The restoration at St Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork goes on apace. It will lead to a wonderful new interpretative centre which will benefit all of the people of Cork, not just the Church of Ireland community.
Under the leadership of the Dean of Cork, the Very Rev Michael Jackson, they are a go-ahead bunch at St Fin Barre's.
This month will see the opening of an art exhibition in the cathedral, drawing together various artistic groups in Cork, such as the Cork Artists' Collective, the Crawford College of Art and Design and the Backwater Artists' Group.
The exhibition will include paintings, fabrics, photographs and sculpture and it will run as part of the daily life of St Fin Barre's from Saturday until August 28th.
And next September 25th - St Fin Barre's Day - the cathedral, together with Cork Corporation, will launch Cork's millennium celebration at the famous site. It will be a coming together, says Dean Jackson, of "mace and verge" (city and cathedral).
Students from all denominations will form part of the ceremony and a millennium candle will glow as a symbol of hope for the future.
Its flame will not be extinguished until St Fin Barre's Day, 2001.
For the occasion, Dean Jackson has written a special prayer. It ends with the lines: "Equip us with the humility to be courageous, the honesty to be forgiving and the love to be compassionate. This we ask in the power of the Trinity."