During the CoronaVirus Pandemic, in general, and in the Advent run-up to Christmas, in particular, parishes and chaplaincies in Cork, Cloyne and Ross, as elsewhere, are trying to find innovative and imaginative ways to celebrate and observe the Church’s seasons
The Church of Ireland Community in Cloyne Union have been marking Advent in a new way this year. They have called it Advent on the Gate. As the churches were closed for public worship as Advent began, they wanted to mark the season and stay connected with the community.
Throughout Advent one poster and prayer has been placed on the gates of each of the churches in the union of parishes – Corkbeg, East Ferry and Midleton as well as on the gate of Cloyne Cathedral.
Along with this daily physical poster and prayer, there is also a post on their Facebook page HERE . If you would like to see these on your own FB feed, then please like the page and the daily posts.
Week one featured The Annunciation
The Sermon on the Mount
And The Magnificat
In Week 2
John the Baptist was recognised as a herald of the Gospel
And as the one who prepares us for the light of the coming Christ
The parish invites you to join them as they rogress through the rest of Advent in weeks 3 and 4 and here are a few sneak previews……
A nighttime photograph of Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral Cork taken by young Cork amateur photographer Cian O’Regan features on the 2020 Christmas card being sent by Bishop Paul and Mrs Susan Colton this year. Cian’s photographs have featured in The New York Times, RTE, BBC and The Irish Examiner.
Bishop Colton spotted Cian’s photo on Instagram and Cian kindly gave permission for the photo to be used.
In the photograph, taken in February 2017, the crescent moon sets over St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Cork.
Cian, who is a Science Communicator at the Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork, and also a PhD student at Cork Institute of Technology, researching the usability of Augmented Reality (AR) devices on future human missions to the Moon/Mars, explains that
the ‘Earthshine’ phenomenon is also visible in this photograph. Earthshine occurs when sunlight reflects off the earth’s surface and illuminates the unlit portion of the moon’s surface.’
Bishop Colton, thanking Cian, said
Given that this is the 150th anniversary year of the consecration of St Fin Barre’s Cathedra; Cork this photograph attracted my. attention. That it draws our eye to something special in the night sky seemed also, to me, to be a wonderful link with those in the Christmas story who stared into the night sky and followed a star.
Please note that the information in the post was updated on 22nd December 2020 to take account of the new Government regulations in response to the CoronaVirus Pandemic. From 26th December all Services will once again be online only.
Christmas approaches and, more than ever this year, in Advent and beforehand, a lot of planning is going in to the practical arrangements for our joyful celebration of the nativity of our Lord.
In spite of the challenges we all face during the Coronavirus Pandemic, worship at Christmas remains the focus and at the heart of all the planning. In addition to the Church Services listed below, there are many opportunities to join acts of worship online from your home.
Online Services – live and recorded – from Cork, Cloyne and Ross, are listed HERE.
Listed below – Cathedrals first, and then parish by parish and chaplaincies – is the schedule of Services planned in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the First Sunday of Christmas this year: 2020.
It is a challenging Christmas to organise as each local setting is obliged to take account of all the regulations published recently by the Government concerning Religious Services. You can read those regulations HERE
The HSE has issued detailed guidance and it is HERE
Numbers permitted in church buildings, with social distancing, are limited, and it is a requirement that the ‘numbers permitted to attend’ be displayed at the entrance of church buildings. Those numbers are publicised in relation to each church building in this list also for your information.
Consultations locally have resulted in decisions as to whether or not places should be on a first come basis, or if booking is possible or required.
Speaking about the arrangements, the Bishop, Dr Paul Colton said:
All of this is necessary in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic, but it is also heart-breaking for clergy and parishioners to have to limit the numbers attending Church. It goes totally against the grain. The instinct of our vocation and our approach is always open-armed and to say “All are welcome’ .
The Coronavirus is even thwarting that this year. It is new but it is not normal.
‘Booking’ for church also goes completely against the grain, but pragmatic approaches have had to be found locally by clergy in consultation with the people of the parishes about how best to face up to the limits that have been imposed by the Level 3 regulations.
I ask everyone to cooperate with the voluntary churchwardens and stewards without whom it would not be possible to hold public worship at all this Christmas. In thanking them I thank also all the volunteers in our parishes, not least those who will do the cleaning between the extra Services as required by the regulations.
