Throughout the autumn and winter months of 202 1Hilary Dring, Mothers’ Union Diocesan President in Cork, Cloyne and Ross, has walked over 100km with MU members from across the diocese in aid of local projects.
Hilary writes:
Over the autumn months Mothers’ Union members took to the highways and byways of Cork, both city and county, to raise funds for the Mums in May fund – what a great time we had, walking and talking, getting soaked, enjoying the sunshine, drinking tea together, sharing stories and praying together. The views were at times magnificent, at times we were in the fog; it was always enjoyable!
’21 in 21’ was the tagline – do 21 of something and raise some money to help fund projects all across Ireland. So I thought what could I do? I could walk 21 x 5km and raise a few bob. Little did I realise how wonderful a plan it would be. For a year and a half we had not been able to have any meetings or services, members had been ‘cocooning’ and were isolated and often lonely.
As I contacted the different branches, and the walks were organised one by one, I experienced the sheer joy of seeing people meet up again after not seeing each other for so long. It was simply amazing to bring people together in different places, to have the support of the clergy, who led us in prayer as we set out and often walked with us. It seemed such a simple thing to do but it turned out to be also a profound thing to do. Members and others were encouraged and strengthened as we gathered. The friendship and fellowship which is such a big part of Mothers’ Union was able to take place again in person.
Travelling around the county was a wonderful experience and I learned so much about the different areas thanks to the local knowledge that ‘walked’ with me. I visited places I had never been before and learned of the history of Cork in a new light.
Thank you to all who walked with me, to those who organised the walks, the teas, the prayers, the raising of funds. My 21 walks have raised just short of €3,000 and, along with the great efforts of many other members in Cork, we have raised a total of €7878 so far which is incredible. Across Ireland we estimate that the amount will be well above €50,000, which will go towards local projects and towards changing people’s lives over the next three years.
Hilary Dring, Maria Swanton and the Rev. Steve McCannMothers’ Union members is Rosscarbery
The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, is pleased to announce the appointment of the Venerable Terence Mitchell to a new position in the Diocese, that of part-time Diocesan Further Education and Training Officer based in Kilmoe Union of Parishes where he will also be priest-in-charge.
Archdeacon Terry Mitchell
Terry Mitchell grew up in South Africa and after graduating in 1988 worked and ministered in a number of different schools and churches, as well as teaching part-time in an Anglican seminary, the College of the Transfiguration. In 2016 he moved to Ireland where he was appointed as the Rector of the Cloughjordan and Borrisokane Group of Parishes in the Diocese of Killaloe. He was appointed Archdeacon of Killaloe in 2019.
Speaking about his appointment, Terry said:
Teaching and pastoral work are two areas of my ministry that I particularly enjoy and I would hope to share in these ministries in Kilmoe Union and the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
I have frequently visited West Cork, as well as the city of Cork and surrounds, and am struck by both the beauty and vibrancy of the area. My wife and I are looking forward to living in such a beautiful part of the country and in time to meeting you all.
Kilmoe Union is the most southerly parish in the Church of Ireland, occupying most of the Mizen Peninsula in County Cork. The town of Schull, which is the main centre in the parish, helps to service the farming population and the constant stream of visitors.
An entirely new aspect of this appointment in Cork, Cloyne and Ross is the role of Diocesan Further Education and Training Officer. Terry Mitchell will work with the Bishop and Diocese in the organisation and supervision of activities related to the provision of further education and training services within and throughout the Diocese. The role will be, on the one hand one of oversight, administration and innovation, and, on the other hand, teaching and delivery of parts of or some of the courses.
As the first appointee to this post, Terry will have the exciting and innovative role of developing a strategy for lifelong learning and further education in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in ways that both enrich and empower the discipleship of individual members of the Church, and also build up and energise the worship, ministry and mission of the Diocese within the Church of Ireland.
Announcing this appointment, Bishop Paul Colton said:
I am thrilled for the people of the Diocese and the Mizen Peninsula in general, as well as for the people of Kilmoe Union of Parishes in particular, that I am announcing this appointment of Archdeacon Terry Mitchell at the start of this new year. He comes well-skilled for these combined roles and it will be exciting to see, especially, this new role of Diocesan Further Education and Training Officer taking shape in the years ahead and bearing fruit in the discipleship and ministry of the people of the Diocese. We all look forward to welcoming him and his wife to Cork, Cloyne and Ross later in 2022.
Writing a New Year message in the January 2022 edition of the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocesan Magazine, the Bishop, Dr Paul Colton, sent a message of encouragement and confidence to the people of the United Dioceses. He acknowledged that all our current fears are understandable and a necessary part, often of our need to avoid danger, But, quoting Dr Scott MacDougall, Associate Professor of Theology of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, he said that, in the wake of our Christmas celebrations, ‘ Fear is the wrong response to the coming of the Prince of Peace …The proper response to the coming of the Prince of Peace is joy.‘
Bishop Colton also referred to 2022 as the 70th anniversary year of the consecration, in Cork, of Dr George Otto Simms, as Bishop of Cork.
