Dear Friends, Many of us associate the month of November with remembering. We usually remember those who have died in the past year who were connected with the parish at a special service. We remember on anotherSunday those who made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives in times of war and strife. I know that […]

Dear Friends, As we enter the season of Autumn in these strange times, one of the things we find most challenging in the church is how difficult it is to plan things.I like to have a plan and to order events as far as possible and in these times this has proved to be a […]

Dear Friends, One of the things I think we are all struggling with a little in the present time is uncertainty. With the changing guidelines and the ever-present threat of a second spike of coronavirus, we find it hard to make concrete plans for holidays or projects. It is even a challenge to do routine […]

Dear Friends, It is hard to believe this is our fourth magazine since lockdown began. I think we are now entering week 14 at the time of writing this. I hope everyone is keeping well and positive in these challenging days. A friend of mine who is a young widow described lockdown very powerfully in […]

Dear Friends, I hope that, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you continue to be safe during the current pandemic. There are many difficult aspects to being in lockdown. We miss our family and friends. We miss the regular activities we take part in, not least attending church, if that has been our […]

Dear Friends,We hope you are well as lockdown continues and we recognise what a difficult and challenging season this is for many people. It’s hard to be cut off from regular physical contact with family and friends. It’s hard to see so many businesses and schools closed and everyone taken from the important routines we […]

Dear Friends, As I write this letter it’s the morning of St. Patrick’s Day. Usually at this time I would be part of the Diocesan pilgrimage from Saul to Down Cathedral stopping at various points along the road to pray for schools and businesses, for peace in our land and different situations affecting our world. […]

Dear Friends, At a recent meeting of our Area Deanery which is the cluster of parishes in this area, our inspirational speaker was Richard Ryan, the proprietor of The Book Well, a Christian book shop located on the Belmont Road. It’s a shop I love to do business in as Richard and his small team […]

Dear Friends, It struck me recently that a lot of people who have had quite an influence on my life have died in the past 6 months. My two immediate predecessors as Rector of St. Finnian’s have died in this period. Canon Noel Battye and Bishop Jim Mehaffey built on the foundations laid by Canon […]

Dear Friends, Reflecting back on the past couple of months of church life I made a rather shocking discovery today. As someone who has tried to keep reasonably fit all of my life and who has been blessed with good health for almost half a century, I discovered that during the past couple of months […]