Pewsheet – 29th June 2025

The Rector writes ‘ I would like to recommend the ministry of the Church of Ireland Ministry of Healing and you can read more about them on the opposite page.  You can also go to their website www.ministryofhealing.ie for further information.  I have to declare my bias though! I have been a member of the Board of CMH:I since 2021.

As most of you already know, we have a thriving Healer/Prayer group in the parish, most of whom are involved in today’s service. This group was established in 2014 and have received training from CMH:I in prayer ministry.  The group are Clodagh King, Joy Keefe, Simon Woodworth, Hilary Warren-Perry, Peter Coughlan, Hilary Dring, Richard Dring and myself.  I am very grateful to each one of them for their ministry in this area. 

How the group works is that anyone of us may receive requests for prayer for a specific person or situation.  The entire group will pray for this person or situation daily for a period of about three months.  We try to have an evening service of Wholeness & Healing from the Book of Common Prayer about 3 or 4 times a year, usually on a ‘5th Sunday’ when there is a United Service in one church in the morning, then the Service for Healing and Wholeness takes place in the other church in the evening.

Today, we have brought the service into the main morning time to help parishioners understand the nature of the ministry.

During the Service today, after the sermon and the creed, people are invited to come to the altar rails and be anointed with the Oil of Healing, which was blessed by the bishop at the Chrism Service on Maundy Thursday. You may like to be anointed for yourself or you may like to be anointed in place of someone you know who needs healing prayers at this time.  

If you would like to speak privately, Peter Coughlan and Hilary Dring will remain in the church after the Service and you can come to them for quiet private prayer.   If they are already with someone, please just wait until they are free. ‘

We are a Church of Ireland (Anglican/Episcopal) charity that helps all who seek wholeness, healing and rest. Whoever you are, and wherever you come from, we hope you will find something sustaining or encouraging here.  We are a registered charity: CHY4214

History of CMH:I

The Rev Noel Waring first established the Church’s Ministry of Healing in the Church of Ireland in 1932. In this, he received strong support and encouragement from the then Archbishop of Dublin, Archbishop Gregg. Over the years, CMH has been instrumental in developing and encouraging this important dimension of the Church’s wider ministry throughout Ireland. As well as its Dublin base, it developed a centre at The Mount in Belfast and other diocesan centres were established. Today, CMH: The Mount is an independent company but CMH: Ireland continues to work collaboratively with it and with all the dioceses and parishes in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Our office is based in Egan House, St Michan’s Church. The building is a former widows’ almshouse, and is described in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, at this link. 

As the Inventory states:  The house is an important reminder of the large number of charitable buildings established in this part of Dublin in the eighteenth century.   It is thus an extremely fitting place for CMH:I to have its office!

Music Notes 29-06-25.

Margaret Rizza is the composer of two of the anthems sung by the choir today.

She trained as an opera singer at the Royal College of Music and the National School of Opera in London and pursued a career as an opera singer for two decades.

Rizza sang at major operatic venues suchas Glyndebourne, Sadler’s Wells, and La Scala under her maiden name of Margaret Lensky. She became a teacher of voice at the London Guildhall School of Music upon marrying Geroge Rizza and after the birth of her daughter.

A conversion experience in mid-life led her to develop an interest in prayer and meditation, and the power of music to bring healing and build communities. She says: ‘Music can bring us together as a community or as a church; it can release deep inner feelings which are essential for freedom and growth.’ Her music is influenced by the chants of the Taizé community and sets the atmosphere beautifully for contemplation, healing, and prayer.

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I would like to pay tribute here to our own music-makers at St Mary’s – The Gallery Singers. They are tireless in their dedication to making their singing as good as it can be, and have enhanced our services through their musical leadership.

I am very proud of them and wish them all a restful (and well-deserved) summer break.

If you would like to come up to the gallery during the month of July and help lead the hymn singing I will be delighted to welcome you. This would be a great opportunity to see what it feels like to sing beside the organ if you are perhaps thinking of joining the choir. All prospective members most welcome!

Bébhinn 087 228 5965

bebhinnmuire@gmail.com

Random Notes CDXCV

Some people just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

In 1989 a financial alalyst was strolling through an antiques market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania when he took a fance to a frame holding a fairly nondescript rural scene, buying it for 4 dollars.

On returning home, he began removing the picture from its frame, only to have the frame fall apart, much to his annoyance. Then, however, he noticed a folded sheet of paper between the canvas and the frame, unfolding it, he saw it was a copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

He had the document checked out by expert in Philadelphia, who confirmed it was one of 500 official copies made of the original declaration in 1776.   Of those 500, only 24 were known to have survived, and only three of those were in private hands.

In 1991 it was auctioned by Sotheby’s, selling for 2.4 million dollars.

MMPC