The island of Crete was the location for the meeting of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches, which held its annual assembly there last week, at the invitation of the Ecumenucal Patriarch.
The assembly comprises representatives of Europe's Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches. The Irish Council of Churches was represented by Dr Kenneth Milne. It was an opportunity to become more familiar with the ethos of the churches of the east. A recently published document, Social policies of the Russian Orthodox Church, was of particular interest, as it is not generally understood in the West. This fitted well with the general theme , "The churches and civil society in the midst of change", an urgent issue with which Irish christians have yet to grapple fully, despite the fact that Irish society is changing more rapidly than any other in Europe.
A special adviser to the president of the European Commission was present to attempt to define the ways in which the churches might more effectively bring their own perspective to bear on EU thinking both in Brussels and nationally. The implications of the enlargement of the EU, the consequent need for the reform of its institutions, and the immediate issue of immigration, legal and illegal, also found places on the crowded agenda.
Today the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Right Rev John Neill, will preside at the annual GFS diocesan festival in Kilkenny. Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral will be sung by the choir of Mercy College, Coolock, as the cathedral choir is on a short tour in the North. This evening they will give a concert in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, and tomorrow will sing at the Eucharist in St George's Church, Belfast, and perform Rachmaninov's Vespers in Clonard Monastery.
Tomorrow morning RTE will broadcast a Service of the Word from Blessington where the rector is the Rev Nigel Dunne. At 8.00 a.m. BBC Radio 4 will carry an act of worship from St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, at which Canon Noel Battye will speak on the "ministry of cathedrals", and in the evening there will be an AIDS candlelight memorial service in the cathedral.
The Dean of St Patrick's, Dr Robert MacCarthy, will be in Kinsale where he will preach at the annual sea service in St Multose's Church while the Chaplain of Trinity College, Dublin, Dr Alan McCormack, will be the preacher in All Saints' Church, Margaret Street, London. In St Patrick's Cathedral, Trim, Canon David Pierpoint will preach at a choral evensong in thanksgiving for the ministry of the late Canon Aidan Olden, who was the Rector of Kells for many years. In the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin and St John the Baptist, Sligo, the Rev John Merrick, Headmaster of Sligo Grammar School, will be installed as prebendary of Oran.
In Kill o' the Grange parish, Co Dublin, on Monday, the Rev Rico Tice, Associate Minister for Evangelism at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London, will launch a christian basics course entitled "Christianity Explored", and on Tuesday the Church Pastoral Aid Society will introduce "Under Construction", a new range of learning resources for church-based children's groups. Details from the Parish Office, (01-2896442).
St Mary's Cathedral, Tuam, will host a "Friends day" on May 26th. The St Augustine Choir from Dublin will sing Evensong with Malcolm Proud at the organ and the preacher will be the Archbishop of Dublin.
The Raheny parish fete which was scheduled for May 26th has been postponed.