News
Survey
A former member of Saint Bartholomew's Choir is involved in a survey to gather information from those aged between 12 and 14 years old. This survey is completely anonymous. If you know anyone who can help, please direct them to this link.
Upcoming Concert
Tickets are now available for a joint concert between Anúna and Saint Bartholomew's Choir. Please note that there is no booking fee.
Wednesday 6th February 2013
Garden of Remembrance
Around this time last year we completed our Garden of Remembrance which was blessed by Archbishop Jackson on the Eve of All Souls. However, one thing had not been completed and through the kindness and generosity of Don and Ann Cazzini we were able to recently errect our stone cross as the centrepiece of the garden. It serves as a beautiful focal point to complete the garden. We thank Don and Ann for their donation of the cross for the Garden of Remembrance.
Sunday 16 December 2012
Bishop Gillies
It was a pleasure to have Bishop Gillies from Aberdeen and Orkney with us on the Third Sunday of Advent as a guest preacher. Bishop Gillies was attending the enthronement of Bishop Clarke in Armagh and very kindly journeyed down to be with us in Saint Bartholomew's Church the day after and brought greetings from our sister celtic churches in Scotland. The Bishop spoke of the theme of the coming judgement in the season of Advent and the importance of seeing it in, not only in negative terms, but also as a positive measure of the upholding of justice and of our freedom in Christ.
Sunday 16 December 2012
Parking
Saint Bartholomew's Church has a number of car parking spaces available to rent, conveniently located for the Baggot St. / Leeson St. area. Parking is available from Monday to Friday, from 7:00am to 7:00pm, and the rental is €100 per month. If you are interested, please get in touch.
Sunday 2 December 2012
Christmas Concert
Tickets for our Christmas Concert are now on sale here.
Friday 30 November 2012
BartsFest - 25 August 2012
Many thanks to all those who helped out at the recent Bartsfest event and to those who came to support the event. It was a fantastic success; an event that pulled us all together as a church community and attracted many new people in the area to come and meet us and enjoy a day with us. We were able to showcase our church, meet and greet new people and develop the friendships we have among church members and form new ones.Everyone pulled together to make it a brilliant day - an event well worth doing and one that we can build on in future years to make it an even greater success. Thank you again to everyone who helped in many and various ways. Without your help it would not have been possible and we really appreciate all the time and energy you gave.
- Fr Andrew
Monday 3 September 2012
Corpus Christi
It was a great pleasure to be able to enjoy the feast of Corpus Christi with the Community of Saint John the Evangelist who were marking their centenary at the same time. We were also able to join with members of the congregation from Saint John's Church in Sandymount and it was good to have Fr Paul Barlow with us as guest preacher for the evening. Despite the horrible weather, we still managed to have a BBQ in the porch! Thank you to all who helped to make the arrangements and for all who brought food and refreshments.
- Fr Andrew
Picture (left to right) Ciara Bevan, Fr Paul Barlow, Sr Verity Anne, Fr Andrew McCroskery and Anne Budd.
Monday 18 June 2012
Evensong
There will be no Evensong in Saint Bartholomew's on Sundays during July and August
Friday 15 June 2012
Killiskey Visit
The Girls and Gentlemen of the Choir are singing a service of Choral Evensong at Nuns Cross Church, Killiskey, Ashford, Co. Wicklow on Sunday 17th June at 19:30. The music for the service includes the setting of the canticles in B Flat by Charles Villiers Stanford and the anthem " O God, thou art my God" by Henry Purcell.
There will be no service of Evensong in Saint Bartholomew's Church on Sunday 17th June, and members of the congregation are cordially invited to join the congregation at Killiskey Church for the service.
Directions to Nuns Cross Church, from Dublin follow the main N11/M11 road south to Junction 15 signposted Ashford and Glendalough, At roundabout in Ashford Village, take second Exit, signposted Roundwood and Glendalough, follow this road for 1 km, and then turn left onto R763 Glendalough Road, Nuns Cross Church is approx 1.5 kms on the right.
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Reverend Michael Thompson
The Reverend Michael Thompson, former Vicar of this parish, has been appointed as chaplain to Kingston College. Read more.
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Concerts in Holy Week
There are three free concerts taking place in Holy Week. Please come if you can, and spread the word via Facebook for Christus, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross.
The Gaudete Singers directed by David Leigh - Saturday 31st March 2012 - 8pm
Come and hear a fanfare of sacred music that spans three centuries, featuring double and triple choral works with a choir of woodwind and brass. From the 16th-century antiphonal polyphony of Gabrieli and Schütz, through Bruckner’s free contrapuntal style from the 19th-century, to Stravinsky’s 20th-century “uncommissioned act of piety”.
