Book of condolence for army medic’s family; Limerick team visits Swaziland; Trekking in Cambodia for Marie Curie Cancer Care; Challenge to Cork clergy; Media review – Residents have talks with the Apprentice Boys; Poots decision on adoption a disgrace
Book of condolence for army medic’s family
A book of condolence has opened in St Mary’s Parish Church, Comber (Down & Dromore) the hometown of an Army medic from Northern Ireland who was killed in Afghanistan last week.
Corporal Channing Day, 25, of 3 Medical Regiment and Cpl David O’Connor, 27, of 40 Commando, died in a gun battle on Wednesday.
Cpl Day grew up in Comber, County Down, and went to school in Newtownards before joining the army in 2005.
The Mayor of Ards, Alderman Hamilton Gregory, said the people of Comber wished to express their sympathies to her family.
“Local people feel an enormous sadness at the terrible loss which the Day family have suffered and wish to show their sympathy and support for the family in a visible way,” he said.
Limerick team visits Swaziland
The Bishop of Limerick, Salters Sterling and Michael Hanna visited Swaziland on behalf of the diocese, along with Linda Chambers and Jan de Bruen of USPG. They were finding out something about life in Swaziland and also visiting the Luyengo Farm project.
Like many visitors to Africa and Swaziland in particular the visiting team were struck by the warmth and welcome offered by the people. Bishop Trevor Williams writes with particular appreciation the friendships which he made during the trip –
“One of the people the team met and were deeply impressed by was the first woman in Africa to be elected as bishop, the (increasinlgy ) Rev’d Ellinah Wamukoya. Rev’d Ellinah will face a considerable challenge as Bishop. The diocese has considerable financial problems, the country is ravaged by HIV/AIDS. She also faces the challenge of patriarchy within Swazi culture. She is not, however, in the least daunted. She has experience as what might well be seen as the equivalent of a City or County Manager in Ireland and sees no conflict in bringing good business and organisational practice to the life of the Church.
“The team also met with Fr. Gregory Makhubu Parish Priest of Holy Trinity Anglican church Nhlangano, (pronounced “Clangano”). Nhlangano is a typical small Swazi town close to the border with South Africa and the parish is about 40km outside the town. Here the challenge is schooling and feeding the many children who have been left orphaned by AIDS. When the team visited one feeding station had just run out of food and the children were being fed by the parishioners out of their own slender resources the other had been without food for two weeks. It is the sort of experience which puts the recession in Ireland into stark perspective. Fr. Gregory has an ambition: to retire to a caravan in his parish and continue to look after these children.
“The team met with Tiekie de Beer, a South African, and Robert Atwell, a Dubliner, who are developing the Luyengo Farm as a vegetable production unit to support the outreach work of the church. They have 14 acres under production and employ local labour. So far have been able to sell their produce, cabbage, beans, tomatoes, broccoli, corn-on-the-cob, cauliflower into local markets, largely by their own efforts. They need our help to leverage the investment to do more. During the visit the team were able to facilitated meetings with the University of Swaziland’s faculty of agriculture situated close by and were impressed by the possibilities of the project.”
Trekking in Cambodia for Marie Curie Cancer Care
Earlier this month two members of staff at Church of Ireland House in Belfast waded through waterlogged paddy fields, battled wild foliage and hiked a mountaintop plateau to finish Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Trek Cambodia.
Sylvia Lockhart and Safeguarding Trust Officer Margaret Yarr were part of a six–strong team which undertook the challenge as a tribute to Sylvia’s late mother Esther.
Joining them on Team Esther were Margaret’s son Nathan and daughter Leah, Sylvia’s sister Aileen, and friend Irene Murphy. The six were part of a group of 34 trekkers from Northern Ireland to undertake the trek in October. The team raised an amazing £19,505 through activities including a sponsored abseil, coffee mornings, street collections, car boot sales, clothes recycling and sponsorship. That was the hard bit, but if they thought the challenge was going to get any easier they were wrong!
More at:
http://www.connordiocese.org.uk/news/Trekking-in-Cambodia-for-Marie-Curie-Cancer-Care.cfm
Challenge to Cork clergy
The London-based philosopher, priest and journalist, the Rev. Dr Giles Fraser gave four challenging and tantalising addresses at this year’s Cork, Cloyne and Ross Clergy Conference at Ballylickey. Giles, a columnist with The Guardian, who famously resigned as a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, London at this time last year in the wake of the Church’s response to ‘Occupy London’, opted for a topical subject: finance and economics. His wide-ranging and gripping addresses were on the subjects of Christianity and money, theological reflections on economics and the current crisis, thoughts about Occupy, as well as on the role of the Church in modern society generally.
MEDIA REVIEW
Residents have talks with the Apprentice Boys
BBC – Residents in a nationalist area of north Belfast have held talks with the Apprentice Boys.
The Carrick Hill Concerned Residents Committee talked with members of the Protestant marching order in advance of a parade next month.
There was trouble over the summer over loyalist marches passing a nearby Catholic church on Donegall Street.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20105746
Poots decision on adoption a disgrace
BBC – The leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland, Steven Agnew, has launched a strong attack on Health Minister Edwin Poots.
He said Mr Poots’ decision to challenge a court ruling that unmarried couples and people in civil partnerships should be allowed to adopt, was a disgrace.
The Green leader said the minister was “unfit for office”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20108621