NEWSLETTER 3 2013
Clergy members of BCA. We now have our full
complement of clergy. Fr. Brian Daly has been
with us for almost three years and has fitted so seamlessly into the
parish, it feels as though he has always been here. He held the fort at
Ballycastle Church Action whilst we were waiting for our new ministers for the
Church of Ireland and Presbyterian churches to be selected
Rev Brian Daly Rev. David Ferguson Rev. John Stanbridge
Valerie Sayers has also joined BCA recently. She married Hugh and came to live in Ballycastle in 1972. They have three children, Eoin, Linda and Arlene and 4 grandchildren. Valerie worked for over 20 years as account’s clerk in an accountancy firm in the town. John Stanbridge asked Valerie to be the third Presbyterian Church Representative last year. She has very quickly found her feet as a member of BCA and says she will do her best to help
Dr. Cathy
Higgins and Rev. Dr. Johnston McMaster gave talks on “Christ and other Faiths”.
These talks, which were held in the new Tourist Offices at Portnagree House,
provoked some interesting discussion and debate.
There were four “Faith in the Public Square” Community Forums on issues of the day to which members of the local churches and the general public were invited - these were held in Thyme and Co. The talks were initiated by Rev. Dr. Gordon Gray, the Convenor of the Peace and Reconciliation committee organised by BCA and supported by Moyle District.
The speakers were
Rev. Dr. Houston McKelvey whose topic was “Insights from a Journey”, describing his Ministry experiences from a Loyalist Estate to the City Cathedral, via the Church of Ireland’s Education Office.
The Rev. John Bach JP, who lectures in Criminology as well as being a Church of Ireland priest spoke on “Religion, Morality and the Justice System” and the challenges to the Church which these topics present.
Alf McCreary, Religious affairs Correspondent for the Belfast Telegraph chose “Behind the Headlines” as his theme on Religion, the Churches and the media. Alf had just returned from Rwanda - he described how the Hutus had made their peace with the Tutsis. Many of them were subsisting on one meal a day in order to provide funding to build schools and make their communities safer places for their children. He arrived home to the violence and eruption of the flag protest.
The final speaker was Dr. Cathy Higgins whose topic was “Women’s Place is …?” - on recovering the stories of women for the sake of the future of Church and Society. Interestingly only two men were at this talk although there was a mixed audience for the other three! Cathy is a former lecturer in the Irish School of Ecumenics and adjunct Professor, Trinity College, Dublin.
All the speakers were most interesting and kept our attention with several amusing anecdotes. We had the opportunity to discuss the topics and ask questions while having refreshments at the end of each talk. Drs. Cathy Higgins and Johnston McMaster also gave talks on “sectarianism in the churches”. These talks were all free of charge by courtesy of Peace lll Funding.
GOOD FRIDAY WALK
One of the new events was the Good Friday Walk. We gathered at the sea front and after prayer and hymns walked to the Diamond where we had some prayers for our community. Maeve Walsh, Chairperson of BCA and Rev. Dr. Gordon Gray addressed the crowd in the Diamond. It was gratifying to see such a big turnout and particularly pleasing to see so many young people joining in the walk.
ONE VOICE CHOIR
BLESSING OF THE BOATS
Another successful innovation was the Blessing of the Boats, which took place on May 29th as part of the Maritime Festival. The service was led by the three BCA clergymen, Fr. Brian Daly, Rev. David Ferguson and Rev. John Stanbridge. Rev. Barton from Ballintoy and also in charge of rathlin Rathlin Island Cof I and Rev. Inderjit Bhogal, Leader of the Corrymeela Community were also present. Music was provided by Ballycastle Community Choir with musical accompaniment by Mrs. Margaret Brown.
HOLOCAUST EDUCATION TRIP TO POLAND
Four members of BCA are going to Poland on July 28th to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camps, following on from several study days about the holocaust. This is being funded by North East Peace lll Partnership and organised by Holocaust Education run by Springboard Opportunities. You will hear more about it probably in the next edition of The Newsletter.
