CCEA has produced CrossTalk an innovative CD-ROM aimed to help students produce top quality coursework and examination answers for CCEA GCSE Religious Studies. Exploring the architecture, furnishings, customs and traditions of churches from the five main Christian denominations in Northern Ireland, CrossTalk allows students to view the interiors of church buildings without ever leaving the classroom. It addresses part of CCEA’s GCSE Religious Studies specification: ‘The Christian Church explored through Contrasting Denominations’.
This is a most interesting and informative resource, not least because St Thomas' Church of Ireland Parish Church is one of the five churches, clergy and congregations featured in it! The other four are Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, Windsor Baptist Church, St Brigid's Roman Catholic Parish Church and University Road Methodist Church. Most churchgoers, not just students, would find this CD-ROM well worth investigating.
It enables one to explore the significance of church buildings, architecture and furnishings, and it explores the similarities and differences of these features in the five Christian denominations selected. It contains an impressive blend of virtual reality tours, video clips of church services, excellent colour photographs and informative text.
Our Rector, Canon Lewis, along with the clergy from the other Churches, contributed to the information given and is seen in some of the short videos. Various members of the congregation are also shown and there are some very clear photographs of the interior of St Thomas' Church. The comparisons with the other Churches are fascinating.
Canon Lewis is shown below collecting his copy of the CD-ROM at the launch in March 2004, along with the CCEA Chief Executive, Gavin Boyd, and CrossTalk author Juliana Gilbride. (Photo courtesy of CCEA)
Parishioners who would like to borrow the CD-ROM are asked to contact the
Click here for the CCEA website