The season of ordinations has begun and by the end of June, 27 deacons will have been made and 13 deacons will have been raised to the priesthood. Of these, 10 deacons and four priests will serve in the auxiliary ministry.
Writing in the Church of Ire- land Ordination Newsletter 2001, the central director of ordinands, Canon Cecil Hyland, notes it is encouraging that the number of candidates for ordination has remained reasonably constant. However, he warns it is especially important at present to encourage and foster vocations for, due to the foot-and-mouth crisis, the annual Vocations Conference has to be cancelled and only one Selection Conference will be held this year.
Tomorrow, Trinity Sunday, the Bishop of Meath and Kildare will ordain Robert Heaney and Hazel Scully to the diaconate while the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory will ordain Paul Neiland as a deacon and raise the Rev Michael Johnston, curate in St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, to the priesthood. On Monday, the Feast of St Barnabas, in St Columb's Cathedral, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe will ordain Ivan Dinsmore and Irene Lyttle to the diaconate.
Today, the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocesan Synod will be held in Kinsale and will be preceded by a celebration of the Eucharist in St Multose's Church.
Tomorrow, RTE will broadcast a Parish Eucharist from Waterford Cathedral where the Dean is the Very Rev Peter Barrett. The former Bishop of Connor, Dr Samuel Poyntz, will be the celebrant at the 11.00 a.m. Eucharist in Belfast Cathedral, where the preacher will be the Very Rev Anders Eckardal from the diocese of Linkoping in Sweden with which the diocese of Connor is linked. The Trinity Sunday preacher in St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, will be the Rev Jerry Drino from the Episcopal Church of the USA, who is visiting Ireland under the auspices of USPG, while in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, the Dean of Norwich, the Very Rev Stephen Platten, will also preach in the afternoon at the Friends Festival Service in St Patrick's Cathedral where on Wednesday the evening organ recital will be given by Jeffery Makinson, assistant organist of Manchester Cathedral.
The summer season of services at 4 p.m. each Sunday has begun in Clonmacnoise where the annual Open Air Service has been fixed for Sunday July 29th. From Wednesday until next Saturday the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin will host a Regional Conference in Maynooth on the theme "Mary's Vision of Justice as Shown in the Magnificat." The society exists to advance the study of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the church and related theological questions.
Among the speakers in Maynooth will be Bishop Samuel Poyntz and Ms Janet Barcroft. Further details may be had from Mrs Margaret Golden, 52 Windsor Park, Monkstown, Co Dublin.
On Friday, the Down and Dromore Diocesan Synod will be held in Kilkeel. In Geashill the Bishop of Meath and Kildare will institute the Rev Leslie Crampton to the incumbency of Geashill and Killeigh in succession to the Ven Patrick Lawrence, who is now Rector of Julianstown.
Hopes for the New Millenium, a series of addresses given in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, during 2000, has been published by the cathedral.
Among the contributors are the President, Mrs McAleese, the Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Cahal Daly, Dr Garret FitzGerald, Sister Cecilia Clegg and Father Peter McVerry SJ. Copies may be obtained from Kate Manning, St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin 8, at £4.95 plus £2.00 for postage and packing.