More greetings today, as the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral Cork approaches, this time from the Bishop of Borgå/Diocese of Porvoo, in the Church of Finland: the Right Reverend Dr Bo-Göran Åstrand.

Bishop Paul Colton, having been involved as representative of the Church of Ireland in the conversations that led to the Porvoo Agreement establishing the Porvoo Communion of Churches, between Anglicans in Great Britain and Ireland and Evangelical Lutherans in the Nordic and Baltic Countries, has close links with the Diocese of Borgå. He has visited many times and preached in the Cathedral in Porvoo including at Evensong to mark the tenth anniversary of the Porvoo Agreement. The former Bishop of Borgå/Porvoo has also preached in Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral.

In 2016, Bishop Björn Vikström, together with his Diocesan Council, visited Cork, Cloyne and Ross. The following year Bishop Colton and a group from Cork made a return visit, attending, among other events, the Church of Finland’s National Service in Turku Cathedral for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. Bishop Colton also addressed the General Synod of the Church of Finland.

This is one of the many greetings from around the world, from Ireland, and from Cork, that are coming in as the 150th anniversary of the consecration, on 30th November 1870, of Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral Cork approaches.

The present day cathedral, designed by William Burges, is the most recent building on the site where Christian worship and witness have been offered in Cork since the Seventh Century.

Since the CoronaVirus Pandemic has put a halt to all the traditional celebrations, different ways of marking the occasion have been put in place, including the sharing with you of these greetings.

The Bishop wrote: