The United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross are pleased to announce that a new version of the Diocesan website has been launched.
This is the fourth version of the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocesan Website to have been launched in 20 years.
Speaking about the new website, Bishop Paul Colton said:
Liam Burke who has done amazing work for our website for many years has given our Diocesan website a fresh and very Cork look, using the red and white colours of the Cork flag. It is crisp and easy to navigate with a wealth of information and useful material. I want to thank Liam especially for all his work and patience with us.
We have come a long way since we were among the first, if not the first, Diocese in Ireland to launch our first website in early 1999.
Keeping on top of a website involves a lot of detailed work and I am grateful for the scrutiny of many people which not only came before the launch but which is an on-going discipline.
30th November 2020 marked the 150th anniversary of the Consecration of Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork and a short Service online inaugurated a year of celebrations. Marking the anniversary personally, the Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton, and Mrs Susan Colton, commissioned the renowned artist Annie West to paint a contemporary celebration of the Cathedral.
The Bishop and Mrs Colton decided to make a very limited edition – 100 prints in total of the original – available for purchase.
Recently, Bishop Colton presented the Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, with a cheque for €3000, being the proceeds of the sale of the limited edition prints and suggested that the money might be used for something in Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral to mark the sesquicentenary.
The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross The Right Reverend Dr. Paul Colton presents a cheque to The Dean of Cork, The Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, at Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
The Annie West painting depicts the west front of the Cathedral as it became in the years after the consecration, and as it is today with a gathering of people on the driveway of the Bishop’s House opposite, on their way to a party of joyful celebration and from a Service of Thanksgiving (both of which had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic).
The bunting is based on the flags of Saint Patrick and of the Anglican Communion. Among the crowd are representations of people from the community today, including some choristers and clergy, as well as, in the communion of saints, some of those who were alive at the time of the Consecration in 1870, Bishop John Gregg, Miss Frances Gregg, the Architect William Burges, and some of the workmen who worked on the Cathedral in the 1860s and 1870s.
11th May: In contrast to the preceding day in Bandon, the sun shone over Blackrock Castle as we met with the Archdeacon for a loop walk around Lough Mahon and Blackrock. Adrian, of course, was the inspiration for these walks as he had set the template with a 5 KM walk in Douglas every day in January. The power of Bishop Paul’s Twitter account was evident when a former colleague based in Kildare saw the Bishop’s tweet and travelled to Douglas to support us in the walk.
In Douglas Union of Parishes with Frankfield
12th May : Our walk today brought us to the Carraig Centre in Ballincollig, a town with a population of more than 18,000 souls. Robert Ferris showed us around the most impressive Carraig Centre, a community centre as well as a centre of worship and clearly a source of great outreach. Robert walks at a quick pace but at least we stayed on the flat.
lliAt the Carraig Centre in Ballincollig, Cork
13th May: Having left Mallow Union of Parishes in December, it was heartening to attend Rev Meurig William’s first service on Ascension Day, to greet old friends and receive significant support in our fundraising campaign. The requirement of the campaign is that we walk 5KM in each centre. Climbing (another) hill I asked Meurig why he had chosen this route to be told me ‘I’m from Wales, what did you expect?’ Touché!
14th May: No walk today but received the second vaccination. After 15 months of Covid the atmosphere with the over seventies in the surgery was buoyant, DG .
15th May: ‘Did you know that Dunmanway is the second wettest town in Ireland?’ ‘No, I didn’t, but now I do!’
Greeted by a great crowd in Dunmanway. As in Mallow, it was great to see old friends even after 7 years. Cliff, as ever, had everything organised including refreshments, courtesy of Susan Salter, mid-way through our walk. While it would be invidious to mention any specific individual it was great to be able to pass by and be greeted by Sue Hegarty. Once again we experienced generous support for our campaign which more than compensated for the torrential rain!
Dunmanway
Contributions; By the end of Week 2 we have just passed the initial target reaching €5050. Planning this campaign, we had initially discussed a target of €10,000 over the 22 Parishes. Not knowing what the response would be in the Covid era, a figure of €5,000 was advertised as a target Fortunately the response has been very positive and we hope to build on this over the remaining two weeks of May.
You too can donate online to this 100 km walk for the
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Joe Kavanagh, accompanied by the Lady Mayoress, Stephanie Kavanagh, hoisted the progressive rainbow flag at Cork City Hall on Sunday 16th May to mark the start of Cork LGBTI+ Awareness Week 2021. Cork City is part of the Rainbow Cities Network: a global response to homophobia and transphobia.
Also on Sunday 16th May, now an established part of the LGBTI+ Awareness Week calendar in Cork, the Annual Service for International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia took place in St Anne’s Church, Shandon. Due to the current restrictions and the large numbers who usually attend, the Service was pre-recorded by members of the parish and the Cork City LGBTI+ Interagency Group.
The Reverend Paul Robinson and Stephen Spillane welcome the Cork Inter-Agency Group to Saint Anne’s Church, Shandon, Cork.
The speaker this year was Jayne Ozanne of the Ozanne Foundation a campaigner for LGBTI+ plus people within the Church as well as being an advocate for the banning of conversion therapy. Jayne recently resigned as member of the UK Government’s LGBT Advisory Panel due to the lack of progress on the banning of this therapy. Jayne spoke of her work and how members of the church can do their part to support inclusion in our churches.
The Rev Paul Robinson, Priest-in-Charge said
We are delighted to be able to play our part in Cork LGBTI+ Awareness week. Inclusion is a very important part of who we are in St Anne’s and we are reminded of this each week when we say ‘whoever you are, and wherever you are in your journey in faith, your are welcome here.
The service can be viewed on youtube here and the parish is looking forward to being back in church in person for Pentecost.
Two new rectors in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross had their first opportunity since their arrival in the Diocese to worship together with their parishioners in person in their local churches in recent days. Both had been instituted by the Bishop, Dr Paul Colton, during the post-Christmas lockdown.
The Reverend Meurig Williams was instituted on the Feast of the Epiphany (6th January) to Mallow Union and the Reverend Ivan Ruiters was instituted to Kinneigh Union on 4th February.
As well as celebrating the Eucharist in Saint James’ Church, Mallow for parishioners on Ascension Day, the Reverend Meurig Williams welcomed the Reverend Tony Murphy who was passing through Mallow on his sponsored walk across the Diocese in aid of the Diocesan Maize Project in Burundi.
The Reverend Meurig Williams (right) with parishioners in Mallow Union of Parishes, and also with the Reverend Tony Murphy (in Christian Aid vest)
In his Sermon, Meurig emphasised ‘…how the risen Christ takes our broken humanity to the heart of God: not just our achievements and triumphs; but our wounds, our flaws, our sickness and grief.’
Afterwards he said:
It was a particular delight for all to be able to gather again, even in a socially distanced way, after such a demanding period of lockdown. At least parishioners could now see that their new Rector was more than a virtual reality!
Sunday, 16th May was the first occasion on which the Reverend Ivan Ruiters had the opportunity to journey to the churches of his parish in mid-west Cork for Sunday worship.
The Reverend Ivan Ruiters introduces himself to parishioners for the first time in church.
Speaking about is afterwards, Ivan said:
Today was an absolutely wonderful experience for me as I began conducting my first services in church. We had a good turnout at both services and everyone expressed how pleased they were to be able to worship in church again.
After the Service in Saint Bartholomew, Kinneigh, the Reverend Ivan Ruiters is pictured with David Bourne and Marjorie Garland.
