Pew Sheet – 8th May 2022

The Rector writes ‘Thank you to all who baked cakes and made sandwiches & sausages for the Finnish Choir last week—the table in the Parish hall was heaving with goodies! Their lovely local Bus driver wanted to know if we had that every week after Church! I think we might have a new parishioner (!). The Choir were amazing and I’m delighted to tell you that they actually won the 2022 Fleischmann International Competition at the Cork Choral Festival. We were indeed honoured to have them sing for us at the Service.

Today is often called ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday as the set Gospel from John 10 always reflects that aspect of Jesus’ ministry. As you know, shepherds traditionally mind the flock, especially the more vulnerable of the flock so I feel it is a really good day to remind you of all the work that the Safe Guarding Trust Panel do on behalf of the Parish and the Select Vestry. You can have a read about that in the middle pages. Thank you to Rosemary Powell and Steve Foott for giving their time to protect us all.’

Music Notes 8/5/2022

Hymns at St Mary’s

398 Alleluia, sing to Jesus

644 Faithful Shepherd

211 Immortal love

The month of May is associated with honouring the Virgin Mary as ‘Queen of the May’ in the Roman Catholic tradition. As our church is dedicated to St Mary I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the versions of the Magnificat, usually sung at the Evensong service in the Anglican tradition.

One of the many paraphrases of this beautiful prayer is the ‘Canticle of the Turning’ which is usually sung in the season of Advent. This hymn is written by Rory Cooney and is sung to the well-known Irish folk tune ‘Star of the County Down’.

The modern lyrics reflect the sentiments of the Biblical text but deliver them as a call to social justice and a hope that ‘the world is about to turn’.

Here is a link to an arrangement performed by the choir at the First Plymouth Church in Nebraska.

The organist is the wonderful Tom Trenney and I have a serious case of organ envy when I watch this video!

Bébhinn 087 228 5965

bebhinnmuire@gmail.com

The Church of Ireland safeguarding policies and procedure applies to all clergy, staff and volunteers but especially those who have regular contact with children or adults who may be more at risk of harm or abuse because of their personal or life circumstances.

The guidance applies to all aspects of ministry in the Church of Ireland whether within a church building or within parishioners’ homes.

It is the responsibility of everyone in the Church of Ireland to ensure that children and adults at risk of harm due to their personal characteristics and/or life circumstances are not left at risk of abuse.

Church organisations have a duty to promote the safety and welfare and thereby safeguard children and adults at risk

PARISH PANEL

The parish panel functions as a sub-committee of the select vestry with the membership nominated by the incumbent and appointed by the select vestry. Members other than the incumbent are not required to be members of the select vestry. Lay panel members should be vetted prior to appointment by the select vestry.

PANEL ROLES

Maintains oversight of all matters regarding safeguarding in the parish on behalf of the select vestry and report on matters to each select vestry meeting. The parish panel should meet on a regular basis (at least twice) throughout the year. The checklists in the Parish Panel Information section will provide guidance as to matters to be covered at these meetings.

Implement and maintain good practice in the recruitment, assessment, training, management and support of staff and volunteers The panel may include others in the interview process where a post requires specialist skills to be assessed.

Keep records of all appointments, reports and other relevant documents regarding Safeguarding Trust and audit records such as the accidents and incidents book in case suspicious patterns emerge. Store all records securely in line with General Data Protection Regulations.

Follow the guidelines set out in Safeguarding Trust, and in the appropriate statutory guidelines, on how to respond to any safeguarding concern. The panel fulfils the role of Designated Liaison Person/s and acts collectively.

The panel will also be involved in managing situations where a member of staff or volunteer has been suspended pending a statutory investigation. Information may come to the panel from outside the parish, as from statutory authorities.

Ensure that panel notices and children’s information posters are displayed on parish premises giving relevant information regarding the statutory authorities to whom a concern can be reported. The notices and posters identify the panel members.

Advise the select vestry in respect of its responsibilities. Safety and employment issues are normally advised directly to the select vestry but information concerning child protection issues must only be shared on a ‘need to know’ basis.

Meet members of the diocesan support team to undertake the evidence based triennial parish audit and implement actions required as a result of the audit

Ensure that a risk assessment is undertaken every two years and a Child Safeguarding Statement is adopted by the select vestry and displayed on parish premises and the incumbent is appointed as relevant person in line with Children First Act 2015.

Ensure all clergy, staff and volunteers undertake regular training. They will be supported in this by their diocese.

The Safeguarding Trust Parish Panel for Carrigaline Union :

· The Revd Canon Elaine Murray 087-2363100

· Mrs Rosemary Powell 087-2849865

· Mr Steve Foott 087-9173234

Tonight Sunday 8th May 7pm in St John’s Church

Choral Evensong with commissioning of the new Select Vestry for 2022/2023

Friday 13th May 11am-12:30pm in the Parish Hall

The Friendship Club will resume at last. While we are no longer meeting in the Rectory, we think it will be just as much fun in our newly refurbished Parish Hall.

Wednesday 18th May 1pm in Monkstown Golf Club

M.U. Summer Outing: A three course lunch in Monkstown Golf Club at 1pm on Wed 18th May. Cost: €22.00 per head. Final numbers by Thursday 12th May, to Hilary WP Valerie A or Deirdre W. Come if you can!

Saturday 28th May 10:30-12:30 the Parish Hall

Plant Sale & Coffee Morning for Parish funds.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED to bake, bring plants, help setting up the day before or on the day

Please text Hilary @ 086-3680513 if you can help

Random Notes CDXXIII

There’s a saying that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. This is also true of research projects. Drafting a plan to introduce a birth registry to the Kilimanjaro region is one thing, actually doing it is another. When my colleague and I arrived in Moshi last Saturday night, we were quickly confronted with the reality of what we were trying to do. Kilimanjaro Region has a population of about 1.6m in an area about 21% of that of Ireland. It is quite densely populated with urban areas, lots of farmland and (apparently*) the highest mountain in Africa. The region subdivides into seven districts, all of which are quite well served with hospitals, clinics and dispensaries. All of these facilities are capable of delivering babies, which means that most women are actually quite close to a place where they can give birth relatively safely. The Tanzanian government actively discourages home births. This means that most births are in a clinical setting.

This isn’t quite what we expected. The project was originally designed to track home births, which don’t actually happen with anything like the frequency we expected. We need to recalibrate our project and redesign it so we can record those births in hospitals, clinics and dispensaries instead. But those places already have established recording systems. At the time of writing, we’ve visited 2 clinics and 2 rural dispensaries in two days. The entire recording system for pregnancy and childbirth is paper based but it is highly standardised. Ideally we would persuade them to move to an electronic system; the degree of standardisation should make shifting to an electronic system easier.

Moving to an electronic system would give the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and its Regional Medical Office far better access to data than it currently has. These data could then be used to help shape policies to reduce maternal and infant mortality. So far reaction to the idea has been positive, with several nuns in a rural clinic near the Western side of Kilimanjaro being notably enthusiastic. By the time you read this, it will all be decided, but this Thursday we have a crucial meeting with local health officers to decide how to proceed.

Tanzania has signed up to an East African initiative to introduce Electronic Health Records. Our little project might provide a stepping stone to this goal.