Two conferences will take place in Dublin on Saturday November 18th: one by the Church of Ireland Marriage Council in All Hallows College, Drumcondra; the other by the Acorn Trust in the Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines.
"Marriage Today: A Christian Exploration" ought to be of interest to clergy and those working in the area of marriage, including members of boards of social responsibility, diocesan social service/action committees and the Mothers' Union. The principal speakers will be the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Bishop of Tuam, and Ms Claire Missen from the Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service. The conference will include workshops on cohabitation, inter church marriage, marriage nurture, separation and breakdown, and second relationships.
Details may be had from Ms Jennifer Byrne, Church of Ireland House, Church Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
In the Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines, the Acorn Trust will present "An Introduction to Christian Listening". This training day, aimed at clergy and parishioners, will be given by two members of the Acorn Trust staff. The Rev Michael Mitton, who has served as a hospital chaplain in England, is director of Christian Listening, and the Rev Sue Watterson, rector of Youghal and co-ordinator for Acorn in Ireland, has worked with the Medical Department of Bristol University.
Details may be had from the Rev Declan Smith, Christian Listening Development Worker, Greengates, Adelaide Road, Glenageary, Co Dublin (tel: 012807452).
Tomorrow the annual Citizenship Service will be held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. The address will be given by the president of Dublin City University, Dr Ferdinand von Prondzinski. In St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, the preacher in the series of chapter sermons on "The Bible and its Challenges Today" will be Canon David Williams, rector of Kinsale, while in the chapel of Trinity College Dublin, the preacher at the Sung Eucharist will be the Rev Patrick Jones, director of the National Centre for Liturgy in Maynooth.
The 10th in the series of millennium addresses in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, will be given after Evensong by former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald. In Christ Church Cathedral, at 5.30 p.m., Abendmusik will give the first of a series of recitals in a Bach festival. There will be more Bach to be heard on Friday evening when, at 5.15 p.m., there will be a short recital in Trinity College chapel as part of a "Fridays in November" musical series.
On Monday the Tuam Clergy Conference begins and continues until Wednesday. In Dublin, at 7.30 p.m. in the Swift Theatre of Trinity College, Prof Jan Olav Henrikson, professor of theology in the University of Oslo and currently Van Mildert Fellow in Durham, will give a lecture on "Theology, Post-Modernity and Popular Culture". Distinguished theologian Ms Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, from Harvard University, will speak on Thursday evening on "Refining Christian Identity in Feminist Theology" in Trinity College Dublin.