Dear Parishioners,
Sunday-School
Re-Opening
It was good to see St Patrick's so full
on the morning of 5th September for the All Age Worship Service, our first
of the autumn season at which we all joined in a Covenant, leaders, children
and congregation to love and support each other, to grow and learn together,
and to make God and faithfulness to him central to our lives.
Creche
We have begun to
build up a rota of parents who will take a share in the running of the
rejuvenated Creche which goes to meet in the Church Rooms part the way
through morning service. If you are interested in becoming a helper please
contact Denise Martin Tel:433943 or myself for more information.
All
Saints Day
We will be celebrating this
great festival at our United Parish Eucharist on 31st October. This begins
a season with overtones of remembrance and incorporates Remembrance Sunday
(14.11.99). All Saints-tide takes us towards the end of the church's calendar
year, the new year beginning with the first Sunday in Advent (28.11.99).
It is a season for reflection not only on the great heroes of the faith
and saints of the church in times past but also individuals whom we have
known and loved and have now passed into the nearer presence of God. I
believe, in the words of one author, that there is both a psychological
and liturgical need to address this. As such there will be an opportunity
to remember with thanksgiving our loved ones and people who have worshipped
and witnessed in our Churches in years gone by at that service by name
and a list will be collated on the previous two Sundays of all the names
to be read out on that day. You may contribute as many names as you wish
by writing them on the sheets provided at the back of the Church.
Study
Group
The opportunity
to grow and learn together in a less formal way about faith, belief and
practice is provided for in the Study Group which will meet on Wednesday
evenings at 7.30p.m. starting on 20th October. I would encourage anyone
who is thinking about coming along to discuss or even simply to listen
to what's being said to make this commitment for just 6 evenings. I would
be particularly pleased to see more men going to these valuable and enjoyable
evenings in the life of the parish. Please bring a friend along too.
The topic for study is The Commandments which should provide us with lots of potential for debate!
Harvest
This year there
will be one Harvest Festival Service for both Churches since St John's
is closed for restoration work. It will take place on Sunday 3rd October
at 11.30am Morning Prayer. Gifts of produce and flowers are welcome
and can be brought to the Church at 10a.m. on the previous Saturday, 2nd
October.
I am pleased to say that the former Rector The Rev. Canon E. Hubert Gough has agreed to come and address us at that service and we look forward to chatting to both Hubert and Joan at the lunch which follows the service.
The proceeds of the Harvest Appeal this year was agreed by the Select Vestry to go towards relief efforts in Turkey following the earthquake disaster some weeks ago. This will be administered through the International Red Cross.
I would also add that if any parishioner is moved to contribute to a needy cause as the result of any kind of human disaster, The Church of Ireland Bishop's Appeal is open to receive gifts throughout the year and donations can be passed on to them through our Honorary Treasurer, Mr Norman Shirley.
Review
of Finances 2000 & Gift Day
Every 3 or 4 years
most parishes will undergo a review of their finances. We have already
begun this in the Finance Sub-Committee of the Select Vestry and you will
have heard mention of this and the Gift Day for St John's Donegore Restoration
Appeal at the services. More details will follow in a personal letter
to you outlining the ways in which we can help finance the running of
the parish. You may also receive a visit from one of our Parish Visitors
should you not be able to make it to the Gift Day to inform you of the
present situation and why we need to look again at our giving. This is
a necessary exercise and the purpose is to ensure the functioning of the
parish on into the next few years, decade, century and millennium. Your
parish needs your support and love to continue its witness in establishing
God's Kingdom and its values through that part of the universal church
in which we find ourselves.
Plans
for the Millennium
As well as our
service of prayer on 31.12.99 (see calendar) and the celebration of The
Naming of Jesus on January 1st the arrival of the year 2000 will
be greeted in two other ways. There will be a Golden Irish Yew tree planted
in Templepatrick graveyard to mark the occasion and furthermore
a copy of the gospel of Mark, 'A Millennium Keepsake' will be distributed
to every household in the parish. We also look forward to the official
reopening of St John's Church early in the year 2000.
The Bishop of Cork recently remarked, "There is going to be a party at the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000. It's essential that Jesus Christ, the reason for the party is not forgotten, and particularly that we Christians, by our inaction and lack of imagination, don't allow him to be overlooked."
