The annual Women's World Day of Prayer takes place on Friday. Each year a form of service is devised by a different community, and for the first year of the new millennium the women of Samoa have produced a service with the theme "Informed Prayer, Prayerful Action".
Women's World Day of Prayer was started in America in 1887 by Mary Ellen James, and the first services in Ireland were held in Dublin, Dun Laoghaire and Greystones in 1934. Some 200 services are now held in rotation in churches of various denominations throughout Ireland and some in homes for the elderly, for which a shortened service in large print has been prepared.
Tomorrow, RTE will televise an abridged form of the Samoan service, and on Friday the Bishop of Cork, the Right Rev Paul Colton, will preach at the Women's World Day of Prayer Service in the North Cathedral.
Today at 11 a.m. in the Institution of Engineers, Clyde Road, Dublin, Mr Michael Gandy will give a lecture on "Tracing Irish Huguenots in Public Records" under the auspices of the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Many of the Huguenots who came to Ireland conformed to the Church of Ireland and this lecture should be of value to those interested in Church of Ireland history and genealogy. Today the chaplains of Trinity College, with a party of staff and students, will join the Rev Patrick Harvey for Evening Prayer in Durrow parish church, Co Laois, at the conclusion of a visit to Clonmacnoise.
In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Evensong will be performed by the St Cecilia Singers, who will also sing the services tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning, in the chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the chaplain, Dr Alan McCormack, will preach on "Beauty", and in the afternoon the Carlow Choral Society and the Orchestra of St Cecilia will perform Bach cantatas in St Ann's Church, Dublin.
In Delgany parish church at 7 p.m., there will be a Thanksgiving Service to mark the 50th anniversary of the Steadfast Brass Band, which gave its first performance in Delgany. The address will be given by the Rev George Dyke.
Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. In Dublin there will be a Sung Eucharist for Ash Wednesday in St Patrick's Cathedral at 5.35 p.m. which will feature Allegri's Miserere, while at 6 p.m. in Christ Church there will be a Sung Eucharist with Ashing.
At the beginning of Lent the churches of Drumcondra and North Strand will introduce the new Church Hymnal. Copies have been donated by Mr Allan Liddell and his family in memory of his wife, Mrs Olive Liddell, a former parishioner of North Strand.
Mr Liddell and his daughter, Megan, will be present at the dedication of the hymnals by the rector, the Rev William Black.
A new cross-community seminar for young people to explore the mission and heritage of St Patrick is to be held in St Patrick's Memorial Church, Saul, on Saturday March 3rd.
The guest speakers will be the Rev Dr Johnson McMaster, who will speak on "Celtic Spirituality", and the curator of Down County Museum, Mr Michael King, who will give a presentation on "The Early Monasteries in Down".
A closing act of worship will be led by the curate of Lecale, the Rev Nigel Kirkpatrick.
Details may be had from Mrs Ethel Turley, Struell House, 11 Struell Wells Road, Downpatrick BT30 6RI (048/028 44839523).