Dr
Welcome to Ballycastle Church Action’s 2nd Newsletter February
2012
Christmas 2011 has been and gone and we move into the
time of Epiphany, a time of expanding the vision of Christian people based on
Matthew’s gospel story of the Wise men. The aim of Epiphany is to be open to
all people of all cultures races and creeds; it is a time of welcome to every
human being on earth.
Father Brian Daly has been very
supportive of the vision of BCA as the only official member of clergy on
committee for quite a while and we are most grateful to him. This was due to vacancies in both the Presbyterian
and Church of Ireland Churches.
We hope and trust it will not be too long before a Presbyterian minister can be with us.
In the summer Rev. David Ferguson the new Church of Ireland rector arrived. He has been an added blessing to BCA, the town and his parish. This is his story.
We hope and trust it will not be too long before a Presbyterian minister can be with us.
In the summer Rev. David Ferguson the new Church of Ireland rector arrived. He has been an added blessing to BCA, the town and his parish. This is his story.
I was born in 1955 in County
Fermanagh, leaving Fermanagh at a young age to move to England because of my
Fathers work. Again because of my Father’s work we moved to Dublin were I spent
my teenage years attending the Kings Hospital Church of Ireland Grammar School.
We returned to Northern Ireland in 1971. Leaving school at the age of 18years I
worked in the motor industry for a short time before moving into the civil
service were I had a career that spanned nearly 30years. My involvement in
Church life found me performing a number of roles in a lay capacity within the
Parish I attended for a number of years. Prior to my retirement from the civil
service after a prolonged selection process I was accepted for training to the
Ordained Ministry in the Church of Ireland. I was able to carry out my training
on a part time basis whilst still being employed. I was ordained in 2004 and
served as Curate Assistant in the Parish of All Saints Antrim until my
appointment in 2011 as the Rector of the Parishes of Ramoan and Culfeightrin. I
am married to Margaret, a nurse, and we have four grown up children and three grandchildren.
In my younger day I was a keen Rugby player but can now only watch from the
sidelines. I enjoy the theatre, the cinema reading and playing with my
Grandchildren when the time allows. We are settling into Ballycastle and the
warm welcome from everyone that we have received has made the process so much
easier. I look forward to continuing to minister to you all in this beautiful
part of North Antrim.
Good Morning Ballycastle which connects via
telephone to over 100 elderly and vulnerable people every day still continues to
be short of any sustainable funding. It has been supported greatly by
Ballycastle community in the last year which is truly humbling. This month some monies have been received via
Moyle Community Partnership Committee from the Criminal Assets Recovery Fund to
help develop partnerships with Victim Support and the Community Safety Wardens
to further build a supportive safe community.
It also means the confidential computer system will be able to be
updated. Another exciting aspect of
these monies is to pay for more befriending training for volunteers. This will
really help in the alleviation of isolation and loneliness, a key objective of
the project.
Contact: Project Co-Ordinator
Kate Elliott Tel. No. 028 207 68309
Email: goodmorningballycastle@googlemail.com
A
Pilgrims Journey It was indeed a very blessed time with lots of little happenings, kindnesses and co(God)-incidents occurring, such as getting the last bed in the Albergue/hostel, meeting up with a new friend whom I had missed and thought I would never see again, recovering items lost or mislaid , mine and others. The sense of welcome and goodwill shown by people along the way and by the hospitalerios/hosts was striking.
