Visit of Archbishop of Hong Kong; Bishop of London visits Derry Cathedral; Presbyterians spend £6.2m on new projects
Visit of Archbishop of Hong Kong
On Tuesday the Archbishop of Hong Kong, the Most Revd Dr Paul Kwong, accompanied by the Very Revd Matthias Der, the Dean of Hong Kong, and Professor Gareth Jones, the Dean of Ming Hua Theological College will begin an official visit to the Church of Ireland.
This invitation has been extended by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Dublin University Far East Mission (DUFEM). The first port of call will be lunch hosted by the Revd Darren McCalling, Dean of Residence and Chaplain in TCD, followed by a short welcome reception with music by the staff and students of the DIT Conservatory, led by Dr Kerry Houston, in St Patrick’s Deanery hosted by the Dean, the Very Revd Victor Stacey.
On Wednesday Archbishop Kwong will join the Archbishop of Dublin to meet school principals in the See House, before going on to meet the staff and students at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.. In the evening Archbishop Kwong will address the Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synod and on Thursday evening the delegation will attend Evensong at TCD Chapel where the Archbishop Kwong will preach.
On Friday the delegation heads to Northern Ireland to be greeted in the morning by the Revd Michael Parker and Canon Simon Doogan in Bangor. A lunchtime Communion in St Anne’s Cathedral coordinated by the Dean of Belfast will precede a lunch hosted by the Bishop of Clogher and involving a number of prominent Northern churchmen and public figures. In the afternoon Archbishop Kwong will meet the Revd Chris Bennett at ‘The Dock’, a fresh expression in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter. In the evening the delegation will visit Armagh where they will be greeted in the Library by the Primate and the Dean of Armagh before returning to Dublin.
Bishop of London visits Derry Cathedral
On Saturday evening The Lord Bishop of London, the Right Rev and Right Hon Richard Chartres, addressed the Friends of the Cathedral in their Autumn Lecture.
Yesterday an a Festival Eucharist the Bishop of London was the preacher and Bishop Ken Good celebrated the Eucharist and dedicated a number of gifts, many of them in memory of loved ones, for the further enhancement of the Cathedral following the total restoration of the building costing almost £4 million. There were special collection at all the services to help defray the costs of eradicating the recent and very sudden outbreak of dry rot in The Chapter House.
In keeping with the tradition of harvest by responding to the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves, the Cathedral is running a Food Bank for which parishioners and others were invited to bring contributions of non-perishable foods which, with the help of some volunteers from the Cathedral, together with the leaders of the Cathedral Youth Club, were distributed later to those in genuine need locally.
The Deputy Governor of The Honourable The Irish Society, Mr Simon D’Olier Duckworth DL, and some members of the Society attended Choral Evensong yesterday. The Deputy Governor and the Secretary/Representative of The Irish Society, Mr Edward Montgomery DL, read the Lessons. The Bishop of London delivered a Reflection.
Presbyterians spend £6.2m on new projects
Last month Presbyterian Moderator the Rev Dr Rob Craig became well practised in opening new and refurbished church property. In four weeks, he was involved in five such ceremonies with buildings having a combined value of over £6.2m.
Billy Kennedy writes in theNews Letter – These celebrations have been great experiences both for the congregations involved and me as the guest invited to join them on their special occasion,” said Dr Craig.
“There is obviously an excitement, but there is also confidence and practicality being demonstrated; confidence in their ministry and message and practicality in that to carry on the activities that are important to the congregation’s witness they need good physical resources that support quality leadership.”
The most extensive rebuild was at First Ahoghill, where one of the oldest congregations in the General Assembly, dating back to 1654, moved to a green field site on the outskirts of the Co Antrim village.
“The buildings on the old site dated from 1857,” explains First Ahoghill’s minister the Rev Eddie Kirk.
“We knew we needed to upgrade them, but the restraints of a very confined site and the listed status of the original meeting house made any renovations or rebuild both expensive and complicated.”
The congregation owned a field nearby and it embarked on a £2.5m project to include a meeting house, suite of halls and car parking space. The following weekend, the Moderator travelled to Magherafelt, where the 130-family strong Union Road congregation has just completed a £1.3m refurbishment new build programme that has modernised worship space and added a new welcome area, creche facilities and meeting rooms.
“The original church building that we worship in dates back to the 19th century and now has been a good time to combine necessary refurbishment with some modernisation and providing some extra space,” says the Rev Jonathan Currie, minister of Union Road since 2005.
Next venue for Dr Craig was Enniskillen and an ambitious £1.6m project that took 16 months to complete.
The message is very much ‘Welcome – Come In’ and glass panelled doors invite passers-by from Enniskillen’s main thoroughfare into the welcoming atmosphere of ‘The Bridge Centre’, the name chosen for the new church and hall complex.
“Everyone devoted much thought and prayer to choosing this name and we are all agreed that it expresses our desire that the halls and church will be a bridge between us and the wider local community,” says Enniskillen minister the Rev David Cupples.
From Enniskillen it was on to Ballykelly for the Moderator where a £0.5m development has refurbished the main hall, both internally and externally and created a new hall extension with rooms for smaller groups including a worship room for prayer and Bible study and additional space for Sunday school and other meetings as well as refurbishing the youth suite.
The final venue was Newmills Presbyterian Church outside Dungannon in Co Tyrone, where a new hall has been built at a cost of £300,000 to replace the old one that had “served its time”.