January 18th to 25th is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and this year, Sacred Space 102fm decided to get out and make the acquaintance of our christian neighbours in the Church of Ireland United Diocese of Limerick & Killaloe. John has a special interview with Maurice Sirr, the retired Dean of St Mary's Cathedral in Limerick City.
This weeks programmes podcast is available HERE.
Dean Maurice is originally from county Monaghan - "Drumlin country" - was born the son of a rector, he attended boarding school in Dundalk, studied in Dublin at Trinity College before ordination for ministry, served in Belfast where he met and married his wife before serving in Sligo for eighteen years and then to Limerick where he became the Dean and Rector of Limerick City parish. As Dean, he has had responsibility for the cathedral church of a diocese; responsible with the team supporting him for administrating the cathedral and services.
The Church of Ireland is an episcopal church (i.e. it has a bishops in charge of its dioceses) in the Anglican tradition and is a member of the Anglican Communion. It is an independent self-governing church through its General Synod consisting of the Houses of Bishops, Clergy and Laity in various proportions. The General Synod makes the rules for the governance of the Church of Ireland with the bishops.
Traditions within the Church of Ireland would be a strong focus on being a biblical church often demonstrated by the tradition of the family bible and its daily use in the prayer life of the families. The Church of Ireland highlights two Gospel sacraments - Baptism and Holy Communion. Other sacraments in the church include marriage and penance.
John and Dean Maurice discuss some of the differences between our two faith communities but also stress how many are the things that unite us far out way what divides us. Various topics discussed include the differences in methods to handing on the faith education through Sunday schools, the tradition of singing in church, the challenges of youth ministry, the challenges of ministry and vocations to ministry in the Church of Ireland. They look at the different forms of devotion, types of liturgies and services, discuss the different emphasis on the role of Mary and the traditions in both traditions towards the Mother of God. More information about the Church of Ireland is available from Association for Promoting Christian Knowledge leaflets about the various aspects of beliefs and traditions.
Gospel - Mark 1:14-20
While we didn't have a gospel reflection this week, for those that may wish to have some reflections and resources for this weeks gospel:
Saints of the Week
For our regular readers and listeners just for your information our celestial guides for the coming week:
Psalter: Week 3
January 23rd - St Colman of Lismore
January 24th - St Francis de Sales
January 25th - Conversion of St Paul the Apostle
January 26th - Ss Timothy and Titus
January 27th - St Angela Merici
January 28th - St Thomas Aquinas
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