Diocesan Readers re-commissioned at special service
A special service was held on the ‘Conversion of Saint Paul' (Friday 25th January 2008) to re-commission Diocesan Readers. Diocesan Readers - also known as Lay Readers - are lay people who, following nomination by their rectors, undertake an extensive course of training. After training they are licensed for a period of five years, which enables them to preach and take specific services in their own church as well as at other churches throughout the diocese. The fifty readers who were re-commissioned on the 25th January are now authorised to work in the diocese until the end of 2012.
The service in Down Cathedral was also an opportunity to highlight the important and valuable role Diocesan Readers hold in the Church of Ireland. The preacher at the service was the Revd Mark Harvey, rector of St Mary's, Ballybeen and Diocesan Director of Ordinands, and the Right Revd Harold Miller, Bishop of Down & Dromore, led the service during which he presented the readers with their new licences.
After the service the readers together with their family, friends and supporting clergy, enjoyed refreshments in the nearby St Patrick's Centre.