St Patrick’s Cathedral Grammar School ~ Dublin 8 ~ Principal: Ms Sylvia Hick, B.A., M.Sc., H.Dip.Ed. OPEN DAY Friday 17th December 2010 9.30-11.30am. ® Co-educational voluntary secondary day school. ® Small caring environment. Approximately 140 students in total. ® Broad academic curriculum. 13 subjects to Leaving Certificate including Music, Art, Business, Home Economics and all three Sciences. ® Small classes, especially at Leaving Certificate level. ® Very full Transition Year Programme. ® Career Guidance and Pastoral Support throughout the school. ® Strong musical tradition and ethos. ® Girls may audition for Cathedral Girl’s Choir. ® A wide range of extra-curricular activities. ® Modest fees, currently €3,200p.a. ® SEC Grant School. For further information visit our website at: www.stpatrickscgs.ie , or Contact the school office: Telephone: 01-4543388. Fax: 01-4549632. Email: [email protected] ChurCh of Ireland unIted dIoCeses CHURCH REVIEW of dublIn and GlendalouGh ISSN 0790-0384 The Most Reverend John R W Neill, M.A., L.L.D. Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough, Church Review is published monthly and Primate of Ireland and Metropolitan. usually available by the first Sunday. Please order your copy from your Parish by annual sub scription. €40 for 2010 AD. POSTAL SUBSCRIIPTIIONS//CIIRCULATIION Archbishop’s Lette r Copies by post are available from: Charlotte O’Brien, ‘Mountview’, The Paddock, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow. E: [email protected] DECEMBER 2010 T: 086 026 5522. The cost is the subscription and CHRISTMAS can be and is for some people the most special time appropriate postage. of the whole year. The cynic might suggest that this is because they have plenty of material things to enjoy. But in many cases this is COPY DEADLIINE simply not the case. It is special for people because it is a time for All editorial material MUST be with the family, a time to show appreciation, and above all a time to rejoice in Editor by 15th of the preceeding month, God’s greatest gift to the world, God’s Son, Jesus. no matter what day of the week. Material But Christmas is tough for many too. It is crowded with memories of those should be sent by Email or Word attachment. no longer with us around the family table, and perhaps there is no longer a family table around which to gather. It is tough too for those who feel unable VIIEWS EXPRESSED to share in giving gifts because of unemployment or poverty. But none of this makes Christmas irrelevant. Views expressed in the Church Review are The Gospels of both Matthew and Luke portray real life in a vivid way as the those of the contributor and are not Christmas story unfolds. The crisis facing Joseph and Mary as they were planning to necessarily those of the Editor or Church Review Committee. marry, the political tensions, the overcrowding and then a slaughter of innocent children – these are but some of the features of the opening of the Gospel accounts. EDIITOR But alongside them is set the tidings to the shepherds, the wonder of the magi who come to worship, and the joy of the young parents as the infant is born. The Revd. Nigel Waugh, Christmas is special not because of extravagance, nor even because of the The Rectory, Delgany, Greystones, Co. Wicklow. worth of simplicity – it is special because it tells us of God who wants to be T: 01-287 4515. right there for us in the most joyful and in the most painful situations – the God T: 086 1028888. and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who reached out to us that first Christmas E: [email protected] and still reaches out in that same love and compassion. I am writing this letter six weeks before Christmas – and I have noticed that for EDIITORIIAL ASSIISTANT the first time for many years there is less sign of an early Christmas season than we have seen for many years. This is no bad thing, as these early beginnings to Noeleen Hogan Christmas obscure any sense of Advent and setting our whole celebration in the context of the eternal. However I am certain that the real reason for the apparent ADVERTIISIING delay is that amidst economic gloom with that Budget just around the corner, many people can hardly look forward to Christmas. This Advertising details and prices are available need not be the whole story. by emailing [email protected] or by phoning Charlotte O’Brien on 086 026 The Good News at the heart of Christmas is there 5522. Copy should be sent to for us in time of prosperity and times of want but this [email protected] or by post to year we will have to look that bit more intently and Charlotte O’Brien, ‘Mountview’, seriously, and indeed prayerfully, if we are going to The Paddock, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow by make Christmas special. My wife and I take this 15th of the month. opportunity of wishing you all a very special Christmas – full of the