A Service of Thanksgiving was held in Holy Trinity Parish Church in Dunfanaghy on Sunday afternoon (23rd June 2024) to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church’s consecration. It was led by the Group’s Rector, Rev David Skuce, and the sermon was preached by Bishop Andrew Forster.
The Bishop remarked on the faith and courage of the parishioners who built the church a century and a half ago on a site given by Stewarts of Arts. Designed by the celebrated engineer and architect John Lanyon, the work was completed in 1873 and the church was consecrated the following year.
Bishop Andrew described this as a time of uncertainty and fragility for the Church of Ireland, which had been disestablished five years earlier. He praised the confidence of those early parishioners, and others elsewhere in the Diocese, who – freed by disestablishment – embarked on the construction of church buildings, focusing on what they were really called to be – the people of God.
The Bishop invited the congregation to visualise five picture postcards of what the New Testament said the church could be like – the people of God; the body of Christ; the family of God; the Holy Temple; and the bride of Christ – using the themes to illustrate our calling to be good followers of Jesus and our responsibility to leave a good legacy for future generations.
(Photos courtesy of Moses Alcorn)