A very vivid memory was the joy of turning around, with the dawn breaking on a new day to reveal a magnificent sunrise. An artist’s delight with wonderful colours streaking across the sky. It was on one such morning I had the experience of silence that I never encountered before. I set off under the stars down the valley, visible from the Albergue, and walked for 10 kilometres without hearing a sound of wind, person, animal or vehicle, truly magical. As John O’ Donohue aptly describes it in Divine Beauty: At the core of the world and at the core of the soul is silence that ripples with the music of beauty and the whisperings of the eternal. There were also times of great fun and laughter, with sing songs to help us on our way. People were brought close to each other, be it through helping treat blisters, sharing a piece of fruit, giving advice about the terrain ahead or sharing a no frills dormitory. The good humour and kindness of so many people was truly a great gift to experience. It was also very impressive to see people clearly in pain struggling on in their own time, keeping focused on their goal of Santiago. There was real evidence of the prayer support behind this venture for the peregrinos who were given a special blessing at the end of Masses and were being prayed for daily in the convents and monasteries. It was like walking in an aura of grace and protection, much needed when the going got tough!
The Camino offered me time to think and pray, great opportunity to reflect on my family, remember all those near and dear to me, those with whom I relate and work in various groups, and committees such as Ballycastle Church Action, parish and neighbourhood. A truly wonderful opportunity to restore my trust in humanity and the goodness of people. It was a chance to meet and extend boundaries through being with people from all across the globe. I felt like a child of the universe, aware of how tiny our part of the world is and wondering why we find it so difficult to live peacefully together. Juan Carlos Contreras Leiva who recently visited Ireland for the annual Famine Walk wrote: We need each other, walking together and learning step by step! We need each other, to work in solidarity and in this way humanity can overcome great adversity in spite of economic and environmental crises. For me the Camino was many things but essentially it was a chance to re-tune with patience, and re-align with the Centre learning to trust in small ways that inner voice of Wisdom.
The Way to Santiago is as life itself, it is as He who gives us support, it is a marvellous experience. It has no end, because when you arrive you realise that you have to keep on walking towards St James, towards the others, towards your inner self, towards God. This will only be finished when the life that we enjoy day by day comes to an end. St.James Cathedral, Santiago de Compostela
Any donations to my chosen charity would be appreciated Children in Crossfire at www. children in crossfire.org/Eleanor Duff
I was very privileged this autumn to
be able to walk the Way of St James, commonly referred to as the El Camino in
Northern Spain.
The sacred place or goal was Santiago de
Compostela where the remains of St James are reputed to be in the crypt of the
magnificent cathedral. The journey was both challenging and enriching.
The Worship and
Liturgy Committee is planning the next annual Women’s World Day of Prayer which this
year will be held on Friday 2nd March at 8.00pm in St Patrick’s
and St Brigid’s Church. The service has been prepared by the women of
Malaysia. The speaker will be Rev. Ann
Irvine who has recently moved to Ballycastle. Last year a few men attended the service;
it would be much appreciated if more men were able to attend.
Future plans for the
Peace and Reconciliation Committee 1912 and ALL THAT
A drama prepared by the
Centre for Contemporary Christianity (formally ECONI- Evangelical Contribution
on Northern Ireland) has been written by historians from ‘both sides’. The
Convenor was one of a number invited to a private preview in October. This has
been offered to us as a Road Show, to be performed by professional actors for
both public audiences and schools. We
plan to bring this to Ballycastle.
BCA Newsletter
Newsletter
Ballycastle Church Action Issue No.1 February 2011
Ballycastle Church Action Issue No.1 February 2011
Welcome to our first Newsletter. We hope you will find it interesting and we will be glad to hear from you about items we might include in our next issue or suggestions you might have for Ballycastle Church Action. Please send your suggestions/ comments to The Editor, Ballycastle Church Action,
60 Ann Street, Ballycastle, BT54 6AD.
E-mail: goodmorningballycastle@googlemail.com
Web: wwwballycastlechurchaction.org.uk.
In 2005, following a major conference organized by Ryan Moore of Moyle District Council and the Irish School of Ecumenics with Faith Works and other Christian communities, David Quinney Mee and Patrick McLoughlin, with the local clergy and other interested people met regularly for about a year and, after a public meeting in the Ferry Terminal, Ballycastle Church Action came into being.
