A former Presbyterian Moderator is to preach tomorrow at an historic cross-community service at a prominent Belfast Catholic church.
The Very Rev Dr Ken Newell will speak at St Mary’s Church at Chapel Lane (Photo above).
It was established in the city in 1784 following donations from local Church of Ireland and Presbyterians.
The 5.30pm service will be led by Fr Tim Bartlett, and he will be joined by Rev Elizabeth Hanna, a retired Church of Ireland minister, and Rev Robin Waugh, minister of the Methodist Church in Sydenham.
Dr Newell said yesterday: “This will be a symbolic service of healing and reconciliation, of togetherness and not of division.
“It is another opportunity for the churches to walk side by side, and to move on towards a better future for everyone.
“It is also an opportunity to underline the personal importance of making space for God.”
In his sermon Dr Newell will reflect on a visit he made some time ago to the Judean desert, the place described in the New Testament as “the wilderness” where Jesus Christ spent 40 days overcoming temptations.
Dr Newell said: “It is totally barren, waterless, terrifically remote, and dead.
“Christ’s time in the wilderness was a pivotal experience in his ministry. One of the important messages of Lent is learning how to make space in a busy life for spiritual regeneration.”
Dr Newell, the former minister of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, was Moderator in 2004/05, and he made headlines by inviting the then Catholic Primate Archbishop Sean Brady as his personal guest to the opening night of the General Assembly. This led to a protest outside Church House by Rev Ian Paisley and Free Presbyterian ministers.
The establishment of St Mary’s Church in 1784 in Chapel Lane – the first Catholic Church in Belfast – was a major ecumenical event in the more liberal atmosphere of the city in the late 18th century.
In the 1782 census there were only 365 Catholics in Belfast. The Presbyterian and Church of Ireland congregations took up a special collection which became known as the Handsome Collection, which helped to build St Mary’s.
The pulpit was donated to St Mary’s in 1813 by Canon Turner, the Anglican Vicar of Belfast.
Tomorrow’s service is believed to the first time that an ecumenical service of its kind is being held publicly on Ash Wednesday in Belfast.
Fr Martin Magill, one of the organisers, said: “In this inclusive service, people from all backgrounds will be offered the ashes, but no one will be pressurised to take them.
“For many years the mark of the ashes on the forehead was thought to be a Catholic-only practice but it is in fact a Biblical symbol for all who wish to partake of it.”
He added: “Why should Catholics have a monopoly on this? In other parts of the world Christians come together every year to mark Ash Wednesday in this way, so in many other places what we are marking together tomorrow would be a common practice.”
Alf McCreary in the Belfast Telegraph
DraggedImage.282800c8e19848a283f9e880c365f195.png