Bishop Colton said that the text of the sermon, preached on that occasion by Eric Symes Abbott is as relevant now as it was then: ‘Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ (Luke 12.32)
Bishop Colton wrote
Fear, in certain situations, is an essential human emotion and response. We need it to sense, avoid and flee from danger. We learn this from our earliest days. In other circumstances, however, fear can limit our experience of life and skew our response to our context and times. These days, naturally, we fear ‘getting’ Covid either ourselves, or our loved ones. There are many things that we fear arising from the uncertainty and vulnerability of this pandemic. ‘Where is it all going?’ we wonder. It’s worth reminding ourselves, however, that in terms of our outlook as Christian disciples, and our ministry and mission as the Church, as the people of God, we need to be more quizzical and sceptical about fear. The scriptures are full of instances where people are afraid; in their shoes we would have been fearful too. Very often, God’s response is to tell them not to be afraid.
As Dr Scott MacDougall, Associate Professor of Theology of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (appointed in 2020 as theologian to the House of Deputies in The Episcopal Church) wrote to that Church at the start of Advent – ‘Fear is the wrong response to the coming of the Prince of Peace.’ Indeed, so. Mary was terrified about what lay ahead, so was Joseph. Both were told ‘Do not be afraid…’ The shepherds also, on the hillside, were told ‘Do not be afraid…’ The proper response to the coming of the Prince of Peace, says MacDougall, is joy.
Seventy years ago, George Otto Simms came to Cork. He was appointed Dean of Cork in 1951 but wasn’t installed until 16th April 1952. However, the following July (14th) Bishop Hearn died suddenly and, on 2nd October 1952, George Simms was elected Bishop on the first vote at Diocesan Synod. (That’s how elections happened then). I make this connection because, at George Simms’ consecration as Bishop on 28th October, the preacher was the famous Eric Symes Abbott, at that time Dean of King’s College, London. He had been Chaplain to King George VI and would become one to Queen Elizabeth II, as well as Dean of Westminster.
The sermon he preached that day in 1952 holds good now also, I believe. His text was Luke 12.32: ‘Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom.’
Many uncertainties lie ahead. Naturally we wonder and worry about them. But again, as Dr Scott MacDougal, wrote to The Episcopal Church at the start of Advent, ‘…we do not make good decisions out of fear.’
Let us go into 2022 with confidence, therefore. Like Mary, Joseph and the shepherds and countless others before us, let us not be afraid, for we too have heard ‘news of great joy for all the people.’ (Luke 2.10)
The Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. Photo: Denis Minihane
In the run up to Christmas, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral held a Christmas Concert and two Festivals of Nine Lessons and Carols.
The Christmas Concert program included Benjamin Britten’s seasonal classic ‘A Ceremony of Carols’, which was sung by the Girl Choristers split into three Soprano parts and accompanied by Anne-Marie Papin Labazordiere on the harp. This piece has become a regular Christmas Feature of the Cathedral’s upper voices, having been performed for the third time this year.
One of the Girl Choristers singing the solo in the first verse of ‘Once in Royal David’s City’The Director of Music, Peter Stobart, conducting the choir
The two Festivals of Nine Lessons and Carols were held on the 19th December with the Girl Choristers and on the Evening of the 24th December with the Boy Choristers. The Adult Lay Vicars Choral sang at both events. Despite the lack of audience participation due to ongoing restrictions, the Choir managed to convey the festive mood by including a wide variety of repertoire.
The Very Rev. Nigel Dunne, Dean of Cork, commented:
The Christmas events were all a great success. I would like to thank the whole music department for their hard work and all the people who came to support us during these difficult times.
The Dean of Cork, Nigel Dunne, reading one of the lessonsThe Bishop of Cork, the Right Rev. Dr Paul Colton, giving an address
‘Lockdowns, restrictions and surging infections: Europe rings in another pandemic Christmas’ was the headline on an article I read on a news website just before bedtime last night. Against that backdrop, we come to Church this Christmas morning to be nourished by the Word of God made flesh, the babe at Bethlehem. We cling to every word and its possible significance for us and our time. Isaiah’s oracle of salvation, for example, a promise of what God will do:
‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;…’ (Isaiah 9.2a))
Because of this promise of what God does and will do, we can, in the words of today’s Psalm 96 ‘Sing to the Lord a new song…’ and we gather ‘to tell out his salvation from day to day.’
In the course of my recent pastoral work I’ve encountered countless people for whom Christmas is in a heap this year: people stranded, waiting for test results, couples separated in different jurisdictions, travel plans in chaos, lots of uncertainty and, of course, people who are ill, not only with covid but receiving treatment for or recovering from something else. As ever, at Christmas, our thoughts are with those who have been bereaved since we met last Christmas.
Christmas in a heap – Christmas is pretty awful for a lot of people this year. Comparisons with worse times don’t help – suffering is deeply personal and we always measure it through our own lens. I suppose there’s hardly ever such a thing as a normal Christmas any year in many people’s lives.