Good News of God’s love. CHIIEF REPORTER Orla Ryan. M: 087-2356472. E: [email protected] † John Dublin & Glendalough: Single copies are available from: • The National Bible Society of Ireland, Dawson Street. • The Resource Centre, Holy Trinity Church, Rathmines. COVER STORY: Michael Murphy, author and broadcaster with rte, pictured with avril Gillatt, area Vice PRIINTIING President, Mothers' union, at the Irish Cancer society ecumenical service in Christ Church Review is Printed in Ireland by Church Cathedral. Michael and avril both DCG Publications Ireland grew up in Castlebar. avril also worked T: 048-90551811. F: 048-90551812. with the Irish Cancer society for 25 years. CHurCH rEviEw 3 E: [email protected] seeInG the leGaCy of VenICe, wIthout GettInG your feet wet Patrick Comerford Venice is one of the world’s most beautiful cities. It should be seen with a loved one, and it should be seen before it disappears completely into the surrounding waters. reports say Venice is sinking slowly, while the waters of the canals, the lido and the sea are rising. With water levels rising, flooding is contributing to the sinking of Venice. During the the fortezza in réthymnon is the most high tides in autumn and winter, the Piazza San imposing Venetian structure in Crete. Marco and the lowest areas of the islands that the remains of the Venetian bastion on make up the city are totally flooded, the streets the shoreline in Iráklion... the city was are blocked with water, and makeshift wooden fortified by the Venetian with walls, walkways are set up for the safety of nimble gates, arsenal, bastion, and fortress. pedestrians. The high water level has now reached what city officials see as a critical point. Venice has always been sinking, slowly – over the last 1,000 years it has sunk an average 7 cm each century. But recent reports suggest that in the last century alone the city has lowered by about 24 cm, so that the level it is sinking to is now critical. To stop Venice sinking, the city is debating investing in huge steel gates to block the floods. The cost may be as much as €2-€4 billion. But will this be enough to stop Venice sinking? For years, Venice has been one of my own favourite cities. But during the summer in Greece saint Mark’s basilica, the former this year I was reminded that the glory of Venice Venetian cathedral in Iráklion, is now is not confined to one city, and that it is possible used for art exhibitions. to see Venice without getting your feet wet by visiting three charming cities in Crete – Iráklion, Réthymnon and Aghios Nikóloas. a jewel in the crown During the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the the loggia in Iráklion has been Crusaders turned against the Byzantine Empire, painstakingly restored after wars and to satisfy the ambitions of the Venetians and earthquakes. sacked and burned the New Rome, Constantinople. For a nominal sum, the leader of the Crusade, Prince Boniface of Montferrat, ceded Crete to Venice. To the Venetians, Crete was known as the Morosini fountain, once the Candia, and for four or five centuries – despite main water source in Iráklion stands initial resistance from the rival Genoese – the in the former Piazza san Marco. island was the jewel in the crown of the Doges of Venice, offering them control of the trade five centuries the Venetian presence on Crete the old Venetian harbour in routes in the Eastern Mediterranean, along with was more resilient and lasted longer than the réthymnon, below the fortezza, is wealthy agricultural lands, supplies of timber for Minoan Golden Age and the Palace of Knossós. now lined with restaurants, cafés and shipbuilding and other rich resources. the Candy of ‘twelfth night’ tavernas. Within a century, many of the descendants of This summer, I was staying within commuting the Venetian settlers had intermarried and distance of the island capital, Iráklion, known for the secrets of réthymnon Iráklion is the political and economic capital of integrated with local Greek-speaking families. generations to the Venetians as Candia, and to After the fall of Constantinople to the Crete, but Réthymnon is the intellectual and Shakespeare as Candy while he was writing cultural capital. One of my favourite journeys is Ottoman Turks in 1453, Crete was culturally Twelfth Night. enriched anew with the fresh arrival of a stream the 85 km road from Iráklion, arriving in Most tourists visit Iráklion as a stop-off point of refugees. Réthymnon as the summer or autumn sun is Byzantine culture and Venetian finesse on their way to the Minoan ruins and the setting behind the Venetian fortezza and is filling combined in Crete in a creative outpouring Labyrinth at Knossós, or passing through on the landscape with hues of red, orange and purple, over the subsequent two centuries in their way to the popular package holiday resorts reminiscent of Edward Lear’s watercolours.