by the YMCA Youth Information Service in Cork, copies are available at the back of your church. Please pass them on to your young people.

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. They meet fortnightly as advertised in the parish and are a wonderful opportunity for learning together and for fellowship.

Venue: Joan Miller’s home, Ballintemple

Dates: Wednesdays, 1^st, 15^th, 29^th November

Time: 2.30 – 4.00 p.m.

Venue : Carol Boylan’s home, Moneygourney

Dates:Thursday,16^th,30^thNovember&Wednesday,13^thDecember Christmas Fellowship.

Time: 7.30pm

Further information: Florence Binions 0861604544 or any of the clergy

Service and Sausages Our October service saw over 60 children and adults attend this service and enjoy hot dogs in the Canon Packham Hall afterwards. The next one will be on Sunday 5 November at 6pm.

Culture Night It was good to have over 50 visitors attend the event in St Mary’s Church, Marmullane recently, which was organised to coincide with Culture Night. The evening was very successful. Everyone enjoyed the presentation by local historian, Colman O’Mahony, and subsequently, due to requests from those who attended, his paper was published for distribution locally. The organ music by Roger Ellis and singing by a specially assembled choir was enjoyable. By serving wine and simple refreshments, we sustained a convivial, relaxed social occasion between the talk and the music. We are grateful to Aoife Bhreatnach, who did much of the administrative work behind this event and to all who were involved in organising the practical details and those who supported it.

3,653 days of Intercessory Prayer.

On 19th November Douglas Union Prayer Chain will be ten years in existence.  During that time, just nine people have maintained daily prayer for all those who ask.  Seven of us, one for each day of the week, maintain the constant cycle of prayer, privately in our own homes. We remember with great affection two of our original members who have died. In each case, shortly thereafter another volunteered. We started with nine requests; soon we found we were praying for 12-18 people each month. All requests are entirely confidential. We are privileged to share burdens of bereavement, illness, worry and loss, as well as ‘thank you’ prayers. Requests are made personally to the clergy and others or via notes in the prayer boxes in the churches. Mostly we pray for a few weeks or months, depending on updates from those who ask. Our confidence is that God hears our prayers and answers them with his healing peace and hope. We know from experience that prayer works. If you have a need, please mention it to the clergy or post a note in the prayer box.

It’s this time of year again when we start preparing for the Team Hope Shoebox appeal.  See their website www.teamhope.ie for more details about this charity. Just gather the 4 Ws, something to write with, Wash with, Wear, Wow. If you don’t have time to create a box, donations of fillers and even empty shoe boxes will all be utilised.  They are always in need of toothpaste, toothbrushes, bars of soap, pencils and in particular, copybooks.  Aveen Boyce will be in attendance in St. Luke’s Church Sunday, 5^th November at the 11.15am service to collect the shoebox or donations. She will label them and deliver the boxes to the warehouse for you. Under no circumstances can donations or shoeboxes can be left in the church other than the 5^th November. If you are unavailable to attend on Sunday the 5^th November please text or call Aveen at 087/4190025 to arrange collection.

Census 2016 As many of you may be aware, the results of 2016 Census in relation to the breakdown of religious affiliation, has just been issued. It makes fascinating reading. The results for the electoral divisions in the southern suburbs of Cork City, which roughly correspond with our parish boundaries, are as follows:

The above table does not include that part of our parish centred on Passage West and Glenbrook. These are part of the Monkstown Urban and Monkstown Rural districts. To include these figures would distort the result and include some people who are part of Carrigaline Union. We hope the parishioners of Marmullane are not offended!

It is interesting to note too that in the return as part of the Episcopal Visitation of 2016, the answer given to the question ‘How many individuals (of any age) are there residing in the Union/Group of Parishes who consider themselves to be members of the Church of Ireland?’, was 1112. It is not that far from the Census figure. While at one level, statistics and geography are interesting, this is an inexact science. Those people who live within the geographical territory of Douglas Union with Frankfield and who declare themselves as Church of Ireland, may attend services in neighbouring parishes just as in the same way there are those who come from other parishes to attend our churches. However, these figures do highlight the importance of keeping people on our parish lists and using every opportunity to initiate contact and a pastoral link. As the Bishop in his response to the media in the light of Census 2016 figures for Cork City and County has reminded us ‘they may be at the edge of the church and not regular practitioners but they still define themselves as being Church of Ireland.’ A. Wilkinson

Face Lift In early October, the clock face on the tower of St Luke’s Church was repainted, the hands and Roman numerals in gold and the face in black. This was the final phase of a project which began with the repair and replacement of parts, as well as the servicing of the clock mechanism. We are grateful to all those who so generously responded to our ‘Minute in Time’ appeal and contributed to the cost of this work. The clock is now fully restored internally and the face is now clearly visible for all to see. It is a popular landmark in Douglas Village and is appreciated by the thousands who walk through the Community Park each day, as well as those who live locally or visit the church and cemetery. Philip Stokes was responsible for this work. He was filmed by RTE while working on the clock as part of a programme on skilled crafts in Ireland. This has yet to be broadcast so look out for it.

Douglas Churches Together As part of our ongoing programme of activities throughout the year as local

churches, we are hosting two events in Douglas Library. At the time of writing we are looking forward to an October meeting when the Revd Elaine Murray will speak to us about her experience, and that of her parishioners in Carrigaline, of Eco-congregation Ireland. Our second event will be on the theme of Pilgrimage. Increasingly people are finding spiritual help and meaning, as they experience the ancient practice of walking traditional pilgrim routes, both in Ireland and abroad. One of our parishioners, Dr Richard Scriven, as a geographer, has both a professional academic and personal interest in this topic. On 28 November he will be giving a brief talk and stimulating discussion on this theme. The meeting will be held in the Library in Douglas Village Shopping Centre. It will start at 11.00 and last for about an hour. Refreshments will also be served before the talk. All are welcome.

