Bishop of Cork Attends Launch of Cork LGBT Awareness Week 2015

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

On Monday 11th May, the Bishop of Cork, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton attended the launch, in Cork City Hall, of the 2015 Cork LGBT Awareness week.  The speakers this year included the Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kenneth O’Flynn, Chief Superintendent Mick O’Flynn of An Garda Síochána, and this year’s guest of honour, Valerie Mulcahy, of the Cork Ladies’ Football team.

At the launch of Cork LGBT Awareness Week 2015 were (l-r) Chief Superintendent Mick Finn, Valerie Mulcahy, and Bishop Paul Colton

At the launch of Cork LGBT Awareness Week 2015 were (l-r) Chief Superintendent Mick Finn, Valerie Mulcahy, and Bishop Paul Colton

Cork LGBT Awareness Week is organised to acknowledge and demonstrate that LGBT individuals are family members, community residents, constituents, citizens, visitors, service users and service providers. The purpose of the week is to advance Objective 86 of the Cork City Plan: “The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities will be enabled to fully participate in the social, cultural and economic life of Cork City.”

LGBT Awareness Week is supported by an inter-agency group made up of: Cork City Council, HSE South, Cork ETB, Dept. of Social Protection, An Garda Siochána, Cork City Partnership, LINC, Gay Community Development, Cork Trans Support Group, Ballyphehane Togher CDP and Sexual Health Centre.

Bishop Colton said:

This is a week organised by our partner groups in civic society in Cork.  I’m glad to support to support these partners, not least because the week also aims to tackle the homophobia that still, shockingly, exists in our society.  In addition, it is important, from a Christian perspective, to acknowledge that many LGBT people are also people of faith, taking part to the full in the life of our churches, as they have been for centuries; they make a significant contribution in our spiritual and religious life.  More generally, as a Church, we want to affirm that our doors are open to all people, whoever they are, and wherever they are on their journey of faith.

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Cork, Cloyne and Ross at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, 2015

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

Like Church of Ireland members from around Ireland, representatives of the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross attended the General Synod of the Church of Ireland which was held in Armagh last week on the 7th, 8th and 9th May.  Our Diocesan Media Officer, Sam Wynn, was busy taking photographs.  Here are some of them:

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Evensong in Cork Parish Marks Centenary of Sinking of RMS Lusitania

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

Saint John’s Church, Monkstown, County Cork (in the Church of Ireland Parish of Carrigaline Union) overlooks Cork Harbour.  It has a spectacular vista of Great Island (where Cobh, known as Queenstown in 1915 and central to the responses to the sinking of RMS Lusitania), and a view also of the comings and goings today to and from the Port of Cork.  The National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) is also situated in the parish and the rector, the Reverend Elaine Murray, is Church of Ireland Chaplain.

The Reverend Elaine Murray (centre), Rector of Carrigaline Union and Church of Ireland Chaplain to the National Maritime College of Ireland, with Officers and Cadets who attended the RMS Lusitania centenary commemoration in St John's Church, Monkstown, County Cork.

The Reverend Elaine Murray (centre), Rector of Carrigaline Union and Church of Ireland Chaplain to the National Maritime College of Ireland, with Officers and Cadets who attended the RMS Lusitania centenary commemoration in St John’s Church, Monkstown, County Cork.

It was appropriate, therefore, that Officers and Cadets of the NMCI attended a poignant Choral Evensong in St John’s Church on Sunday 10th May 2015 to mark the centenary of the sinking, on 7th May 1915, of RMS Lusitania. Gerard Horan of NMCI spoke very movingly of what is known about the lives of some of the survivors of the sinking.

Meanwhile on 7th May in the Parish of St Luke, Douglas, Cork, schoolchildren from St Luke’s National School visited the Church on the centenary itself to see the memorial to a former parishioner Sir Hugh Lane, who died when RMS Lusitania was sunk.  Hugh Lane was an Irish art collector who founded the Dublin Municipal Gallery of Modern Art (the first known gallery of modern art in the world).

Commemorations were held in many of the affected coastal towns, villages and parishes of the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.  An oar washed ashore from one of the lifeboats of RMS Lusitania hangs in the Church of St Barrahane, Castletownshend, County Cork.

Posted in Centenary, Church in Society, Church Services, Community Involvement, Decade of Centenaries, Diocese, Parish News | Comments Off on Evensong in Cork Parish Marks Centenary of Sinking of RMS Lusitania

Bishop of Cork Marks Centenary of Sinking of RMS Lusitania with Parish Visit

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

This coming week marks the centenary of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania 18km off the coast of County Cork.  A number of coastal towns, communities and parishes in this Diocese were caught up in particular ways with the tragic events of that day, 7th May, 1915. Cobh (then Queenstown) was one such town.  Survivors and victims alike were brought to the port. Local people accommodated the survivors in their own homes, in lodging houses and in hospitals.  More than 100 of the casualties were buried in the town’s old cemetery.

Postcard - RMS Lusitania

Postcard – RMS Lusitania

Today, the Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton visited the parish of Cobh and Glanmire Union where he spoke about the events of 100 years ago and also confirmed 5 young people from the parish.  The Bishop said:

The sinking of RMS Lusitania was one of the major tragedies of worldwide significance in the twentieth century. As I shall be attending the General Synod of the Church of Ireland later this week I will not be able to attend the local ceremonies marking the centenary, but I’m glad that I will be represented by the Reverend Adrian Moran.  I was pleased to mark the centenary by visiting the union of parishes today.

The celebration of a Service of Confirmation of five young people made it a forward-looking and hopeful visit as we reflected, not only on a past event, but on the contribution individual Christians and Christian communities continue to make in our time.

The Lusitania Peace Memorial in Cobh, County Cork

The Lusitania Peace Memorial in Cobh, County Cork

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New Priest-in-Charge for Saint Anne’s, Shandon, Cork and Chaplain to Saint Luke’s Home, Cork

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

On Sunday, 19th April, the Reverend Sarah Marry was licensed by the Bishop of Cork, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, to serve as Priest-in-Charge of Saint Anne’s Parish, Shandon and also as Chaplain of Saint Luke’s Home, Cork.

Following the Licensing and Commissioning of the Reverend Sarah Marry as Priest-in-Charge of Saint Anne's Parish, Shandon, Cork and as Chaplain to St Luke's Home, Cork were (l-r) the Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, the Reverend Sarah Marry, the Bishop, and the Venerable Adrian Wilkinson, Archdeacon of Cork.

Following the Licensing and Commissioning of the Reverend Sarah Marry as Priest-in-Charge of Saint Anne’s Parish, Shandon, Cork and as Chaplain to St Luke’s Home, Cork were (l-r) the Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, the Reverend Sarah Marry, the Bishop, and the Venerable Adrian Wilkinson, Archdeacon of Cork.

Posted in Charities in the Diocese, Church Services, Clergy, Diocese, Healthcare Ministry, LIcensing, Saint Luke's Home, Saint Luke's Home Education Centre | Comments Off on New Priest-in-Charge for Saint Anne’s, Shandon, Cork and Chaplain to Saint Luke’s Home, Cork