Benedictine Monks Holy Cross Monastery 119 Kilbroney Road Rostrevor Co. Down BT34 3BN Northern Ireland Tel: 028 4173 9979 Fax: 028 4173 9978
[email protected] www.benedictinemonks.co.uk Transfiguration 2012 (Letter n°39) “The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.” (Ps 96:6) At the beginning of the year 2012, the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Alan Harper, appointed Fr Mark-Ephrem as an ecumenical canon of the chapter of Armagh cathedral for a period of five years. On Sunday 22 April, all the members of our community attended Evensong, in the course of which Fr Mark-Ephrem was installed by the dean of the cathedral, Rev Gregory Dunstan. The new canon is able to participate in meetings of the chapter, but is unable to vote. Fr Mark-Ephrem may, however, attend any of the Services and will be regularly invited to preach during the course of the year. On Thursday 17 May, Fr Mark-Ephrem inaugurated his canonry by celebrating Ascension Day in Armagh (which occurs on the following Sunday in the Irish Catholic calendar). This year in Ireland, we are embarking upon a 10-year period marked by several important anniversaries in the country’s history and in relations between Catholics and Protestants: in 1912, several thousand Protestants from the North of Ireland signed a solemn undertaking that the North of Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom; in 1916, there was a nationalist rising in Dublin; in 1919, the first nationalist parliament was elected in Ireland; between 1920 and 1922, there occurred the setting up of Northern Ireland, the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty, the war of independence, and the establishment of the State of Ireland, followed by civil war.