The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Right Reverend Andrew Forster, has condemned the attempted murder of a police officer in Omagh, on Wednesday evening, as “callous and evil”. The off-duty officer was shot a number of times at a sports complex on the Killyclogher Road and was taken from there to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry…
A video marking the 50th anniversary of the Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal for World Aid and Development was presented at our General Synod in Belfast, last May. It includes contributions from those involved in organising the work of Bishops’ Appeal and agencies which have benefitted from its support over many years. Given the recent…
St Augustine’s Church in Londonderry was the venue, on Sunday afternoon (12th February 2023), for a Remembrance Service with a difference – one held to honour those who had been associated with renal services in any way. The poignant service was organised by the Altnagelvin Renal Support Group and led by the Rector of St…
A minister’s young son provoked joyful laughter in Clooney Methodist Church when he interrupted an evening service arranged by churches in Londonderry’s Waterside area to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It was part of a joint initiative, on Wednesday 25th January 2023, which drew around 80 people who walked to each other’s…
Around 40 members of the four main Churches in Derry-Londonderry, including the city’s two bishops, took part in a walk through the city centre on the evening of Monday 23rd January, 2023 to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The participants had gathered outside First Londonderry Presbyterian Church, inside the City Walls, for…
The Irish Council of Churches – one of the world’s oldest national representative church bodies – celebrated its centenary with a special service of worship in Belfast Cathedral this afternoon (22nd January). The service, with the theme ‘Celebrating our Reconciling Vision of Hope’ took place on the eve of the Council’s first meeting 100 years…
A new Rector has been appointed to the Inver Group of Parishes in south west Donegal. She is Rev Susan Elliott, a South African national, who lives with her husband, Don – a lay preacher – in Haenertsburg, in South Africa’s northernmost province, Limpopo. Rev Elliott was born in Durban and trained as a teacher,…
Diocese of Derry and Raphoe Public The parishioners of Camus-Juxta-Mourne (Strabane) have been rolling out a sometimes snow-dusted red carpet for a special group of visitors this past week. They have been renewing acquaintance with Pastor Anderson Sanchez, his wife Isabel, and their children Jacob and Ivana, whom some of the Tyrone parishioners first befriended…
The Diocese of Derry and Raphoe offers warmest congratulations to four of its finest parish stalwarts who have been awarded MBEs by His Majesty the King in the 2023 New Year Honours list. Mr William Oliver – one of the Diocese’s five Honorary Secretaries and an active member of the Castlerock and Dunboe church family…
Christmas is a magical time of year for children – and even for many ‘older children’ among us – as they look forward to Christmas morning and discovering what presents they’ve got this year. Our tradition of giving gifts owes its origin to the account of the nativity in Matthew’s gospel. There we read how the Magi travelled from the east, searching for “the one who had been born king of the Jews”. They followed a star which led them to a house in Bethlehem. “They saw the…
