Pewsheet – 20th July 2025

The Rector writes ‘ At the Select Vestry meeting last week, it was decided to have our annual Parish BBQ on the last Sunday of August, 31st. It will be held just after the 11am United Service in St Mary’s Church.

Do put this date in your diary now. It is always a lovely occasion and a great excuse not to have to cook lunch for yourself! We will let you know the price per head etc soon but children will be free and as always if you can contribute a salad or dessert that would be great. So you see… the Select Vestry don’t just get to talk about the 3 ’F’s : Finance, Furniture and Fittings! They can also talk about BBQs! Anyway, hopefully by then, our Summer weather will have returned but one way or another, it’ll be a wonderful day.

Greetings Church family!

You may have noticed the screen in the top right corner of St Mary’s Church and wondered “Why do we Live Stream our services?”

The answer has grown out of necessity during the lockdown periods of Covid when it was not possible to ‘gather’ together as a church family in person. At that time our ’tech guru’ Simon Woodworth gave much of his energy and skill to setting up a reliable system which allowed us to stay ‘connected’ during that difficult period through the live streaming of our services via YouTube. We are so grateful to Simon and over the years he has modified and enhanced the systems even further.

Live streaming now allows those with mobility or other issues, or are travelling or have moved away to remain connected with the church family and fully engaged in regular worship from the comfort of their homes. It has also become a very important part of our outreach and some people may join us online who have never been to St Mary’s or St John’s churches in person!

A group of parishioners have been streaming the services on a rotational basis over the past few years and we are currently looking for new volunteers to join us and participate in a rota to stream the service to those who cannot attend in person..

No tech expertise whatsoever is necessary – the system is very “user friendly” and no matter what your age bracket may be, we can provide guidance and share a simple set of instructions so you would be ‘up and running’ in no time!

You would be on duty approximately once every 6 weeks or so and be doing a great favour to those who find the live streamed service such an important part of their Christian lives.

Please contact Peter Coughlan on 086 3453361 who will be happy to share more information and arrange a ’test drive’ of the system with you !!!

Thank you all! Peter

Pamela Newenham will be running a Tombola at this year’s parish BBQ, and would be very grateful for donations of prizes such as wine, chocolates, sweets, body creams, candles and other gifts. If you have any suitable items to contribute, please contact Pamela on 0863961770.

The Owenabue Garden and Flower Club, Carrigaline will host an Evening Walk at

Bee FitzGerald’s Garden,

The Old Rectory, Templebreedy,

Fennell’s Bay, Crosshaven, P43 E129

on Monday 28th July 2025 at 7pm, €10 entry in aid of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland.

Refreshments and Parking available.

All Welcome

Random Notes CDXCVIII

Inspired in part by a recent conversation with Revd Terry Mitchell at the Kilmoe Union Parish Fete in Schull on Friday 11 July.

Ethics are the “moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.” We are all used to the ideas of professional ethics and medical ethics. If we talk of a doctor behaving ethically, we take it to mean they are acting in the best interests of their patient. In other words, the doctor can be said to be making a set of decisions that will ensure the best possible outcome for their patient. “Best possible outcome” could actually mean anything from a full recovery to a peaceful and dignified death for that patient. But what happens if those decisions are made by a machine?

The department I work in in UCC does a lot of research into decision making and decision support. Until recently we’ve worked on the basis that those decisions are made by humans. But now we have reached the point where some decisions are made by machines. In fact, we’ve had this in one way shape or form for quite a while. Banks make loan decisions using a program that takes a borrower’s credit history, income, outgoings and current debt as inputs. Those are used to calculate a credit score. That score may be used by a loan officer to make a decision or the borrower may receive an initial indication of loan eligibility automatically.

Back in 2005 the UK Department of Work and Pensions decided to introduce a computer system to assist with decisions on whether to award disability benefits. It was supposed to make the system easier to navigate for applicants. Instead, some people have been denied benefits with very little room for appeal because “computer says no.” In 2015 it was reported that 2,300 people had died having been declared fit for work by the DWP. Is such a system ethical?

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, the problem has become more pronounced. While modern AI systems do not think as we understand it, they can make decisions in a manner that can be difficult to verify.

We lose a little control of the machine. Examples include social welfare systems, facial recognition and targeting systems for drones and other weapons. Automated facial recognition systems are prone to bias or error, especially if the subject is dark skinned. Other biases exist.

There is an AI system called “Lavender” that is designed to select targets for assassination and to automatically direct weapons systems to eliminate that target. It has been extensively used in Gaza. This raises serious questions because humans have been taken out of the decision loop. How do we retain control of such a system? Are there any circumstances where such a system is justified? Is the use of “Lavender” ethical?

“Lavender” is an extreme example, but it raises ethical questions that must be considered in all walks of life. The UK Post Office Horizon system is another example. If the Random Notes reader is willing, I hope to return to the topic of ethics and computing again.