There was a very pleasant surprise in store for the scores of families and friends who descended on picturesque Oakfield Park, near Raphoe, on Saturday morning for the first Diocesan Family Fun Day since the start of the Covid pandemic. The all-aged gathering was blessed with warm and dry conditions, allowing umbrellas and raincoats to…
Members of the Aghanloo, Balteagh, Carrick and Tamlaghtard Group of Churches pushed the boat out, in a manner of speaking, with a parish outing to Rathlin Island, on the Feast Day of St Matthias last weekend. More than 40 members and friends of the parish churches accompanied the Rector, Rev Rhys Jones, on Saturday’s daytrip….
The Parish of Donagheady (Donemana) is to get a new incumbent later this year. Rev Capt Richard Beadle has been appointed to succeed Rev Dr Robin Stockitt, who retired almost a year ago. The news was shared this morning with worshippers at St James Church in Donemana and parishioners in the Manorhamilton Group of Parishes,…
There was loud applause for the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, on day two of the General Synod in Belfast when he called on the UK government to “step up to the mark” in its response to the refugee crisis which has arisen as a result of the war in Ukraine….
The Church of Ireland has announced a Clergy Assistance Programme to help to improve mental health among leaders in ordained ministry. It will be provided by Health Assured, the UK and Ireland’s largest independent provider of programmes of this type, as part of the Church’s mental health promotion project, MindMatters COI. The programme was announced at the General Synod,…
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Although in the past two years I had begun this address by saying how strange it was to be meeting online, it now feels very strange to be meeting in person; strange do be doing for the first time in two years what we had been doing for 150 years….
Honours were shared between Bishop Andrew and Rev Paul Lyons when they came face-to-face in a special ‘cook off’ in St Mary’s Church Parish Hall in Macosquin. The ‘Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook’ event was the brainchild of Select Vestry member, Lilian, Davis, and was organised as part of the Parish of Camus-Juxta-Bann’s 400thanniversary celebrations, which…
The All-Ireland President of Mothers’ Union, June Butler, joined Diocesan President, Jacqui Armstrong, and members of the Derry and Raphoe Mothers’ Union at a tree-planting ceremony on the outskirts of Londonderry on Thursday, to mark the Queen’s forthcoming platinum jubilee. The women were greeted by blue skies and glorious sunshine as they gathered at Brackfield…
Today will mark the end of an era in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe as Rev Canon David Ferry retires after 20 years’ service as a hospital chaplain in Londonderry. “I’ll miss the miracles,” the Tyrone man says of his “special calling”. He will be succeeded from tomorrow by the Rector of St Augustine’s…
The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, brought a number of ‘furry friends’ with him when he visited Gartan National School in Donegal, this morning, along with the Rector of Conwal with Gartan, Rev David Houlton. It was the latest in a series of school visits Bishop Andrew’s making to schools throughout…