In Christ,
Stephen Fielding
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REVIEW OF PARISH INCOME 2000 AND GIFT DAY FOR ST JOHN'S, DONEGORE SATURDAY 9TH OCTOBER 1999 10a.m. - 4p.m. IN THE PARISH HALL OLD COACH ROAD. |
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Giving Thanks & Celebrating the Year 2000 In St Patrick's, Templepatrick A Service of Prayer for the new Millennium will be held on Friday 31st December 1999 at 10.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist will be celebrated on Saturday 1st January 2000 at 10.30a.m. The Feast of
the Circumcision of Christ |
Bowling
Club
The
Bowling Club continues to meet in the Parish Hall from 7.30pm-10.30pm
with a practice night on Monday evening from 8.00pm-9.30pm. New members
would be made very welcome. Even if you've never bowled you could come
along on a Monday to find out if you would enjoy it or indeed on a Friday
evening.
During the closed season, on Saturday 21st August 1999, thirty one members and friends travelled by coach to Dunluce outdoor bowling club, stopping en route at the holiday home of Ammie and Reggie Montgomery for afternoon tea and coffee. Our sincere thanks to both of them for a lovely afternoon. After three hours bowling we had our evening meal in the Causeway Hotel and returned home by coach tired but well fed.
We are now looking forward to our next outing in November to Rosses point, Co. Sligo, all members and friends are welcome.
Isobel McCollam (Hon. Sec.)
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A Creche is now functioning in the Church Rooms each Sunday. It meets as the Junior Sunday School goes to its classes part the way through morning service. Do make use of this facility.
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"Technology - blessing or the ultimate curse?"
"Technology is not simply the practice of using tools, but rather a way of looking at the world, a way of framing questions and analysing problems," the Rev Eric Beresford, who occupies the ethics desk for the Anglican Church of Canada, said. He was presenting the major paper in the Hearing on Ethics and Technology at the Anglican Consultative Meeting in Dundee, Scotland.
His paper was an important contribution to the ACC meeting, and could bear fruit in Anglican circles when it is circulated and discussed throughout the provinces of the Anglican Communion. In response to last year's Lambeth Conference resolution on technology, Eric Beresford will soon commence secondment from the Anglican Church of Canada to the Anglican Communion Secretariat on a part-time basis to work on ethics issues.
In his discussion he explained that technological issues that must be engaged with theologically, for they are issues for the community of the church, the wider communities of which we are a part, and indeed the whole created order. He argued that questions of unity and communion do not have matters related to emergent technologies and to ecological disintegration as mere adjuncts. "In a world divided around the impacts of these changes....they are likely to become crucial points of tension. At the same time they are therefore practical opportunities to show what it means to live in local communities as part of a global communion," he said. "Given the reality of our life as 'communion' as reflected in the Virginia Report, we are in a strong position to bring together particular local experience and reflective global analysis in a way that will meet the needs of the church and provide a creative and productive addition to the wider discussions that are beginning to take place about these problems around the world."
The paper set out three ways of looking at technology that have been predominant in Western culture, and which appear in different guises elsewhere. They are 'technology as saviour - unqualifiedly good', a view that is based on Francis Bacon's dictum 'knowledge is power'. "Implicit in this perspective," Eric Beresford said, "is the assumption that technology equals progress and anyone who slows down the rate of technological development impedes progress. It also assumes that technology itself is infallible and tat when problems occur they are due to human error or a foolish or malicious choice of the purposes for which technology is used."
The second view sees 'technology as oppressor/ demonic'. This understands technology 'as basically destructive of human persons and of human freedom' and providing an experience of profound alienation.
The third view, which is the most widespread in Western society, sees technology as neutral and value free, that is, 'technology as neutral - tool' so technology and technologies are, in and of themselves, neither good nor bad, it all depends on the manner in which they are used. So the problem is not technology in itself, but the responsible use of technology.
Following his examination of these perspectives he mentioned two characteristics common to technological societies that lay a basis for comprehending why a proper understanding of the nature of technological change is an issue for Christians generally as well as representatives of the Anglican Church globally through the work of the ACC.
