St Columb’s School of Music is holding a Gala Concert in Saint Columb’s Cathedral on Saturday 5th March. The guest performers are MozART Group – a cabaret and comedy string quartet based in Warsaw, Poland. The Group are known for their unique approach to classical music and this will be their first visit to Northern Ireland.
Tickets can be bought online at www.stcolumbsschoolofmusic.com/events or by calling in to the School of Music at 1 Saint Columb’s Court, Londonderry during opening hours (Monday – Thursday, 3.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m.).
A Donegal Church of Ireland parishioner was presented with one of the Royal British Legion Republic of Ireland’s highest honours, on Sunday 20th February, when her fundraising efforts on behalf of the charity – spanning over half a century – were recognised in her local church in Castlefinn.
The Irish Free State Salver – a silver plate which recognises voluntary endeavour – was presented to Pearl Barnett, by the Legion’s President in the Republic, Lt. Col. Ken Martin, during a Service of Holy Communion in St Patrick’s Church, Donaghmore. Several of the organisation’s most senior officeholders in the Republic were also there in person to pay tribute to Mrs Barnett. The service was led by Rev Arthur Burns.
Mrs Barnett has been a stalwart of the Poppy Appeal in Donegal since her early teens. She follows a tradition begun by her parents, ex-Service man Thomas Nesbitt and his wife Lydia, many years ago. “I’m giving my age away,” Pearl laughed, “but I joined them in collecting for the Poppy Appeal before I was 14 – that’s 55 years – ago. My father died in 2010, the year of the bad winter, but my mother said she would keep the fundraising going for him. She was still doing the Appeal up until three years ago. She’s 95 now, so now I’m doing it for her.”
Pearl was overwhelmed by today’s presentation. “I was expecting to meet two men from the Royal British Legion at the Service, but I’d no idea this was going to happen.”
The Poppy Appeal’s organiser in the Republic, Brian Crawford, told the congregation that he was a volunteer and that he relied on the help of hundreds of other volunteers throughout the Republic of Ireland. “One of our best volunteers is your parishioner, Pearl, who has been collecting for the British Legion for years, with her mother Lydia. The two of them have been putting me and others to shame over the years, so we are here to thank Pearl – and Lydia – for all their service to the British Legion.”
The charity’s chairman in the Republic, Major Brian Duffy, presented Pearl with a record of her 55 years of “service and dedication” to the Poppy Appeal. He said the decision to award the Irish Free State Salver to Pearl, this year, was made by the Royal British Legion Republic of Ireland Conference. “Donegal stands head and shoulders among the contributors to our Poppy Appeal,” he told the parishioners, “and thank you all very much for that. Pearl, as the coordinator of our Poppy Appeal in the county, your name is always on our lips at our conference every year. So, thank you so, so much.”
Thirty young people from six different parishes took part in an ‘in-person’ Confirmation Day event at the Acorn Centre (St Peter’s Church) in Londonderry on Saturday. It was the first such get together since the pandemic started two years ago.
The event was organised by the Diocesan Youth Officer, Claire Hinchliff. Claire was assisted by clergy and volunteers from the parishes involved. The programme involved the young people in activities and exercises designed to prepare them for when they make their confirmation over the next few weeks and months.
Bishop Andrew Forster – who’ll be confirming the young people – joined the group for a time. He recalled his own confirmation, over 40 years ago, and shared a reflection with the group based on the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Unusually, for a Diocesan Confirmation Day, the number of boys taking part outnumber girls by almost two to one.
The Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd John McDowell, and the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, have issued the following message of thanks and encouragement to all members of the Church of Ireland following the announcements of the easing of Covid-19 restrictions:
We write with great thankfulness to God and heartfelt gratitude to you, as we on this island begin to adjust to the lifting of public health restrictions on many aspects of our lives. The speed with which this has happened has taken many of us by surprise, and it will no doubt take some time for each of us to adjust, not only our social arrangements, but also our mental outlook in the months ahead.
Of all the seasons of the year Spring comes most gradually; the anticipation we see in snow drops, then in cyclamen and daffodils. Then we notice the greater intensity and variety of birdsong at dawn and the vibrant loveliness of cherry blossom against still grey skies. Finally, there comes the full opening up of leaves on the trees as the annual rebirth of nature arrives in its full form.
This may be how it happens for us in terms of our greater participation in social and parish life, as we feel this renewed sense of optimism grow into the confidence that we are at a new point in our lives at which we can live with Covid-19, without imperilling our health services or putting vulnerable people in harm’s way.
In our genuine sense of relief and perhaps enthusiasm to “get going again,” we need also to remember those for whom the past two years have been much more than an inconvenience or a nuisance. There are families who have lost loved ones in the most chilling of circumstances; all who have worked in the health services and in the care sector, often putting the welfare of others before their own well-being, along with those who have maintained education and other essential services at all levels. People who are utterly exhausted by the experience of worry, loneliness and stress over two long years cannot be left behind. Children and young people who have missed out on experiences which simply will not come round again need to be nurtured and encouraged.
