The Moderator of the General Assembly, the Right Rev Dr Kenneth Newell, will visit congregations within the bounds of the Dublin-Munster Presbytery during the week October 3rd to 10th.
He will also meet with public representatives and engage in several official openings and special services.
He will take part in the traditional annual service at the beginning of the Law Year on Monday, 4th October. On Tuesday, 5th, after a Stated Presbytery meeting, he will be the guest of honour at a dinner. At the Presbytery meeting he will speak on "The Crossing of Racial Divides in Christian Ministry". At various times on Tuesday, 5th and Wednesday, 6th, he is to meet with Government ministers and RTÉ personnel.
Of singular importance will be the launching of the new hymn book for Presbyterians by the Moderator in the Adelaide Road Church on the 6th at 8 p.m. During the service he will speak on "Praise in Public Worship". A small orchestra under the leadership of Ian Scott and domiciled at Lucan will perform. Mr J. Spratt, an authority, will introduce adaptations of psalms contained in the new book and Mr Ossie McAuley (Finaghy Presbyterian Church) will make his own particular contribution.
The Moderator will visit a Horticultural Training Workshop at DCU on Thursday 7th at 10 a.m. and later will meet with clergy and people at Greystones, after dinner with the Kirk Session there.
Dr Newell will visit the residences under Presbyterian management at Tritonville Close on the morning of the 8th and will give thanks for harvest with the people of Ervey in the evening. He will attend an ecumenical service at Maynooth on Saturday evening, the 9th, and will conclude a very busy week as the guest preacher at the 140th anniversary service of the Abbey Church, Parnell Square (Findlater's Church) at 11 a.m. In the afternoon, he will open Maynooth Community Church Resource Centre at 4 p.m.
Garth Hewitt - Live in Concert will perform and speak on Thursday, October 7th at 8 p.m. in the Howth Presbyterian Church Hall. This has been arranged by the Howth, Sutton, Baldoyle and Bayside Ecumenical group. Admission is free. Donations will be accepted for the Amo Trust and Christian Aid.
Garth Hewitt is an Anglican clergyman and "a social activist with an interest in promoting human rights." He has been writing and recording germane songs for over 30 years. His experience of situations of poverty and conflict in many parts of the world has given him a strong commitment to issues of justice and peace.
The Middle East, with the seemingly insoluble problems of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, has particularly attracted Hewitt for over 15 years and led to him forming relationships with the Palestinian Church as well as with peacemakers and human rights groups within Palestinian and Israeli communities.
Hewitt's songs, especially those in an album entitled Journey - The Holy Land, are claimed to tell the world as no other has done of the pain mingled with hope of this troubled area. A recent trilogy, Pilgrims and Peacemakers; A Candle of Hope and Towards the Dawn, about Palestine and Israel, is extant. These were followed by The Road Home, in collaboration with the United States artist, Daniel Bonnell. Hewitt has written a song for each of 10 paintings of scenes from the Gospels. A selection of Hewitt's books and CDs will be available in the Church Hall at Howth on October 7th.
Garth Hewitt is in Dublin at the invitation of Friends of Sabeel, Ireland. The first annual meeting of this newly formed ecumenical concerned group, which is linked to a group of Palestinians based in Jerusalem, is being held in St Brigid's parish church, Stillorgan, on Wednesday, October 6th, at 8 p.m.