Tomorrow the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins, its commencement marked by a service of prayer in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral at 3.30 p.m.
At this most of the Christian churches in the city will be represented, and the address will be given by the Most Rev John Neill, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin.
Through the day and through the week ecumenical services in many places will use the same form of service. A seminar in the Mater Dei Institute on January 28th will be addressed by Prof Andrew Purves of Pittsburg on the subject, "Thinking Pastorally and Ecumenically".
In some areas the focus will be on the Covenant signed 16 months ago between the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland, committing both to working together more closely through the coming years.
It is of particular significance in that it is the first such commitment between two churches in Ireland, and it is the first in this country to link a church with an episcopal tradition to one without.
There have, of course, been many formal schemes of local co-operation where two or more denominations have agreed to share the use of buildings, or to recognise each other's members in such a way as to avoid duplication of buildings or ministry. All of which underlines the fact that there are a variety of ways in which Christians can come together in their witness to any given neighbourhood. The schemes that have been operating for years, and those that are new, serve to encourage those involved in the services of this week in the confidence that progress is being made, though there is yet much for which to pray.
The Rev Laurence Graham of Cork and 14 other people from Methodist churches throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland have just returned from Sierra Leone, where they have been for a little over two weeks.
Before preparing for ordination Mr Graham was involved in agricultural projects in the Caribbean - at Haiti and Antigua - and he is now vice-chairman of the Board of Gurteen College. The group visited Kailahun in western Sierra Leone to restart an agricultural project which had been wrecked by the civil war. This involved setting up a piggery and a fish farm. The project has further cemented the close relations between the churches in Ireland and Sierra Leone.
During the last two weeks we have learned with regret of the deaths of two honoured retired ministers of the church. The Rev Thomas Crabbe spent most of his ministry in Northern Ireland. The Rev Derek Ritchie ministered in various parts of the country, and was President of the church in 1992-1993.
The members of the Sutton Methodist Church are tomorrow evening holding the first of a number of events which mark this, their centenary year. The guest of honour at the service will be H.E. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, and the preacher will be the Rev James Rea, President of the church.
Mr Rea has now resumed full duty after his recent illness, and tomorrow morning will be preaching at the Ballynafeigh Church in Belfast. On Sunday, January 25th, he will be visiting two Belfast churches, that at Shankill in the morning, and that at Woodvale in the evening.
Casa Materna, a home for orphans founded nearly a hundred years ago in Naples by an Italian Methodist minister, the Rev Riccardo "Papa" Santi, is planning to close its present work owing to financial stringencies. The premises are to be sold, and the money used to establish a Trust to continue the objectives of Cara Materna.