Paul's Pages » Christ Church Cathedral

Ordination of Deacons

paulmthomas — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:16:51 +0000

At Christ Church yesterday, we had to sing for two Eucharist services – the usual Sunday morning service, and then an Ordination service in the early evening. Ordinations are always length affairs, this one coming in at 1hr and 45 minutes! It was the first opportunity that the Cathedral choir had had to hear our new Dean preach, and his thoughts on ordination were most interesting.

There were plenty of clergy at the service to welcome the new ordinands into their role as Deacons of the Church of Ireland, and the service was presided over by the Archbishop of Dublin. The Bishop of Cork was also present as the guest of one of the ordinands.

As well as the usual liturgical music, there was a piece of music for three clarinets (played in turn by the player) composed by one of the ordinands. The three-fold nature of the piece was representative of the Trinity and other aspects of Christian doctrine.

Next week we have another ordination – this time of Priests. Perhaps one of the hymns (there were FIVE in this service) could be cut, so we have a chance of getting away before night falls!

Installation and Institution

paulmthomas — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:03:40 +0000

Some big words for a big service! At a rather extended Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral last night, the Ven. Dermot Patrick Martin Dunne was installed as Dean of Christ Church and instituted as incumbent of the Cathedral group of parishes.

During the service the choir sang music that he had chosen for the occasion in conjunction with the Director of Music. This included Bruckner’s Locus iste, Leighton’s Collegium Magdalenae Oxoniense canticles, and Purcell’s O God, thou art my God.

During the Installation, the new Dean was given his medallion of office, and handed the silver verge to the Dean’s Verger, and was led to his stall where he is meant to sit in “quiet contemplation”. This will be difficult since it’s directly behind me in the choirstalls, and i’m rarely quiet!

Obviously at such a large event there were an huge number of visiting dignitaries, from the Church of Ireland Bishops, to representatives of the other Christian Churches (including an orthodox priest in full regalia). Both the C of I and the Roman Catholic Archbishops of Dublin were present, and the (excellent) sermon was given by the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Revd M. Burrows, who spoke excellently on what it means to be Dean. A future Archbishop of Dublin in the pulpit perhaps?

Rather disappointingly the service was followed by a reception only involving some nibbles and tea and coffee – on such a grand occasion a glass of wine might surely have been appropriate.

Concert!

paulmthomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:23:43 +0000

Tonight in Christ Church Cathedral at 20.00 the Cathedral Choir (C4) and the Cathedral Girls’ Choir will be giving our annual Trinity weekend concert. The Cathedral is actually the “Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity”, and so this is our Patronal Festival weekend. A wide and varied programme of music features, including Stanford, Mendelssohn, Bairstow, Jeffries and Vaughan Williams. As is often the case I feel that we might have benefitted from an extra rehearsal, but as always this should be a great event.