A new book by the former bishop of Cork, the Right Rev Roy Warke, has been published. In Search Of The Living God is a series of biblical reflections on the theme that God is the great binding cord which runs through the Bible.
The book is reflective in another sense, for the origins of many of the chapters have been sermons preached by the author, especially when he was rector of Zion and bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
The publication of Anglican sermons may be undergoing something of a revival at present. The Church Times sermon competition and the sermons of the renowned preacher, Canon Eric James, have attracted considerable attention in the Church of England.
At home, the publication of Bishop Warke's sermons prefigures the appearance, later this year, of a selection of the sermons of the greatest exponent of the English language to have served in the Church of Ireland. Wisdom And Wasteland, The Ser]mons Of Jeremy Taylor, edited by the noted Catholic scholar, Dr Thomas Carroll, will be published by Four Courts Press in November.
In Search Of The Living God is published by Columba Press at £7.99. The royalties from the sales of the book will be donated, by Bishop Warke, to the St Fin Barre's Beyond 2000 project, and the cover illustration is an attractive photograph of the cathedral taken by Mrs Eileen Warke.
Today Affirming Catholicism will hold a pilgrimage in Armagh which will begin with matins in St Patrick's Cathedral at 11 a.m. and conclude with a celebration of the Eucharist in Lisnadill parish church at 4 p.m. In Kilmore a Millennium Flower Festival begins in St Fethlimidh's Cathedral and continues until Monday.
Tomorrow in St Macartan's Cathedral, Clogher, a window in memory of the Right Rev Alan Buchanan, bishop of Clogher, 1958-69, will be dedicated.
The service will be sung by the Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Girls' Choir and the preacher will be the Dean of Christ Church, the Very Rev John Paterson.
On Monday and Tuesday the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory and the Bishop of Tuam will be in Liverpool for a meeting of European Anglican bishops who will be considering the interpretation of faith.
There will be an organ recital in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, on Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. when Mr Timothy Allen, Organist and Master of the Choristers in St Columb's Cathedral, Derry, will play a programme including works by Bach, Messiaen, Howells and Vivaldi.
The event will be preceded by the unveiling, in the Deanery, of a portrait of the Dean of St Patrick's, Dr Robert MacCarthy, by Derek Hill.
On Thursday the Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert Diocesan Synod will be held in Adare, and on Friday the West Glendalough Choral Festival will take place.
In Taughboyne, Co Donegal, on Friday, St Columba's Day, the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames, will preach at a service to commemorate the 14th centenary of the death of St Baithin, a cousin and companion of St Columba.
St Columba's Day will also be the start of a Diocesan Millennium Celebration in the Diocese of Raphoe which will open with a celebration of the Eucharist in St Columba's Church, Gartan, where the celebrant and preacher will be the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Dr James Mehaffey.
A new Diocesan Centre for the Dioceses of Meath and Kildare has been opened in the former Moyglare Church. This will house the Diocesan Office and the Diocesan Registry.
The official address is Meath and Kildare Diocesan Centre, Moyglare, Maynooth, Co Kildare (tel 00353-1-6292163; fax 003531-6292153; e-mail: diomeath@iol.ie