We wish to thank all who have worked so hard in parishes up and down this island, both in maintaining the worship and witness of the Church and in serving their communities, often in partnership with other organisations. We also thank all who have worked and prayed and persevered. We have passed through a uniquely difficult time which has placed great demands on practical discipleship. And it has been for all of us a time when nothing could be taken for granted. Now we are emerging into the light.
Risk assessments will continue to be a feature of parish life, and each of us, clergy and lay people, will need to make many judgements about exactly how and at what pace we move into our greater freedoms. At the same time there is a new sense of hope. There is an appropriateness in making this cautious journey through Lent and into Easter. Not in the sense of forty days of long faces, followed by an exhausted smile. Instead in a spirit of quiet preparation for the fullness of the resurrection light of Easter; God’s final and irrevocable act is that he has not let the world slip from his grasp, but has rescued and redeemed it in his Son.
The death has taken place of Mrs Margaret Ellen (Madge) Martin, wife of the late Rev Canon John Martin, who was a former Rector of the Grouped Parishes of Cumber Upper, Cumber Lower, Learmount, and Banagher. Mrs Martin died peacefully at Brooklands Nursing Home, in Magherafelt, on Wednesday. She is survived by the couple’s son, Murray, and their daughter-in-law Louise, grandchildren Alex and Patrick, Mrs Martin’s sister, Mabel, and her brothers Jimmy and Paul. Mrs Martin’s brother Clive and sister Isobel pre-deceased her.
A funeral service will take place tomorrow, Saturday, at 12 noon in Cumber Upper (Alla) Parish Church, followed by burial in Upper Cumber Cemetery.
Donations if wished to Foyle Hospice, 61 Culmore Road, Londonderry BT48 8JE or Dementia NI, Unit 47 North City Business Park, 2 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast BT15 2GG.
Relatives of the late former Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Dr James Mehaffey, attended a Service in St Columb’s Cathedral, this morning, during which a plaque was dedicated to the late bishop’s memory.
The dedication was performed by one of his successors, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, as the former bishop’s widow, Mrs Thelma Mehaffey, and the couple’s daughter Wendy and son Tim, looked on.
The Service of Choral Matins was led by the Dean of the Cathedral, Very Rev Raymond Stewart, who was assisted by the Parish of Templemore’s Pastoral Assistant, Rev Canon John Merrick.
Among those who provided music for the service was the Philip Mehaffey Memorial Organ Scholar, Lukas Lynch. The scholarship was set up by Bishop and Mrs Mehaffey in memory of their late son.
In his sermon, Bishop Andrew described how appropriate the first reading – Jeremiah 1:4-10 – was for the occasion. In the reading, he said, we saw a man who faced great challenges. God chose Jeremiah to be a prophet and effectively told him his job was going to be a terrible one, a difficult one, faced with opposition and heartache.
Bishop Andrew said the foundations of Bishop Mehaffey’s life and ministry were not far from the prophet Jeremiah. “His ministry was not far from what Jeremiah was called to do: at times to pluck up and tear down things that were wrong; to call out that which was in our society that pulled us apart. And then the other part of Jeremiah’s ministry was to build up and to plant.
“And I can’t help but think, today – and maybe today of all days, in this city – without Jim’s ministry, building up and planting, I truly believe we would be in a much worse place now than we are this day, and for that, every one of us must be thankful to almighty God.
“And for that, in generations to come, many generations to come – just like visitors who’ve come to this Cathedral and heard of Bishop Alexander and Mrs Alexander, have looked at the other plaques and monuments around this cathedral that have heralded the ministry and in fluence of good people – for generations to come, people will hear of the ministry of Jim Mehaffey, a man fully known and fully loved, a man blessed by the presence of God and equipped by his holy spirit, who tore down those attitudes that were wrong, and built us up into a better place, and planted grace into our hearts.
“Whenever I read today’s reading, in one way I couldn’t believe how appropriate it was for someone who built up so much, even physically. You know, today, as you and I drove to the cathedral, you might’ve seen the police presence outside Bishopsgate Hotel, because the Taoiseach is there for the commemoration later on today. The Taoiseach is in the Bishopsgate Hotel that came about because of the Inner City Trust, came about because of people like Jim Mehaffey, who weren’t prepared just to leave this place in rubble and in ruin, but to rebuild – and to rebuild better and to rebuild stronger.
“As we look back into the rubble of division, into the wreckage of pain, Jim’s example to us is to build up: to build up better, to build up stronger, and to look to the future. He was able to do that because, like Jeremiah, Bishop Jim knew that God knew him, that he was fully known, fully loved, that the presence of God walked in him, and that he was equipped by the Spirit.”
Bishop Forster recalled Bishop Mehaffey’s funeral, two years ago this month. “When we gathered in this cathedral, [Bishop Mehaffey’s daughter] Wendy told us that one of the last things her dad said was this – in its simplicity beautiful, but in its profundity incredible – simply this: ‘One helps the other.’ One helps the other. For me, that is the essence of the Kingdom of God. One helps the other.
