Next Friday the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, will rededicate the former St Catherine's parish church in Thomas Street as a place of worship. It will be formally opened as the headquarters of City Outreach Through Renewal and Evangelism (CORE).
St Catherine's Church was closed in 1966 as the Church of Ireland population in the area dwindled. Worship was transferred to St Victor's Church in Donore Avenue, originally the chapel of ease of St Catherine's, which was rededicated as the parish church of St Catherine and St James. Despite the architectural and historical importance of the building, which is immortalised in a Malton print, no suitable use could be found for it and its steady physical decline has been an ever-present reproach to both the Church of Ireland and to Dublin Corporation, to whose custody it was transferred in 1969.
But times change. The commercial and domestic revitalisation of Dublin has brought many new residents to the city centre, and where people choose to live the church must follow.
CORE was founded in 1993 to reach out to those in the city who had no affiliation with the parish structures. Under the leadership of the Rev W Stewart, CORE has been a steadily growing congregation within the Church of Ireland.
Today the Bishop of Limerick, the Rt Rev Edward Darling, will begin a month's sabbatical at the Deiniol's library in north Wales. In Roscrea, George Cunningham, chairman of the board of management of the Bolton library in Cashel, will speak as part of an imaginative conference on "Manuscripts and the Printed Word in Medieval Ireland". Tomorrow morning the annual citizenship service will be held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, where the preacher will be the Dean, the Rev John Paterson. In All Saints' Church, Grangegorman, the Dean of St Patrick's, Dr Maurice Stewart, will preach at the patronal festival eucharist during which the Archbishop of Dublin will dedicate memorial plaques to two former vicars, the Ven Raymond Jankins and Canon James Hammond.
In St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, the Rev Dr Alan McCormack, chaplain of Trinity College, will be installed as succentor, while in St Fethlimidh's Cathedral, Kilmore, the Rev Mark Lidwill, rector of Urney, will be installed as prebendary of Triburnia.
The Bishop of Cork, the Rt Rev Roy Warke, will visit Caheragh and Abbeystrewry, where he will close the Christian stewardship programme.
On Monday, the Armagh clergy conference begins in Dunfanaghy, where, at the invitation of the Primate, Dr Robin Eames, the guest speaker will be Dr David Ford, regius professor of divinity in Cambridge.
A course on the Eucharist in the Centre of Christian Studies in St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, begins on Wednesday. On Thursday, there will be a Christmas Card charity fair in the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook, Dublin.