St. Peter's Choir did Choral Matins for BBC Radio Ulster this Sunday. If you are interested in such things, you can listen again on the BBC Website until Saturday evening.

If you listen carefully, you can hear me singing the very low D at the end of some of the responses pretty much on my own. Which I'm sure will be a great thrill for you all...

Alan Harper, Bishop of Connor, has been elected Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

A sensible liberal to moderate type who is good at building bridges and the nearest you get to a genuine liberal on homosexuality in the Northern C of I, barring a particularly silly statement on the Sexual Orientation Regulations just before Christmas. Genuinely nice guy too, Alan. I'm glad his Englishness didn't count against him.

We praise Thee, O God:
we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee:
the Father everlasting.

To Thee all Angels cry aloud:
the heavens and all the powers therein.
To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin:
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy:
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full
of the Majesty: of Thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles: praise Thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise Thee.
The noble army of Martyrs: praise Thee.

The holy Church throughout all the
world: doth acknowledge Thee;
The Father: of an infinite majesty;
Thine honourable, true: and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.

Good news: The House of Lords challenge by that cretin Maurice Morrow and his pals in the DUP to the Northern Ireland Sexual Orientation Regulations fails dismally. Hee hee hee. 3-1! 3-1! For probably the first time in history, Northern Ireland leads the way on gay rights issues, and as Jeffrey Dudgeon said on Sunday Sequence on New Year's Eve, we have now basically acheived the complete legal emancipation of gay people. The last little thing is to change the phrase "civil partnership" to "marriage" and that really is it, at least in the formal, legal, sphere.

Bad news: accordingto the Irish Times (hat tip, as so often to Slugger O'Toole), John Neill is not interested in becoming Archbishop of Armagh. Fanta Clarke is apparently the front runner, with his wide experience on both sides of the border. While Fanta isn't as bad on gay issues as Harold Miller, he's still pretty bad. There's lots of silent prayers here for my own home Bishop, Alan Harper (allegedly too English) and for Richard Clarke (too Southern). We'll see in less than four hours.