Next week brings St Patrick's Tide with its ever increasing range of activities. For the first time both archbishops of Dublin will take part in the Blessing of the Shamrock in DIT Grangegorman next Tuesday at 1.15pm – Archbishop Martin will conduct the blessing and Archbishop Jackson will preach. On Wednesday evening both archbishops will attend Choral Evensong in Christ Church cathedral at 6pm when the service will be sung by the combined choirs of Christ Church and the Girls' Choir of St Mary's Pro-Cathedral.
In St Mary's church, Carrigaline, Co Cork, on the eve of St Patrick's Day, the Holy Communion will be celebrated in Irish.
Thursday is St Patrick's Day when the Bishop of Down & Dromore invites all to join him in the footsteps of St Patrick. Captain George Newell, from the Church Army, will preach at the celebration of the Eucharist in St Patrick's Memorial Church, Saul, which will be followed by a pilgrimage from Saul to Downpatrick. There, at 11.45am, Bishop Miller will be the preacher at the Festival Service in Down cathedral, which will be followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the traditional site of the grave of St Patrick.
In St Patrick's cathedral, Armagh, Holy Communion will be celebrated in Irish at 10am, and at 11am the Archbishop of Armagh will be the celebrant at the Sung Eucharist at which the preacher will be Dr Donald Watts, an ecumenical canon of the cathedral. At 3pm there will be a guided tour of the cathedral, Archbishop Robinson's Library and the heritage centre at 5 Vicars' Hill.
The Eucharist will be celebrated in Irish in St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, at 9.15am, and at 11.15am the Ven Donald McLean, formerly Archdeacon of Derry, will be the preacher at the Patronal Eucharist which will be attended by the Friendly Brothers of St Patrick. At 5pm on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, Canon Charles Mullen will lead an act of worship with the cathedral choir.
In the Church of St John the Evangelist, Sandymount, there will be a service of Holy Communion at 11am which will include extracts from the O Riada Mass and prayers and hymns in English and Irish.
In Cork, the Bishop of Cork will preach at the civic service in St Fin Barre’s cathedral and afterwards will host a civic reception in the Bishop’s Palace.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the former Dean of Cashel, Dr Philip Knowles, will preach at the installation of the Revd David Hilliard, Rector of Tartaraghan & the Diamond, and the Revd Joyce Moore, an NSM working in the parish of Dundalk, as canons of St Patrick's cathedral, Armagh. Canon Moore will be the first female canon in the cathedral's long history. In Belfast the Bishop of Connor will introduce Canon James Carson as Minister- in-Charge of the parish of St Stephen, St Luke & St Michael.
Next Friday a conference on Remembering, Forgetting and Fulfilling 1916 begins in Christ Church cathedral, Waterford. The Dean of Waterford, the Very Revd Maria Jannson, has assembled a stellar cast of speakers – Prof Charles Townshend on The Complexities of Commemoration, Prof Ronan Fanning on The Political Abuses of 1916, Dermot Meleady on Misremembering History and the Ven Robin Bantry White on Contrasting Voices: Dr Kathleen Lynn and Professor Alison Phillips. The conference will conclude on the following Saturday with a response from the Bishop of Waterford, the Rt Revd Michael Burrows. Registration at christchurchwaterford.com/events/conference-1916