Public Events in 2005

Saturday December 3 2005: The annual Christmas Sale, in aid of Irish Quaker Faith in Action, took place at Rathfarnham Meeting-house, 62 Crannagh Rd, Rathfarnham, and raised 5,000 euro.

Sunday 27th November 2005: Leinster Quarterly Meeting took place at Edenderry Meeting House.

Meeting for Worship at 11.30 am was followed by Meeting for Church Affairs at 12.15 pm. There were various reports, including news from Newtown School Waterford.

After lunch there was a discussion under the title Spirit-led or consensus-driven? which was led by David Kingston and Janice Johnston.

Are we, as 21st century Quakers, becoming increasingly satisfied with finding consensus on difficult decisions, rather than going a step further and truly waiting for the Spirit to lead?

It is hoped to be able to make available a report of this discussion; the Clerk, Christopher Moriarty, may be contacted at 'cm at iol dot ie'.

Friday 4th November 7.30 pm, at Friends School Lisburn;

A Public Auction was held, to raise funds towards the the new 60-place Residential Conference Centre currently being constructed at Moyallon. All sorts of exciting items were for sale, both ordinary and extraordinary. There were lots of bargains and much laughter, and over £4,400 was raised.

Friday 14 October 2005: at the Meeting House, Pakenham Road, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: An Evening of Reading and Dialogue; Neville Keery read and invited discussion on poetry and travel. This was the first public reading of his new long poem On the Road Again.

Friday 2nd September to Sunday 4th September. Special weekend of commemoration to mark the centenary of Portadown Meeting for Worship, including an afternoon meeting at the Friends Meeting House on Saturday 3rd. This included the launch of a book recording the presence of Friends in the district since 1654: "History of Portadown Meeting" by Arthur G Chapman.

Thursday 23rd June, 7.30 pm, at Quaker House, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. Historical Lecture by ARTHUR CHAPMAN "Friends' School, Lisburn, Co Antrim - the establishment of an archive". (NB The Historical Library was open to visitors from 7.00 pm).

Bloomfield Opening - May 18th, 2005: The official opening of Bloomfield Care Centre took place on Wednesday 18th May. The celebration was performed by the Minister of Health and Children - Mary Harney. The Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting, Rachel Bewley-Bateman represented the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Attendance was by invitation only.

9th April 2005 - In preparation for the new Residential Conference Centre, to be built beside Moyallon Meeting House (see Friends Meetings for Worship page), the first sod was turned by Joan Mail and Bill McDonagh, who were joined by many Friends from Meetings in various parts of Ireland.

This facility will have accommodation for about sixty persons, and will be available to a wide variety of groups as well as Friends. The initiative for this Centre has come from Young Friends, supported by Quakers from all sections of the Yearly Meeting. Building has started, and it is hoped that completion will take place before the end of the year.

Thursday 31st March to Sunday 3rd April 2005. Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

Friday 1st April, 7.30 pm at The High School, Zion Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6. Yearly Meeting Lecture, to which members of the public were welcome, entitled "Faith, Hope and Outcomes". This was delivered by Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a member of the well known Ulster Quaker Bell family, who grew up in Northern Ireland but now lives in Britain. She was for some years Clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, and is a very distinguished astronomer, being President of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dean of Science at the University of Bath, Visiting Professor in Astrophysics in the University of Oxford, and was instrumental in discovering pulsars.

We hope to make the texts available of this and other papers contributed at YM. Here at least is the Epistle:

Yearly Meeting 2005 Epistle:

To Friends everywhere

We send warm greetings from Ireland Yearly Meeting gathered in The High School Dublin from 31st March to 3rd April 2005.

In 2004 we looked back over 350 years of recorded Quaker worship here in Ireland. The celebrations throughout our country have given us a great opportunity for outreach and we have availed of the public interest in our faith and practice that has arisen.

As we looked back over the message of Friends in the past, we used the occasion to examine our present ways and to plan for the future. By a happy coincidence, our jubilee year has seen the removal of our central office from the beautiful old house Swanbrook to Quaker House Dublin, a new building designed specially for our needs. This move has taken place as a result of the re-location of Bloomfield, our hospital for the care of the elderly. We pray that the new complex, overlooking the city of Dublin and commanding a view which extends as far as the Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland, may be a symbol of a great future of good works in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Our Friend S Jocelyn Burnell in the Yearly Meeting Public Lecture has reminded us that our testimonies and, indeed, Yearly Meeting itself should both comfort us and discomfort us. We should feel our beliefs both affirmed and challenged that we live in order to make the Kingdom of God present here and now.

Doreen E Dowd spoke to Ministry and Oversight Session on Reflections on a Homecoming, following her return to Ireland after 12 years living in Africa. She spoke about the huge change in Ireland apparent on her return home: a much richer - and ruder - place. She encouraged us to be more passionate about our faith and use our committees as divine opportunity.

We have been reminded that, while we live in comfort and relative wealth and security, the majority of our fellow human beings do not share our privileges but are faced at best with poverty, at worst with warfare and starvation. We heard that, even as we were meeting, a bomb had exploded near Friends' School Brummana in the Lebanon. We were told of the many problems of African countries and of the difficulties endured by communities living a simple life in rural India.

On considering the second draft of the revision of our book Christian Experience we were reminded that this is a unique and precious document, that involves us all and that it is not easy to come to a meeting of minds on its content. Aware that there is diversity among Irish Quakers and that diversity also occurs in other denominations, we are challenged to be honest in recording the wide spectrum of our witness.

While we concern ourselves with words, we remember that George Fox said 'There is one even Christ Jesus that can speak to thy condition' and we feel that faith and belief come from personal experience of the Lord.

T David Kingston / Clerk

Wednesday 9th March 8pm: Clifden and Connemara Heritage Society,
'Some Quaker Connections and Activites in Connemara'
Venue: Station House Hotel, Clifden at 8pm; speaker Joan Johnson, Waterford.

Friday 4th March 7 pm: Book launch in Munster of David M Butler's "The Quaker Meeting Houses of Ireland" at Garter Lane Arts Centre, O'Connell Street, Waterford. The author was present, and the distinguished Waterford local historian Julian Walton launched the book. As a point of interest, Garter Lane Arts Centre was formerly the Waterford Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).