The Centre for Celtic Spirituality

Monthly Charity Lunch

This inter-church lunch takes place on the first Wednesday of every month in 9, Vicars’ Hill at 1:00p.m. Soup, bread and cheese, tea and biscuits are served. All proceeds go to the work of Christian Aid.

Each lunch is preceeded by Celtic Prayer at 12:30p.m. in the Cathedral Ladychapel, and all are welcome.

Please note – no lunches during July and August

Dates for Charity lunches in 2012

- Wednesday 4th January

 Wednesday 1st February

- Wednesday 7th March

 - Wednesday 4th April

-Wednesday 2nd May

-Wednesday 6th June

-Wednesday 5th September

-Wednesday 3rd October

- Wednesday 7th November

- Wednesday 5th December

I saw a stranger last night.
I put food in the eating place, drink in the drinking place,
music in the listening place
and in the sacred name of the Triune,
He blessed myself and my house, my cattle and my dear ones.
And the lark said in her song,
Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise.
(ancient rune of hospitality used by the Iona Community).

Monthly Celtic Prayer

Celtic Prayer is a wonderful experience of worship, drawing on ancient and powerful sources of liturgy and connecting us with the rest of creation.

This service takes place on the first Wednesday of every month at 12:30p.m. in the Cathedral Ladychapel. On alternate months there is a Celtic Eucharist i.e. January 2012 – Celtic Prayer, February 2012 – Celtic Eucharist, and so forth. All are welcome.

 

He whom the universe could not contain
is present to us in this bread;
He who redeemed us and called us by name,
now meets us in this cup.
So take this bread and this wine,
in them God comes to us, that we may come to God.

CONCERT, St Patrick’s Cathedral, 26 May 2012 at 7:30pm

See our BLOG for Concert Flyer

St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh

CONCERT
As part of a 10 day Choir Pilgrimage in
Celebration of Celtic Spirituality

Choir of Sacred Heart Church
Shawnee, Kansas, USA

Choirboys, St Patrick’s Cathedral

Director: Anne Daugherty
Organist: Joe McKee

Saturday 26 May 2012 at 7.30 pm

Retiring Collection for the Friends of the
Cancer Centre, Belfast City Hospital.

Day of Reflection and Meditation led by Grace Clunie, 19th May 2012

For PRESS RELEASE and FLYERS, see our blog

World Community for Christian Meditation

(Northern Ireland)

On Saturday 19th May 2012

Rev Grace Clunie will be leading a day of Reflection and Meditation. The subject of the day will be ‘Sacred Living’ named after her recently published book on Celtic Spirituality. Grace is the Director of the Centre for Celtic Spirituality in Armagh.

The day will take place in Edgehill Theological College, Malone Road, Belfast from 10am to 4pm. A light lunch is included in the cost, which is £20.00.

There will also be an introduction to Christian Meditation. Experienced meditators and people new to meditation are most welcome. There is a special welcome for anyone who is living or working here from abroad.

Christian Meditation is practiced by people of most Christian denominations around the world. It is of benefit to very many people who practice it twice daily and in a weekly group. It has been shown to have many benefits: it can help with stress and depression as well as improving blood pressure and the ability to relax and sleep, not to mention the many spiritual benefits. There are over 20 weekly groups around Northern Ireland.

You can book by contacting Philomena McQuillan at : 07824826051`philomenamcquillan1@gmail.com or just come along on the day.

—END—

Notes to the Editor:

Grace will be available for an interview/photo opportunity from 1.30pm-2.00pm at Edgehill College on Saturday 19 May 2012.

Contact: Philomena McQuillan 07824826051

philomenamcquillan@gmail.com

Rev Grace Clunie 02838870667

contact@celtic-spirituality.net

www.wccm.org www.christianmediation.ie

Coming up! 2 June 2012 Annual Conference

SATURDAY 2ND JUNE 2012 – WEAVING A RAINBOW OF PRAYER.

Saturday 2nd June 2012 – A Day Conference

WEAVING A RAINBOW OF PRAYER – THE ART OF CELTIC CHRISTIANITY

With Mary Fleeson from the Lindisfarne Scriptorium.

