Next week the two Dublin cathedrals will each host the launch of a book with a Church of Ireland dimension, one on the future and one on the past.
On Monday evening in St Patrick's Deanery, one of Ireland's most distinguished moral theologians, Prof Enda McDonagh, will launch a new book by the Bishop of Meath & Kildare, Dr Richard Clarke.
A Whisper of God: Essays on Post-Catholic Ireland and the Christian Future has been described by its publisher, Columba Press, as a personal collection of essays in which the author asserts that the churches' days are numbered if they do not take action to respond to the tough questions they face. Dr Clarke urges the church to see itself as it is seen by those who are no longer part of it.
Less controversially, on Thursday evening in the crypt of Christ Church, Dr Seán Duffy, the TCD medievalist, will launch a book of essays, The Medieval Manuscripts of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, edited by Raymond Gillespie and Raymond Refaussé and published by Four Courts Press.
Today the lunchtime recital in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will be given by Paul McGough (bass) and Vincent Lynch (piano), while tomorrow (Sunday) evening in Christ Church, Taney, the Gaudete Singers will give a concert of sacred music of the 16th and 20th centuries. In St Columba's Cathedral, Derry, at 8pm there will be a recital by organist David Briggs.
Tomorrow RTÉ television will broadcast the service of the word from the Church of Ireland Theological College, conducted by the college principal, the Rev Canon Dr Adrian Empey, at which the preacher is the Rev Patrick Comerford, director of spiritual formation. The Archbishop of Armagh will preach at the CIMS annual service in St John's Church, Malone, while in St Fin Barre's Cathedral the Bishop of Cork will be the preacher at a service to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of Guide Dogs for the Blind. In St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, at Evensong, there will be a commemoration of those who lost their lives on Irish ships from 1939-45.