"A technological society will be one that will look at problems in terms of technology. It may sound like a truism, but what I am saying is that the interpenetration of knowing and doing means that a technological consciousness will proceed by asking what technique must I employ to deal with this or that problem? No problem will appear in principle insoluble to technique, and this means that a society will be unable to see a decision to do nothing as anything other than a disguised action," he said. Secondly, "the goal of the technological revolution is in many ways freedom. Freedom from the necessities that nature imposes on us. We can now go further and faster, live longer and more healthily than we could without technology." But people are not all beneficiaries of these new freedoms. "A second problem turns out to be a freedom of consumers rather than participants. It is a freedom which is defined in terms of freedom from constraint. We are given freedom from, but it is not clear whether this can also be freedom for, or for what. Yet when St Paul talks about freedom it is surely the latter which is his primary concern."
In a reflective response, Bishop Richard Holloway agreed that technology is both "curse and blessing" saying that technology is not neutral and value free, though it is not leaded with difficulties. It is, rather, human beings who are. He raised questions about the 'ownership' of technology by the powerful and said that the recent advances in "the biotechnological revolution will make the industrial revolution look like a Sunday picnic."
Bishop Holloway told the ACC members that we must not be Luddites to technology, but that we must be discriminating and recognise it as both curse and blessing. "It is a blessing," he said, "it may also be the ultimate curse."
In response, Mrs Maureen Sithole from the Province of Southern Africa raised the practice of Western scientists experimenting to create life saving drugs on victims in the developing world, but then producing their results in forms of medicine which are extremely expensive by developing world standards, and are therefore outside the purchasing capacity of developing world medicine.
From The Anglican Communion News Service
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An Evening of Tuesday 14th December 1999 at 8.00 p.m. Proceeds in aid of St John's Restoration & The Northern Ireland Children's Hospice Tickets £5:00 This will go ahead subject to the Church building being ready following the restoration work |
Choir
News
Choir
practices have begun again, and following the usual pattern we are preparing
special music for Harvest, Advent and Christmas, as well as music for
weekly Sunday worship. The Service of Readings and Music to mark the beginning
of Advent on Sunday 28th November at 7.30p.m. is particularly atmospheric.
We are a small group- seventeen in all - who enjoy singing together for an hour or so on Thursday evenings. We all have busy weekly routines, but manage to 'squeeze in' practices and services, knowing them to be important. If there anyone 'out there' who feels they could join us do let me know. We'd be very glad to hear from you.
On the death of the former organist Mr W.L.Rogan the Choir would like to take this opportunity to express their sympathy to his family circle.
Mildred
Restoration work at St John's has progressed well through the summer. Fund raising activities have also continued with a 'Garden Party' at Coleman's Nursery proving an enjoyable and entertaining evening. The Treasure Hunt also attracted a lot of support and was keenly contested. Together these two events raised £1800. Our grateful thanks go to all who worked so hard to organise these events, and to everyone who so generously supported them.
The restoration Committee was itself forced to undergo some changes as Pat and Hazel Kinkead moved from the parish. Pat, as Chairman, guided the Committee through its formation and the development of fund raising activities. Hazel was also an enthusiastic and committed Committee Member whom we shall miss. We wish them well in their new home.
- A Parish Gift Day, at which you will have the opportunity to contribute to the Restoration Fund, will be held on 9th October.
- An evening with a Male Voice Choir, to be held on 15th October is being organised by the Ladies Fellowship.
- A Craft Fair in the Parish Hall on 20th November.
Christopher Lundy (Chairman)
We welcome Dr Christopher Lundy as the new Chairman of The Restoration Committee and thank him for agreeing to take this on following the resignation of Mr Pat Kinkead.
The Rector & Select Vestry
A Service of Readings and Carols
This will mark the
beginning of the Advent Season
at 7.30p.m. on Sunday 28th November 1999.
The
second week in September saw the Squirrels, Beavers and Cubs begin a new
year. Beavers and Cubs visited the International Airport at Aldergrove
on Tuesday 21st September, the first of many outings planned. There are
lots of activities taking place to celebrate the Millennium so we are
looking forward to a busy and enjoyable year. As always the leaders are
under pressure with numbers and Squirrels in particular are difficult
to organise without a regular leadership commitment. We are at present
actively and urgently looking for a new Scout leadership team with our
older Cubs soon to move on to Scouts.
