Dear Friends,

It’s hard to believe that we stand at the cusp of another new year. As a new year dawns we are conscious of the benefits of looking back with thanksgiving, taking stock of where we are and looking to the future with
anticipation.

As this magazine goes to print, we are preparing to say farewell to our curate, Andy, after three and a half years of very fruitful ministry among us.
Andy has endeared himself to people of every generation and has been an outstanding colleague. He has supported people through the best and the
worst of times with wonderful pastoral care. He has been courageous and imaginative in mobilising outreach ventures like welcoming a family fleeing the war in Ukraine, training teams to go into a local school to help
with literacy and numeracy and recent events like our guest service in September. He also assisted at the Christmas film outreach where we welcomed people from the community to watch a movie and share
something of the true meaning of Christmas. Andy has brought reverence and dignity to leading worship and prepared thoroughly for preaching and
teaching. He also initiated the Hedge project with the help of
his wife Jackie and this offered a great connection point for people from the home educated community. He has wonderful gifts which will enrich his new congregations greatly in Clonallon and Warrenpoint and Rostrevor.

We hope to bring some cars to his service of introduction on January 6th in
Kilbroney and, if you would like to come, please sign the list at the back of the church. Our loss is definitely Clonallon and Warrenpoint with Rostrevor’s gain and we assure Andy, Jackie, Maddie and Emmy of our best wishes and prayers as they enter a new season. We will always be grateful for all they brought to this place.

Can we ask people to let the office or the Rector know if anyone from their family or household is in hospital? Under new data protection laws, hospital chaplains are no longer allowed to inform us as once they did. This can mean people are in hospital at times for weeks without anyone being aware they are there. We recognise that being in hospital and going through illness are very difficult experiences and it has always been a priority for us to visit and pray with parishioners and their families at such times, so please keep us informed if a visit would be helpful. We are always glad to visit in people’s homes and nursing homes, so if there is any reason you want someone to call with you, please let us know.

We have been encouraged by the response to our Mind Matters project around the topic of mental health. Please see the article in this month’s
magazine about the event at the end of January which will offer people the opportunity to gather information and hear from a variety of organisations
about the services they,provide. It might be a great event to invite friends or
neighbours to come along to as so many people are finding life tough in these days.

Can I say a huge thank you to the very generous responses to our Bishops’ Appeal collection for the situation in the Middle East and the Christmas appeal for Christians Against Poverty. We look forward to James Myles from CAP coming to share about that very important work on 19th January at our morning service.

You will also find in this month’s magazine a new feature as parishioners share their personal memories of the parish over the years. We are trying to both capture and trigger important memories of life in the parish between
involvement in organisations and activities and memorable parish events.

Thank you to Mrs Jean Wallace for her beautiful article this month and maybe it might inspire you to put some of those memories down and send them to the parish office at stfinnians100years@outlook.com. If you don’t do email, we can organise someone to come and help you capture those special memories.

Can I also say thank you to everyone for all the work behind the scenes to make Christmas such a special season for us all. Thank you especially to those who can no longer come in person but pray constantly and tune in online.

There is a huge amount of extra administration in the office. The technology
team have a lot of extra services to prepare. Thank you to the choir and band at our Connect service. Thank you to the Glebe wardens who dealt
with storm damage after Storm Darragh. Thank you to our Churchwardens, Julie and Rosemary. Thank you to the many involved in catering for events like Andy’s farewell to funeral teas and the weekly refreshments we enjoy after services. The flowers were beautiful, the Christmas tree was wonderful, as were the Advent wreath and the candles for Christmas services.

As at every time of year there are so many hidden volunteers offering wonderful activities for our community and when people are so busy it makes such a difference. We greatly appreciate all that you do.

May I take this opportunity to wish you and your household a happy and healthy 2025.

With very best wishes

Jonathan Pierce (Rector)

Telephone 02890 793822