In the case of the Coronavirus Pandemic, most of us are sick and tired of it and, truth be told, we would really prefer on this Christmas Day to come to Church to escape omicron, Delta Antigen and PCR.
In the foreword to this year’s Christmas edition of the Radio Times the editor wrote about Christmas as ‘a glimpse of a normality in abnormal times’. ‘We all need a chance to escape,’ he said’. The Christmas advertisements harness this too: ‘Christmas – Real Magic’ says one famous ad. And another for a supermarket chain ‘Make Christmas amazing for everyone.’ And, of course, there is truth in this. There’s a lot to enjoy. There’s much about the Christian celebration of Christmas that harnesses the traditions built up over centuries that, strictly speaking, are scarcely related to the Christmas Gospel but they do add to the joy, and the normality of the feast.
In all of this, what is key is this; Christmas is celebrated always at a particular moment in time against the backdrop of all else that is going on in people’s lives. And the main point that we need to latch on to at a time like this, and to draw inspiration from, is that the first Christmas was itself at a moment in time, in place, in history, in people’s lives in a heap. If anything enfleshed the incarnation – a tautology, I know – it’s this; the son of God was born at a moment in history: in time; in place; in circumstances, deeply demanding and distressing in some people’s lives.
This is the very first point being made by the evangelist in today’s Gospel:
‘In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.’ (Luke 2.1-2)
The evangelist was writing 50 to 80 years after the death of Jesus. Now we know, and scholars tell us – and this isn’t for a full study on Christmas Day, so don’t worry – we know that there are problems with this account of history by the writer of the Gospel. ‘Historically this description is fraught with problems…’ wrote one scholar (Raymond E. Brown). That this needs to be disentangled does not change the message or the point being made, however, as so often happens in literature; that the birth of Jesus or, as Saint John described it – God – ‘the Word was made flesh’ at a particular point in time and place in people’s very real lives – lives that were in a heap for many reasons then too. Jesus, as saviour, is being portrayed deliberately, already, even as a newborn baby, as greater than all of those mentioned at the outset of today’s Gospel reading.
For about 60 years before Jesus was born, his small country was a province of the Roman Empire. That Empire was criss-crossed with a network of Roman built roads to allow for the fast-movement of troops. As Jesus grew up he would have seen the images of the Emperors – Augustus Caesar and Tiberius – on the coins in use. Thirty legions of about 5000 men were stationed strategically around that empire to maintain absolute control in the provinces; Jesus’ country was one of those. His people were a subjugated people. The closest Roman legion was stationed in Syria (also mentioned at the start of today’s Gospel) – and so power was entrusted to local rulers – vassals such as Herod the Great.
Herod the Great came to power largely because his father was well in with Julius Caesar. As a ruler he did some good. He was famously generous during a time of drought. He was well-known for his massive programme of building projects. But at the end of the day he was also a brutal tyrant. He was a realist who knew it was his duty to control the territory for the Roman Empire; and that required a balancing act between competing interests. That’s why he built fortresses all over the place including one overlooking the Temple, the Antonia Fortress, to control that area. He was such a ruthless man that he even had three of his own sons murdered, and, among others, had his own mother-in-law as well as his brother-in-law, executed.
This is hardly the stuff of an escapist magical Christmas. While Christmas is about Jesus, and not about Herod, we cannot escape the reality that this was the time and place in history into which Jesus was born. Jesus was born just before Herod died. Herod’s death was followed by rebellion. This was the world of Jesus, the backdrop of the Christmas story and its unfolding.
Think also of the personal heaps in the lives of the main protagonists in the Christmas story – Joseph’s and Mary’s lives turned on their head by the message of the angel, and all that on top of having to travel for the census, and then to crown it all, nowhere for them to stay: not at home and vulnerable. Shepherds getting on with their ordinary work also being disrupted and the Magi also – I’m sure they could’ve done without this open-ended journey into the faraway unknown. And so the story continues … lives in a heap … not least after the massacre of infants ordered by the said Herod and the escape to Egypt. Lives in a heap!
This, dear friends, is where we are invited to find hope, solace, encouragement, joy, love, and, ultimately, faith, this Christmas, in this event, in this Good News, in this God-given moment of the Word made flesh, of the birth of Emmanuel, God with us. Lives may be in a heap but the Christmas message remains the same throughout history whatever else is going on in our own lives or around us.
One headline summed up the advice of one politician – ‘Christmas can go ahead, but be careful!’ I know what was being advised, of course, but to that we might say: ‘It is Christmas. Regardless.’ Our human predicaments and circumstances might strip Christmas back to the bare essentials, but it is still Christmas. The message is still the same.
‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;…’ (Isaiah 9.2a))
With the birth of Jesus, God wasn’t giving us a chance to escape. God was giving himself to us in the greatest act of solidarity and self-offering ever so that we would know God’s presence with us as we go through everything that we cannot escape.
Christmas Morning 2021 in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork
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