UCC to host public lecture chaired by Bishop Colton on events of 1916

A PUBLIC lecture on 1916, chaired by Church of Ireland Bishop Paul Colton and featuring Prof Diarmaid Ferriter, will take place in UCC later this month.

The lecture will be held in the Aula Maximus at 7.30pm on Friday January 22nd and will be on the theme 1916: New Perspectives, Old Rows.

Professor Diarmaid Ferriter is Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin, and this will be the first of a series of events planned by the Church of Ireland in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross to mark 2016, the centenary year of events in 1916.

Bishop Paul Colton will chair the event which will be introduced by the President of UCC, Dr Michael Murphy. In addition to Professor Ferriter, other speakers will be Dr John Borgonovo (lecturer in History at UCC) and Professor John A Murphy (Professor Emeritus at UCC).

The programme for the centenary year has been organised jointly by Bishop Colton, and a group at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, led by the Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, including local historian, Dr Alicia St Leger, and the writer Mary Leland.

‘I remember well the commemorations in 1966 when I was a primary school child in St Luke’s National School in Douglas in Cork,’ said Bishop Colton. ‘Now as an adult, I am pleased to publicise the core elements of the Cork, Cloyne and Ross commemorations for the coming year.  Truth be told, as we know, many (probably most) members of the Church of Ireland in 1916 greeted the events of that Easter with dismay.  Equally, I know Church of Ireland families today who can point to their ancestors’ involvement on the Irish side, so to speak, of the Easter Rising and the subsequent journey towards Irish independence.’

He added that many Church of Ireland families have ancestors who were caught up in the other significant events of that year, in the First World War and notably, the Battle of the Somme. ‘Today, of course, there are numerous Irish people who are more recently arrived on these shores and they are not caught up in the question of ‘which side were my people on?’ at all. I hope that our national commemorations of 1916 will take account of this diversity, and will, above all else help us to understand the many complex strands of our Irish history better,’ he added. 

The other events in the Diocesan calendar for the centenary year include a Civic Eucharist in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral on St Patrick’s Day; the Choral Eucharist in the Cathedral on Sunday April 17th, using the liturgical music of Séan Ó Riada, sung by Cór Cúil Aodha, conducted by Peadar Ó Riada. 

 The centenary of the Battle of the Somme, a major event of 1916 affecting many Irish people also, will be commemorated at a special Ecumenical Service on Friday, July 1st.  In the autumn, on Thursday, November 10th, in a former Church of Ireland church – Triskel Christchurch – the final formal event of the programme will be held.  Entitled History Through the Lens of Literature, the keynote speaker will be Professor Gerald Dawe, Professor of English at TCD.

In addition, many parishes will, at some appropriate stage, use the special liturgy to commemorate the Easter Rising provided by the Church of Ireland’s Liturgical Advisory Committee.