I appeal to everyone, therefore, to understand and to work within the challenges faced by parishes and to see the practical dilemmas being worked through as part of our solidarity to ‘protect each other’ and to ‘stay safe’ as we continue to fight this virus together.
Unless otherwise stated the Service in each case below is a celebration of Holy Communion/The Holy Eucharist.
Where the Service is Holy Communion by Extension (the sacrament being brought to a church for distribution by a Deacon or licensed lay person from a previous celebration of Holy Communion) this too is indicated.
11.30 a.m. – Little Island. (18 maximum) – booking required
Cork – Saint Anne, Shandon
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
7.00 p.m. – St Anne, Shandon – 36-50 maximum – booking required
25th December, Christmas Day
10.15 a.m. – Shandon – 36-50 maximum – booking required
Douglas Union with Frankfield: Douglas, Frankfield, Blackrock and Passage West
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
7.00 p.m. – Passage West (50 maximum on a first come basis)
9.00 p.m. – Frankfield (50 maximum on a first come basis)
25th December, Christmas Day
8.30 a.m. – Blackrock (50 maximum on first come basis)
10.00 a.m. – Frankfield (50 maximum on a first come basis)
11.15 a.m. – Douglas (50 maximum on first come basis)
Fanlobbus Union – Dunmanway, Drimoleague, Drinagh and Coolkelure
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
5.00 p.m. – Dunmanway – 50 maximum – booking – Crib service for children
9.00 p.m. – Drinagh – 48 maximum – booking
11.00 p.m. – Coolkelure – 46 maximum – booking
11.00 p.m. – Dunmanway – 50 maximum booking – Holy Communion by Extension.
25th December, Christmas Day
9.00 a.m. – Drimoleague – 50 maximum booking
11.00 a.m. – Dunmanway – 50 maximum booking
11.00 a.m. – Cox’s Hall Dunmanway – 50 maximum – booking – Holy Communion by Extension (If the capacity is required from the bookings and can not be facilitated elsewhere).
Fermoy Union – Fermoy, Glenville, Ballyhooly & Knockmourne
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
7.00 p.m. – Glenville (50 maximum – first come basis)
9.00 p.m. – Ballyhooly (45 maximum – first come basis)
25th December, Christmas Day
9.45 a.m. – Fermoy (50 maximum – first come basis)
11.15 a.m. – Knockmourne (30 maximum – first come basis)
Kilgariffe Union – Clonakilty and surrounding areas
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
3.00 p.m. – Kimalooda (50 maximum – booking required)
8.00 p.m. – Clonakilty (50 maximum – booking required)
10.30 p.m. – Clonakilty(50 maximum – booking required)
25th December, Christmas Day
9.00 a.m. – Kilmalooda (50 maximum – booking required)
10.00 a.m. – Timoleague (30 maximum – booking required)
11.30 a.m. – Clonakilty (50 maximum – booking required)
Kilmocomogue Union – Bantry and Durrus
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
8.00 p.m. – Bantry (30 maximum – booking required)
25th December, Christmas Day
10.00 a.m. – Bantry (30 maximum – booking required)
Kilmoe Union – Schull area
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
25th December, Christmas Day
11.30 a.m. – Schull (40 maximum – booking required)
Kingston College in Mitchelstown
Contact details and location of the church are available HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
9.00 p.m. – Kingston College Chapel (22 maximum – booking required)
25th December, Christmas Day
10.30am – Kingston College Chapel (22 maximum – booking required)
Kinneigh Union – Ballineen and Enniskeane areas
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
25th December, Christmas Day
10.00 a.m. – Kilmeen – 50 maximum – booking
11.30 a.m. – Castletown Kinneigh – 50 maximum – booking
Kinsale Union – Kinsale, Ballymartle and Templetrine
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th Decenmber, Christmas Eve
6.00 p.m. Ballymartle (40 maximum – booking required)
11.00 p.m. Kinsale (90 maximum in separate pods – booking required)
25th December, Christmas Day
8.30 a.m. Kinsale (90 maximum in separate pods – booking required)
10.00 a.m. Templetrine (40 maximum – booking required)
1130 a.m. Kinsale (90 maximum in separate pods – booking required)
Mallow Union – Mallow, Doneraile and Castletownroche
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
7.00 p.m. – Mallow (50 maximum – booking required)
11.30 p.m. – Doneraile (50 maximum – booking required)
25th December, Christmas Day
10.00 a.m. – Castletownroche (35 maximum – booking required)
11.45 a.m. – Mallow (50 maximum – booking required)
Moviddy Union – Aherla, Kilmurry and Templemartin
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
7.00 p.m. – Aherla (20 maximum – booking required)
11.00 p.m.- Aherla (20 maximum – booking required)
25th December, Christmas Day
9.45 a.m. – Templemartin (20 maximum – booking required)
11.30 a.m. – Kilmurry (20 maximum – booking required)
Ross Union – Rosscarbery, Leap, Union Hall and Castleventry
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
24th December, Christmas Eve
5.00 p.m. – Ross Cathedral (43 maximum – booking required)
11.00 p.m. – Castleventry (21 maximum – booking required)
25th December, Christmas Day
9.00 a.m. – Union Hall (13 maximum – booking required)
10.00 a.m. – Leap (22 maximum -booking required)
11.30 a.m.. Ross Cathedral (43 maximum – booking required)
Templebreedy Group – Crosshaven and Nohoval
Contact details and location of churches are available for this parish HERE
Carrigaline Union’s fundraising cookbooks have arrived! Just in time for that perfect Christmas Present!