Mary Fleeson has published beautifully artistic collections of Celtic prayers and writings and will share with us her knowledge and experience of Celtic Artwork.

PROGRAMME

10:00a.m. Registration and tea/coffee in 9, Vicars’ Hill

10:30a.m. Introduction by Mary Fleeson – her work in the Lindisfarne Scriptorium and the Lindisfarne Gospels.

11:oo a.m. to 1:00p.m. Mary will lead an art workshop creating freehand knots, based on the artistic knotwork of the Lindisfarne Gospels.

1:00p.m. to 2:00p.m. Lunch – either bring a packed lunch – tea and coffee are freely available – or go to one of the many local cafes and restaurants nearby.

2:00p.m.  Mary will lead us in a session about how to use the knotwork creatively in prayer and meditation, based on the Lindisfarne Gospels.

3:30p.m. Celtic Prayer in the ladychapel of the old cathedral.

4:00p.m. depart.

To Book: contact@celtic-spirituality.net or Telephone 02838870667

Name:  _________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

EMail:  __________________________________

Cost: £25 for the day including materials – please make cheques payable to ‘The Centre for Celtic Spirituality’.

Sacred Living Book by Centre’s Director

SACRED LIVING: Practical Inspirations from Celtic Spirituality for the contemporary spiritual journey.

Published by Columba Press, Dublin. £5.99

This new book is a very practical introduction to Celtic Spirituality dealing with themes such as  Creation/Ecology, Hospitality, A Way of Living, simplicity, Pilgrimage, death and the afterlife. Each chapter concludes with practical suggestions for personal living and for ways in which communities can put into practice the ideals embodied in Celtic Spirituality. An inspirational read!

Available now from Columba Press, 55A Spruce Avenue, Stillorgan Industrial Park, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. Telephone: +353 1 294 2556 or +353 87 234 0229

OR order online from Amazon.

Report of St. Brigid’s Day event in Armagh Anglican cathedral Wednesday 1st February 2012

The Work of Angels

On Wednesday 1st February 2012 – St. Brigid’s Day – Dr Rachel Moss of Trinity College Dublin came to the cathedral to speak to us about the heritage of The Book of Kells and The Book of Armagh.

The Book of Kells is the most beautiful and the best known example of Celtic Christian art of all time.

These ancient scriptural texts were artistically written on vellum – calf-skin. According to Dr Moss, it took 100 calf skins to make The Book of Armagh -no wonder it became a highly prized relic for its monastic community in Armagh!  Giraldus Cambrensis, who visited Ireland in the 12th Century, was so entralled by the artwork of these early Celtic Christian communities that he wrote of it -

‘You will make out intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so exact and compact, so full of knots and links, with colours so fresh and vivid that you might say that all this was the work of an angel and not of a man.’

In the Book of Kells, said to have been written on Iona, there are inspirational portraits of Christ, the Virgin and of the Evangelists. Cats, mice, hens, foxes and geese run and play through the text, speaking of both the Celtic imagination and their respect for the natural world. There are also the old Celtic spirals, interlace and knotwork that speak of the pre-Christian Celtic world, which probably carried the idea of fertility and the continuity of life. These Celtic Christians allowed their spirituality to be imbued with the beauty of Art. Nowadays we know from Psychology that human beings have a right and left brain perception. The right brain is the artistic, intuitive side and Celtic Christian monasticism placed equal value on academic study, physical work and artwork – unlike the left-brain focused studies of most people preparing for ordination nowadays.

In her wonderful book The Artist’s Way Julia Cameron says that Creativity is the essential nature of God.

This insight into the artwork of The Book of Kells and The Book of Armagh inspired us to express our creative side more often in our spiritual path.

Dr Moss illustrated her talk with beautiful photographs, enlarged on screen, and we were lucky to have available in the cathedral facsimilie copies of both The Book of Kells and The Book of Armagh.

The evening concluded with time for questions and an opportunity for conversations over tea and coffee.