Parish Notices Sunday 19th February 2017
The Rector writes ’Todays readings are very much geared towards appreciation of God’s Creation. As you know, we are an ’Eco Congregation’ and as such we are committed, as a parish, to making the connection between our Faith and our Environment in any way we can. There are a couple of events coming up for which I would ask your support.
On 1st March, Ash Wednesday , I will be hosting a Coffee Morning in the Rectory in support of the Irish Seed Savers Association, a group who grow, conserve, & distribute Irish organic vegetable seeds, grains and fruit trees. They research and conserve over 600 varieties of heirloom vegetables and maintain over 170 varieties of Irish heritage apple trees and propagate these rare seeds and trees making them available to the general. I will have some of the catalogues etc. on hand that morning so you too can get involved in helping to preserve the richness and wealth of our Irish agricultural legacy.
The other event to put into your diary is the annual Ecumenical Dawn Chorus in Currabinny Woods on 14th May. Thank you to Tony Nagle who has again agreed to be our guide as we stomp around the woods at 5am, along with our friends from the Harbour Parishes and Our Lady & St John’s, giving thanks to our God as we listen to the waking calls of the birds.
Famine Lunch after 11am Service in Parish Hall next Sunday 26th February. In aid of Mother’s Union Overseas Fund.
YOUTH Looking forward to our next event on the 25th of Feb for our 18yr+ category. This will be held in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery. Mark Palmer, a Christian Comedian, will be taking centre stage on the night. It promises to be a great night of fun, laughter and good food. Ticket prices are €25pp (including a 2 course meal) and MUST be booked through Hilda Connolly westcorkdydohildaconnolly@gmail.com to reserve a place.
THEOLOGICAL BOOK CIRCLE are currently reading ‘The Shack’ by William P. Young and will meet in the Rectory on April 3rd to discuss. All welcome!
The Passage, Glenbrook & Monkstown Grow It Yourself welcome special guest Klaus Laitenberger who will be talking on the topic of Vegetable for the Irish Garden on Monday 20 February. This will be insightful for gardeners of any standard and is timely as we plan veg patches for year ahead. Venue-Church Of Ireland Hall, off Church Hill, Passage West. €5. All welcome, including youngsters. Further details pgmgrowityourself@gmail.com
The owenabue Garden and Flower club, Carrigaline will hold its next meeting on Monday 27 February at 8 pm when their own Pat Lenihan will “Spring into Action “.The venue is St Mary’s school hall. All visitors and new members will be welcome. Enquiries to 0863222615.
Anam Cara, the organisation that supports bereaved parents, is holding its next monthly Parent Evening on Wednesday 1st of March from 19:30 to 21:00 in the Clayton Hotel, Silver Springs, Tivoli, Cork. This event is open to all bereaved parents regardless of the age your child died, the circumstances of their death, or whether the death was recent or not.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
20th Feb Toddlers plus One 10am Parish Hall
Monday Club 3-5pm Parish Hall
22ndFeb Holy Communion 10.30am St Mary’s Church
World Day of Prayer Bible Study will take place in the Church immediately after the Service. See Hilary Dring for details.
24th Feb CAMEO 10.30 Monkstown Sailing Club
25th Feb Failte Friends Event, Mardyke Pavilion 10 till 2
26th Feb Famine Lunch after 11am Service in Parish Hall.
27th Feb Revision of list of Vestry Members 7 to 8 pm in the Parish Hall
(If you would like to register as a Vestry Member and have a vote at the Easter Vestry, please get a form from one of the Church Wardens)
1st March Ash Wednesday 10:30am & 7:30pm Holy Communion with imposition of ashes.
1st March Coffee Morning for Irish Seed Savers Association 11:15 in the Rectory.
3rd March World Day of Prayer Service. 8pm St Mary’s Church.
Random Notes CCXXIII
On December 6, 1917, Halifax, Nova Scotia, was hit by adevastating explosion, comparable in intensity only to the atomic explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosion was a result of a collision between two ships in the harbour. One of those ships was the SS Mont Blanc, which was carrying munitions from New York to Europe in support of the war effort. The resultant explosion was devastating: 2.9 kilotons in size, it killed nearly 2,000 people and shattered windows 50 miles away.
The explosion had a life changing effect on a local curate, Samuel Prince. Prince, who held an MA in Psychology, had taken holy orders and arrived in Halifax in 1910. He was assigned to St Paul’s, a church notable for being the first to start Sunday Schools in North America.
Prince was no stranger to disaster, having sailed twice in 1912 to help locate and bury the victims of the sinking of the Titanic.
The explosion happened as he was eating breakfast. This probably saved his life; had he been in his office, flying shards of glass would almost certainly have killed him. Like other clergy in Halifax, he immediately went to the aid of survivors. Prince’s observations of the disaster and its aftermath were documented in his later PhD thesis, completed in 1920. Tellingly, he observed that it took five hours of chaos before any sort of organized response to the disaster emerged.
While some of Prince’s theories on society are now considered outdated, his observations and later doctoral work are seen as the first systematic attempt to understand the response to disasters. Prince’s thesis was seminal but it took until 1958 for sociology to catch up and to consider his theories properly. Prince himself acknowledged his work was incomplete and called for further research in his 1920 thesis.
Research into disaster prevention, response and recovery continues to this day. Large scale disasters such as the Haiti earthquake and the tsunami in Japan illustrate that the loss of life from such catastrophic events is still far higher than it needs to be. Samuel Prince came to my attention at the completion of one such research project in UCC. You can see a video explaining the project at http://slyne.com/shelp/
SJFW
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