All Proceeds raised will go to parish funds. There’s only a limited number printed, so anyone interested should buy now in case they miss out. They cost €15 per book, or €14 per book if you buy three books or more.
Wonderful value for a 100 page full-colour book packed with REAL recipes that actually work! You can pick up from Pamela Newenham’s house, or the Rectory or email parishescookbook@gmail.com to arrange delivery if you are unable to leave your home… or text/call Pamela Newenham on 086-3961770
In his December letter to the Diocese in the Diocesan Magazine, as Christmas 2020 approaches, the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, has thanked the clergy and people for their generosity.
Referring to the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland on 1st January 1871, 150 years ago, he noted that, from then, the ‘Church of Ireland would depend on the voluntary generosity and subscriptions of the people of the Church.’
Bishop Colton’s Letter:
Dear Friends,
In December 1870, 150 years ago this month, the people of this Diocese, and indeed of the whole Church of Ireland, were counting down the days to the unknown. The thought of what lay ahead on 1st January 1871 had preoccupied Church members for nearly ten years. What was about to happen had been the subject of public discourse and political argument. In July 1869 Queen Victoria gave the Royal Assent to the Bill that had been passed in Parliament: the Irish Church Act 1869. From 1st January 1871 the Church of Ireland would be disestablished: no longer the State Church. That was arguably the single greatest moment that has shaped much of our life since. Alongside disestablishment came disendowment and from then on the entire work of the Church of Ireland would depend on the voluntary generosity and subscriptions of the people of the Church.
All our ministry, all our work in God’s name, everything that we have, are and do, is down to the generosity of the ordinary members of the Church of Ireland in the years since then; as it is today. And so, I want to thank you all for your generosity. Year after year the people of this Diocese generously and selflessly support the work that God calls us to do for him in this place.
That does not mean that it is always easy: far from it. A huge change came about in the period one hundred years ago when the population in the Diocese fell by 13,000 people between 1911 and 1926. That 13,000 includes the military; if the military are excluded, the population drop was 9,000 – still a massive number. Like us in our time, our forebears have had to keep pace with these realities and to cut our cloth according to what we can afford. That’s why we keep praying about and discussing our priorities in programmes such as Charting a Future with Confidence and skiing ourselves what sort of Church does God want us to be now?
There’s no doubt that 2020 has been a demanding year; that’s an understatement. Some have been affected more than others. We live in times of contagion, illness, grief, great uncertainty and anguish. Brexit lies ahead and that is the unknown too. But with God’s help we will face it as we have faced challenges before now.
In spite of all that and in its midst, you have all been hugely generous in your support for the work of the Church in Cork, Cloyne and Ross. As your Bishop I thank you sincerely and, while Christmas will be very different this year too, I wish you and yours, wherever they may be, God’s blessing, for this is the season when we recall that God came to share our human experience.
Jesus, as St John puts it, is the light: ‘the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never overcome it’.
✞ Paul Cork:
Photograph taken one month before the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland on 1st January 1871. It shows visitors at the door of The Bishop’s Palace in Cork on the day of the Consecration of the new St Fin Barre’s Cathedral
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