Old Schoolhouse Lunches As you are probably aware St. Michael’s School are currently using the Old Schoolhouse as a classroom while works are being carried out on a new extension to the school and their temporary pre-fab classroom will not be put in place until the end of November.  We look forward to welcoming everyone back for our special Christmas lunch on Wednesday, 13^th December at 1pm in the Old Schoolhouse where a delicious hot home-cooked meal will be served followed by a wonderful raffle.  So please make sure you mark this date in your diary and as this is usually a very popular lunch can you kindly phone or text Sharon Kerr on 086/8327653 to secure your place.  If you know of any of your friends or neighbours who like to join us for this lunch or any of the other lunches they would be more than welcome and we are always delighted to see new faces.  After Christmas the Wednesday lunches will resume on the 31^st January 2018 and we look forward to welcoming back new and old friends where we hope this monthly lunch will continue its very happy and social journey for many years to come.

A Fishy Business/Gosforth’s Fete (Theatre Supper Evening). By the time this magazine appears in our churches, we hope there will be few if any tickets available for our Theatre Supper Night in conjunction with Carrigaline Union which will be held on the 9th, 10th and 11th of November. Both casts have been working hard and so also have the set design and building team and those involved with the practical details and catering. As you can imagine, a lot of work goes into making a this a success. We are grateful to the Revd David Bowles who was the inspiration behind this event and who will also be performing in one of the plays.

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Organ Dedication On Sunday 26 November we look forward to having the Bishop with us in St Mary’s Church, Marmullane for a special service at which the Speechley Organ is to be re-dedicated. The organ came from Romsey Methodist Church in Southampton. It was originally destined for Italy, but a generous local donor brought it to Marmullane. The organ was built c.1900 by Henry Speechley & Sons, who were based in London and produced some classic English Church Organs. Restored in the mid 1980’s by George Osborne of Taunton, it was installed in Marmullane under the guidance of local Organ Builder, Padraig O’Donovan. It is wonderful to have such a fine instrument in Marmullane, and the acoustics in the church add magnificently to the sound. With every note working, every pipe in tune, a new bellows and a sound-sealed motor, it is both a pleasure to hear and to play and is ideally suited to leading congregational singing. The service will be at 4pm on Sunday 26 November and friends from other parishes across the Diocese are most welcome to attend.

Parish Contacts:

Ven. Adrian Wilkinson, Tel: 4891539. E-mail: amwilkinson@eircom.net  (Day off Monday)

Rev. David Bowles Tel: 4358226. Email: dgd_bowles@yahoo.co.uk (Day off Saturday)

Rev. Hazel Minion, Tel:4361924.E-mail:hminion22@hotmail.com(Works Tuesday/Wednesday)

Parish Office Tel: 4369578. E-mail: douglasofficecork@gmail.com(Friday mornings only)

Parish Website: www.douglas.cork.anglican.org Follow us on twitter @DouglasUnion or on facebook            https://www.facebook.com/douglasunionfrankfield

“A Night full of Promise”.  Carols from St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Choir” will be held in St. Fin Barr’s Cathedral on

Saturday November 25th at 7pm.The Cathedral Choir have chosen to raise funds for the Cork Simon Community, a very deserving charity who support homeless men and women in Cork City and now more than ever, they could do with extra financial support. St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Choir are delighted to invite you to the launch of their new CD ‘A Night Full Of Promise, Carols from St Fin Barre’s Cathedral’. This will be a free event with refreshments served on the evening and most importantly the CD will be available for purchase at €10 each. RSVP to anightfullofpromise@gmail.com

Fake News On Climate Change

On Tuesday 24th October some of our parishioners met ecumenically with members of other local churches in Douglas Library where Rev Elaine Murray shared her passion for justice and care for our environment. She told us of some of the things Carrigaline Parish has done to become recognised as an eco-congregation, and how her previous diocese of Ossory became an eco-diocese under the guidance of Bishop Michael Burrows. Trees that fall are replaced with bee-friendly trees or shrubs, allotments planted with vegetables. Surplus courgettes are brought to church to be exchanged for someone else’s surplus apples (Blackrock, take a bow!) Crockery was taken out and dusted down for use instead of plastic cups. A strip of the graveyard is given over to wild flowers…  Climate change is happening, as scientists confirm. What’s important for us is not to give in to despair but to concentrate on doable targets that we can all achieve. We all have power in our shopping trolleys and shop-local and locally produced items make an impact on transport emissions. Have you considered choosing fair-trade items? Sending a letter/e-mail to your local TD? Elaine told us of one such campaign that stopped a licence in Brussels for battery-production of rabbits for meat. Success is possible if enough people participate. Let’s get talking, and let’s take even one simple action…

Irish Pilgrimage: explorations of contemporary spiritual journeys

Tuesday 28th November at 11am in Douglas Library
Dr Richard Scriven, Discipline of Geography, NUI Galway

In this illustrated talk, Dr Richard Scriven will explore pilgrimage in contemporary Ireland based on his PhD research on this topic. It will show how pilgrimage has witnessed a considerable revival in recent decades as a form of practice which allows people to express their faith, undertake a challenge for a particular cause, or to go on a form of personal journey. A general discussion of the meaning of pilgrimage in the Christian tradition will demonstrate its resonance as a deeply spiritual activity across denominations.  The talk will include research on Lough Derg, Croagh Patrick, and holy wells today. In addition, he will discuss how pilgrimage is now being appreciated as a spiritual activity which is both religious and secular. This is an ecumenical event arranged by Douglas Churches Together. All are welcome. Tea/coffee will be served before the meeting.

SERVICES THIS MONTH