“In our challenges, great or small, may Jim’s – if I may say it – last sermon to all of us be his living legacy: that one helps the other; and that you and I will go on helping the other, because, like Jeremiah of old, like Bishop James Mehaffey, that we would know that whatever the challenges were, we faced them together, because we were fully known and fully loved; because God journeyed with us; and because we were equipped by his spirit. One helps the other. Jim Mehaffey helped us. May we be people who in thankfulness live out the sermon of his life: to build up and to help the other.”
The music at today’s service was provided by the Gentlemen of the Cathedral Choir and the Cathedral Choristers. The Organist and Master of the Choristers was Dr Derek Collins and the Assistant Organist was Mr Nicky Morton.
The Parish of Drumachose, in Limavady, has a new incumbent. Rev Canon Aonghus Mayes was instituted as Rector of the Parish at a Service in Christ Church, Limavady on Friday 21st January. He succeeds Rev Canon Sam McVeigh who retired in January last year after a 30-year incumbency.
The Service of Institution was led by Rt Rev Andrew Forster, who welcomed Canon Mayes back to the diocese where he had first learned about faith – growing up in All Saints, Clooney, where his late father, Canon John Mayes, had been a hugely popular rector.
The Institution was something of a family affair for the new rector’s kin. His mother, Alison, and sister Victoria, were in the front pew, looking on, while Victoria’s husband, Rev Canon Jonathan Pierce, preached the sermon.
In the address, Canon Pierce recalled serving with Canon Mayes a number of years ago, in East Belfast. “Where I work, in St Finnian’s, Cregagh, people remember Aonghus with great affection, even though he’s left 11 years. What they remember is his attentiveness in visiting when they were going through rough times. They remember his sense of humour and his fun. And while this is undoubtedly an exciting and positive day for this parish, I know that it’s also a sad day for the Parish of Moy, where Aonghus has spent 11 very happy years, and I know that people had been exceptionally kind and supportive to him in his ministry there.”
When a new rector arrived into a new situation, Canon Pierce said, there often seem to be so many things to do from the word go, but he advised Canon Mayes and his parishioners not to be too hasty. “Before rushing into anything, study the scriptures, spend time in God’s holy presence asking that question: what do you want us to do here, Lord, right now? How can we build up this community in faith? How can we serve our local community best? How can we radiate Christ’s love and his hope into some of the dark places and the dark situations that surround us at the present time?
“St Paul speaks about being watchful and thankful in his prayers. And what I think this means is taking stock of where God has already been at work and building on those things. It’s making time and space to see those areas where together – as a community of faith – you can make a really, really important contribution to the life of this town and the surrounding area. All of that takes discernment, it takes prayer and it takes resources, but once the vision is there – and it comes from God – the resources always tend to follow.”
Canon Pierce encouraged the congregation in Drumachose to take to heart three principles St Paul sets before us: the centrality of prayer in all things; the importance of relationships (and particularly how we relate to those outside of church); and the importance of teamwork and supporting each other in ministry.”
Bishop Andrew began the service by telling Canon Mayes that the “necessary modesty” of the congregation’s size – owing to Covid regulations – in no way reflected the warmth and sincerity of the huge welcome he would receive from the parishioners of Drumachose, and the whole community in Limavady and in the Diocese. “We welcome you home, to your home diocese of Derry and Raphoe,” the Bishop said. “You’ve been away too long.”
Speaking after the service, Canon Mayes paid tribute to his “amazing” former parishioners in Moy. “I will never be able to thank [you] for the love, support, prayers and encouragement you have given me throughout my time as your rector.” He also thanked his new parishioners in Drumachose for the warmth of their welcome. “I have to say, it’s not a little daunting the thought of following a much-loved rector of over 30 years, and also added to that the prospect of getting to know the names of some 1,400 new faces or, it’s probably better to say, getting to know the names of fourteen hundred new face masks.” The new rector told them what he would value most were, firstly, their prayers for the parish, its future, and for him; and, secondly, their faithfulness with regard to weekly worship “no matter what, this coming year”.
Bishop Andrew Forster and Bishop Donal McKeown led members of different Christian denominations on Londonderry’s west bank in a prayer walk around the iconic city walls, on Tuesday 18th January, to mark the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The theme for 2022 is ‘We saw his star in the east’. The weather was remarkably benign for the walk, with the rain holding off for its entire duration.
Participants gathered by the car park below St Columb’s Cathedral, where the two bishops led them in a brief prayer. They were then sent on their way – socially distanced and in their own ‘bubbles’ – to walk round the Walls, starting their circuit at the steps beside St Augustine’s Church.
The groups stopped at various points along the route to pray together, using a resource prepared specially for the occasion. They were invited to pray that political leaders and elected representatives would be united in governing in everyone’s interests; to pray for people who had lost their livelihoods in the pandemic; for doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers; for residents and staff in care homes; for those seeking a cure for Covid; for people “enslaved by addiction”; for young people, teachers and all involved in education; for members of the city’s emergency services; and for those in the arts sector, which had experienced much hardship during the pandemic. The groups were also invited to reflect on the city’s shared Columban heritage and to give thanks for the diversity which had enriched the city.