This is a rare opportunity to hear the Stravinsky Mass in the wonderful setting of Saint Bartholomew’s Church. This setting will do justice to the juxtaposition of the several choirs of voices and instruments – a musical treat for lovers of great choral music.
Tickets €18 conc. €12 including refreshment afterwards available from
Central Ticket Bureau, 33 Eden Quay, Dublin 1 Tel: 0818 205205 www.ctb.ie
Claire McIlraith
Monday 27 February 2012
A Summary of our Easter Services
**Our Calendar with details of Music for Individual Services will be updated shortly**
Maundy Thursday: Thursday 5 April - Solemn Eucharist - 8pm
Good Friday: Friday 6 April - Matins ( Sung by the Men) - 12 noon
Good Friday: Friday 6 April – Liturgy of the Passion – 1.30pm
Easter Vigil: Saturday 7 April - Solemn Eucharist – 8pm
Easter Day: Sunday 8 April - Solemn Eucharist - 11am
*** Please note there are no Evensong Services on 1 April or 8 April
Claire McIlraith
Wednesday 15 February 2012
A Lenten Course
A lenten course examining different approaches to the Eucharist to tie in with this year of the Eucharistic Congress, will take place in Saint Bartholomew's church parish room on 6th,13th,20th and 27th March at 8pm, followed by some refreshments. Please do come along and support this event
Claire McIlraith
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Volunteering in India
Life and work as a volunteer
I visited India as a volunteer in 2010 and 2011, and am returning again this year. I work with IDEX (http://www.idex.in/), a charitable organisation based in Jaipur which runs volunteer camps in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Goa. Their priority is education and social development of communities in deprived areas, and on both occasions I spent 8 weeks teaching English and Maths to children in primary school, and English to slightly older children. In 2010 I was at a volunteer camp in the Thar desert, and taught in the one-room, one teacher school of a tiny village where most of the men were carpenters. In the absence of volunteers the teacher, a dedicated man and an extremely good teacher, taught the 40 or so children ranging in age from 4 to 11 by himself. Last year I was in an agricultural area, but Rajasthan is arid so that irrigation has to be supplied by pumping water up from the water table. Many people in the villages remain very poor. The school I taught in was bigger and catered for children up to 14 or 15 years old but it only had 6 teachers (including the headmaster) for 8 classes, and they could not devote as much time as they would have liked to the younger children. Three of us divided the 30 children in class 3 (7 to 8 year olds) between us, and taught them in different corners of their classroom. In both placements the teachers were very supportive and expressed their gratitude for our help. In last year’s school they tested the children we had been teaching and told us that they could see an improvement in both their English and Maths. This was encouraging as volunteers often feel that they are accomplishing very little in the short time they are there. However the organisation that sends me out (EIL, http://www.eilireland.org/, a non-profit making group in Cork) reminds us that each of us is just one in a large group of volunteers going out from year to year, which can make a difference in the long term.
IDEX volunteers live in a camp in similar buildings to the local community. In rural Rajasthan these are thatched mud brick huts. However each hut has a bathroom with western style toilet, and ’showers’ can be taken every day by collecting hot water in a bucket and pouring it over oneself with a jug. Meals are provided by a cook and kitchen staff, there is a camp manager and a driver for the minibus which delivers volunteers to their place of work every day. There is a staff of Indian ’executives’ who help with lesson preparation, accompany volunteers to work and act as interpreters when necessary. These are young men and women, mostly from Rajasthan, who feel it is important to work to improve the lives of the poorer sections of the community. Two of the executives I met last year have left to set up and run orphanages.
Work starts every weekday morning with lesson preparation after breakfast, and then teaching until lunch time. After lunch I taught English, to a group of girls in the local village in 2010, and to a mixed group at another government school last year. Often I would do more lesson preparation after arriving back in camp, and spent some time every evening writing up my diary and sending emails home. At the weekends it was possible to visit interesting towns in the state independently, and IDEX arranged one weekend excursion which included a camel safari. Food was mainly vegetarian, and fairly basic, but I enjoyed it and found it a healthy diet.
This year I am going out for 12 weeks, first for four weeks of Hindi lessons in Jaipur (arranged by IDEX) and then for 8 weeks at their volunteer camp in the tea growing hills of Himachal Pradesh. I had taught myself some Hindi before going out the first time, and want to improve through lessons with a native speaker so as to be able to communicate better with the children that I teach, and their parents. I do not yet know what work I will be involved in in Himachal Pradesh. IDEX support an orphanage there as well as local schools and day care centres.
