THE INTRODUCTORY weekend for the third cycle of the foundation course began in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute yesterday. The weekend is entitled Fit for the Purpose and is themed around the various personal and communal issues of vocation to ministry.
The main sessions will be conducted by Canon Dr Christina Baxter, principal of St Johns College, Nottingham. In addition to the academic staff in the institute, there are three outside facilitators, the Rev Dr Will Murphy, the Rev Denise Acheson and Andrew MacNeile. This year 25 students from eight dioceses have applied for the course.
The foundation course is jointly sponsored by the institute and St John’s College, Nottingham, and is accredited through the Open University as a professional certificate in ministry. It lasts for 13 months and is concentrated upon the twin processes of study through distance learning and vocational discernment.
Students will also participate in a series of day seminars and conference calls which together enable the vital aspects of personal vocational awareness and group networking to become more fully established.
Satisfactory completion of the course now forms the academic component of selection for training towards ordination in the Church of Ireland and is necessary for admission to the MTh professional course in Trinity College Dublin. Further information from Lynda Levis at the institute or the local diocesan directors of ordinands.
RTÉ will tomorrow morning broadcast an ecumenical service of reflection on healing and healthcare from the chapel of Christ the Healer at Cork University Hospital. The service will be led by the Church of Ireland chaplain the Rev Daniel Nuzum and his colleagues from the hospital chaplaincy team.
In the chapel of Trinity College Dublin, the preacher at the choral Eucharist will be Canon Kenneth Kearon, a former TCD chaplain and currently secretary general of the Anglican communion.
In the afternoon, the Connor diocesan mother’s union service will be held in St Annes Cathedral, Belfast, while at 7pm, sports commentator Jimmy Magee will give the address at the 61st annual ecumenical thanksgiving service for the gift of sport at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
The Gaudete Singers and the Girl Choristers of St Patricks Cathedral will give a concert of works by Durufle, Elgar and Lauridsen in St Bartholomews Church, Dublin, at 8pm.
On Monday evening, St Killian’s German school will give a concert in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
Former Bishop of Thetford the Rt Rev David Atkinson will speak on Renewing the Face of the Earth in the Irish School of Ecumenics, Milltown, Dublin, at 2.30pm next Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening, Canon Fred Applebe, rector of Rathmichael, will speak at the Drumcondra Lenten service on the theme of sickness, while On Thursday the theme will be Environment and Community. The speakers will be Scottish journalist Alexander Bell and Suzie Cahn, Transition Towns initiator.