Safe and Supportive Environments A short time ago, I bumped into a delightful couple called Ian and Alison who were married in St. Finnian’s 44 years ago today by Bishop Mehaffey. They like to drop in if they are passing and, as they were on holiday from London, they stopped in on their anniversary. I was just dropping […]

Spiritual Investment At a time when the cost of living has risen dramatically lots of people are giving serious thought to how best to manage their resources and budget in order to meet these rising prices. There are so many situations where wages are not rising at the same pace and so many people are […]

The challenge of sharing faith One of the things most followers of Jesus find really hard to do is share their faith with those who don’t yet believe. You feel afraid that other people will laugh at you, think you are weird or, perhaps, want to dissociate from you once they discover this aspect of your […]

Crossing the language barrier It felt a little bit like going on a first date as we waited nervously at Dublin airport for our friends to arrive from Ukraine. Although we had never met in person, we had been exchanging messages over some months as we waited for visas to be processed and to get all the […]

The Spirit of Helpfulness Sometimes we have a really good experience as a customer or consumer and it really makes a difference. We want to tell others because we have had such a positive experience. Maybe our problem was solved or a solution suggested and the people involved did all in their power to help […]

Being gracious in victory and prepared with love The final day of the football season brought its fair share of drama in the premier league as clubs competed fiercely to win the title and to avoid relegation to the championship. It was an absorbing day for football fans as goals were scored and pundits and […]

Giving Them Wings The bag got packed on Sunday as Monday was a busy day. A Zoom call took place a week earlier outlining all the expectations and timings and answering all the queries. The bus could be seen in the car park as we approached the school and all around the carpark were excited […]

Safe Spaces My wife really enjoys property programmes and, sometimes, in spite of my attempts to appear disinterested, I am amazed at what people can do with imagination and creativity to transform their homes. As the architects and experts make their way around, they often talk about a room being a delightful space or a […]

Appreciating the beauty in the everyday Yesterday was Bank Holiday Monday and lots of people were out and about. I’m normally off on Mondays so, while many dread the start of the working week, it’s always a day I look forward to. When I was speaking in Church on Sunday evening, I was thinking about […]

Putting yourself out there It’s the time of year when most of us come home to more election literature being put through the letterbox. As Northern Ireland prepares for Assembly elections on 5th May, most of the candidates are getting their information out there in the public domain. Whether it’s the aforementioned leaflets of posters on […]