Why are volunteers needed?
According to the 2011 census the population of India is 1.2 billion, with 69% living in rural areas as opposed to 31% in urban areas. In 2010 the World Bank estimated that 41.6% of India’s population lives below $1.25 per day and 75.6% live below $2 per day. In rural areas in particular people live a very traditional lifestyle based on the extended family and caste. There are positive aspects to this way of life - the family provides companionship and support and employment in the family business whether it is agricultural or a trade. Trades and crafts are passed on from father to son and in many cases this is the only way they can be learnt. However there are downsides: the caste system restricts all aspects of life including how one may earn a living and who one may marry. Even now in rural Rajasthan many girls are married at 14 or 15 and thereafter become ’housewives’ in their husband's family home. This makes local communities feel that girls do not need to attend school, certainly not beyond the age of about 10. Child marriages (of young children of maybe 8 years old) also still occur. The Indian government has made the legal minimum age for marriage18 for girls and 21 for boys. It provides free, supposedly compulsory, education for all children. It has attempted to abolish the caste system and make higher education and jobs available to all irrespective of caste. However it is very difficult to enforce these laws, and corruption is rife. Caste is so embedded in the rural way of life that it is still a force to be reckoned with. One of the more extreme problems is honour killings, not only of young people who try to marry outside caste but also of couples who are too close in subcaste. (The marriage rules in the caste system prevent marriage between siblings or cousins). Widows must traditionally never marry again, must wear plain white clothing and discard their jewellery. As recently as 1987 the government passed yet another act making sati (the immolation of a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre) illegal. Another big problem is the infanticide of girl children. Girls have to be provided with an expensive dowry, and leave home at an early age to live with (and work for) their husband’s family. The number of girls per 100 boys in the 0-15 year old age group is about 89, compared with around 94 in Ireland and the UK. Although in India it is illegal to perform foetal tests to determine sex, people with enough money can pay for illegal tests and abortions.
These problems can only be solved through educating the community. Academic education can prepare children for job opportunities outside their traditional family occupations, but they need the support of their community as well. As children from rural areas are educated they will hopefully realise the importance of education when they come to have children of their own, even if they themselves are still living a traditional lifestyle. Education must show them that there are other lifestyles which are not necessarily threatening, and help them to change their society for the better from within. There are many good things about rural India, not least the happiness, kindness and hospitality that so impresses those of us who work there. These can be lost with the traditional way of life when people move to urban environments. I believe the children we teach benefit from meeting people of a different colour and culture. It is important to build up a relationship with them and show them that we respect and admire the good things in their culture. Perhaps broadening their outlook is even more important than the academic teaching volunteers provide.
Why I am asking for sponsorship ?
IDEX is not supported by the Indian government, and charges volunteers over €1000 per month for providing board and lodging and some transport. I shall pay them over €3500 for the 12 weeks. But the cost of living in India is very cheap, so I would guess that about half that amount goes to help keep the camps running. I am hoping for sponsorship to help cover that part of my fee. The camp I was in in 2010 was damaged by heavy rain that autumn, and all the thatch was ruined. Minibuses have to use very bad roads and need maintenance. The camp staff must be paid (though their wages are quite low) and computer systems must be maintained. IDEX also provides paper and pencils, and photocopies worksheets for use in the schools and day care centres. In Jaipur they have provided sewing machines for teaching women from the slums there to tailor. There is one camp in Jaisalmer which is fully financed by the British government, who provide the volunteers to work there as well. Running the other volunteer camps is funded by the fees charged to volunteers.
EIL do not recommend giving money directly to the organisation or to any of the schools. I take some teaching material with me, such as books and flash cards, and have purchased other material there - when I get to a town! Any money I receive in sponsorship will be paid to IDEX as part of the fee, or used to purchase additional books, games and other material for teaching. I shall also be selling some Indian souvenirs and the proceeds will go into my sponsorship fund.
Sara McMurry
Tuesday 7th February 2012
Ash Wednesday - 8pm Wednesday 22 February 2012
Our Ash Wednesday service takes place on Wednesday 22nd February at 8pm in Saint Bartholomew's. Ashes to mark the beginning of lent will also be made available during the said services in Christ Church Leeson Park at 10am and in Saint Bartholomew's Church at 12.45. If you have palm crosses from last year please return them to the Vicar as soon as possible for burning in time for Ash Wednesday.
Claire McIlraith
Monday 6th February 2012