The Bishops' Appeal, which is the principal vehicle through which the Church of Ireland supports the developing world, has announced funding for eight projects in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe. Donations from parishes, amounting to more than £59,000, have made this response possible, but there remains a formidable waiting list.
In Africa, £15,000 was given to the Church Missionary Society Ireland for work in Bishop Allison Theological College in Sudan and for supplying emergency household items in the Congo. A grant of £10,000 was approved for the Konkomba Literacy and Development Programme in Ghana, which is committed to improving the living conditions of the poor.
In Asia, support has been provided for the Muslim-Christian Agency for Rural Development which was established in 1984 to encourage farming communities in Mindanao in the Philippines, and assistance has been given to agricultural development programmes in Cambodia. Both these grants have been sent through Christian Aid.
Contributions have been made to Passage House, a Brazilian project to rehabilitate street girls, and to a social centre comprising a soup kitchen, hostel and medical facility in Oradee, Romania. More generally, the Bishops' Appeal has contributed to the special programme of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which provides physiotherapy, artificial limbs, corrective surgery and mobility aids.
Today, in Co Wexford, the Ardamine Union of Parishes will hold a Summer Bazaar in the Riverchapel Community Centre. In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Evensong will be sung by the Chapel Choir of Tonbridge School, Kent, who will also sing the services tomorrow.
Tomorrow, RTE will broadcast Morning Service from Ballydehob, Co Cork, where the rector is the Rev Paul Draper. The preacher at the Sung Eucharist in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, will be the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, who by virtue of his office is Prebendary of Cualuan in the cathedral chapter. In Clonmacnoise the Eucharist will be celebrated in Templeconnor Church at 4 p.m.
In Dublin on Wednesday the executive committee of the Representative Church Body will meet in Church of Ireland House. In Christ Church Cathedral Evensong will be sung by the Chapel Choir of University College, Durham, who will also sing Evensong on Thursday.
On Friday there will be a memorial service in Abbeyleix parish church for the Very Rev Maurice Talbot, who was Dean of Limerick from 1954 to 1971.
A number of musical events will be held in various Church of Ireland venues in the coming week. This evening in St Werburgh's Church, Dublin, there will be a recital by Graham Trew (baritone) and David Williams (piano) and in the same location on Friday there will be a concert of sacred choral and organ music by the Chapel Choir of University College, Durham.
In the Church of the Ascension, Timoleague, there will be a "Classic Brass" concert tomorrow evening, and on Tuesday in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, there will be a lunchtime recital by the Oxford Chamber Choir.
Last week the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Rev Paul Colton, opened the St Barrahane's Church Festival of Classical Music in Castletownshend. The second concert in the series will be given on Thursday evening by the Orpheus Trio.
Further afield, the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, who are on tour in New Zealand, will give a concert this evening in Wellington Cathedral. On Wednesday they will give a concert in Napier Cathedral and on Friday they will be in Auckland for a New Zealand-Ireland Fund concert.