18.09.2020
Culture Night – St John’s Sandymount Launches New Online Exhibition
To mark the 150th anniversary of the disestablishment of the United Church of England and Ireland, St John’s Church in Sandymount is hosting a virtual display ‘Turbulent Years at the Church of St John the Evangelist, Sandymount’ on its website www.sandymount.dublin.anglican.org. The display will be launched at 4pm today (September 18) for Culture Night.
The presentation, which will remain online for a number of weeks, highlights how two of its Vicars, Fr Fletcher Sheridan Le Fanu and Fr Samuel Randal Colquhoun, came into conflict with those in the disestablished Church of Ireland who opposed St John’s High Anglican rituals and ceremonies.
For over 40 years from 1900, St John’s Church was no stranger to controversy. Enduring noisy protests and prolonged litigation by those who opposed the High Church practices of its Vicars, St John’s was rarely out of the newspapers. The ritual and ceremony of incense, bells, elaborate vestments, altar servers and sung liturgy offended those who adhered to the revised rules, regulations and practices introduced following disestablishment 150 years ago.
This virtual presentation relates the story of those 40 turbulent years, when St John’s defended its independence and its right to continue the High Church practices favoured by the Hon Sidney Herbert, who founded St John’s in 1850.