Since then we have been working very hard to establish and in some cases re-establish some inter-church activities and, thanks to our fantastic volunteers, the Good Morning Ballycastle telephone call service is a big success. Our main source of referral is from statutory bodies such as the Elder Care Team of Social Services, etc. and Kate Elliott, our Good Morning co-ordinator, does a fantastic job in recruiting isolated folk in the community who want to receive a friendly phone call, once, twice, up to five times a week, Monday to Friday, just to check that all is well with them. For some of our folk this might be the only contact they have with others on that day.
Good Morning Ballycastle started in October 2007 and since then, would you believe, 38,458 calls have been made. Our computer system records every call so that we can validate these calls. At present we have 109 people receiving telephone calls either daily or a couple of times a week and their ages range from 45 years to 96 years of age. About 20 of our people are in there 90’s, living on their own. The rest are isolated older people, mostly pensioners. The average number of calls per week is 449. In January so far, 1803 calls have been made and, on average, 96 calls are made every day by 3 or 4 volunteers. To give you an idea of how much it takes to run the service, our telephone bill is around £700 per quarter. The overall cost of running the project is about £30,000 per annum. We employ two part-time workers – Kate now has 20 hours per week, having voluntarily reduced her hours from 28 hours per week, until such time as we have sustainable funding once more, and Ashley has 12 hours. (I would not like to tell you how many actual hours they work for us!) The work of GMB is supplemented by 4 volunteers every day. Most volunteers do one morning per week and while we have 26 volunteers on our register, there are always some who cannot make it because of holidays, illness and other commitments. If you could join the team to ease the load, we would be very grateful to you. Training will be provided. Contact Kate at the Good Morning Office tel. 20768309 or call in to 60 Ann Street, Ballycastle and Kate & Ashley will fill you in on the service.
For the last three years we have been able to provide a Christmas Dinner & Party for the GMB folk. This is a good opportunity for folk to meet each other. The Corrymeela Community have supported us greatly by providing free transport and excellent meals at minimal cost. They cannot do enough for us when we are at the Centre. At the dinner in December, it was a sheer joy to see such happy faces singing away to their heart’s content, reciting their poems and telling us their stories.
Unfortunately funding for GMB is a big problem. Northern Health & Social Care Trust were unable to continue to fund us this year due to cutbacks. Financial support from the churches and local donations enabled us to get through this financial year and we are hoping that the Trust will be able to fund us for the coming years.
Ballycastle Church Action is the governing body for Good Morning Ballycastle and some of the committee are designated to support the project (all committee members are volunteers).Peace & Reconciliation. This section is headed up by Rev. Dr. Gordon Gray and we have successfully run Community Fora and Church Leader Conferences on the topics of “A Shared Future”, “Who is a Victim in our society”? and “Forgiveness, Justice and Reconciliation”. These events have been funded by the Peace lll provision of the EU – in particular the Church/Faith Groups Confidence Building Programme and the Victims Development Programme. Currently we are planning a 6-week Course, with Dr Johnston McMaster of the Irish School of Ecumenics on Ethical and Shared Remembering which will revisit the events of the decade 1912-22 (the formation of the UVF, the First World War, Somme, the 1916 Rising, the Treaty and the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland), with the aim of exploring how the anticipated centennial ‘commemorations’ of these can be handled in an inclusive rather than a divisive manner. BCA members have also attended seminars on “The Role of Church in the Community” as well as the Programme for “Cohesion, Sharing & Integration” consultation document of the First Minister & Deputy First Minister. While these events have been important from an educational point of view they have enabled our local Churches, through BCA, to have a ‘presence’ and a ‘voice’ in the wider concerns of our society where the ‘Christian’ viewpoint can so easily be sidelined or remain silent. In this respect we await confirmation of funding for a further series of Community Forums on Faith and Politics in which it is hoped to enable church members and the local public to meet with prominent politicians and church leaders for face to face dialogue. We have a verbal promise of funding through the Sectarianism and Racism Peace lll Programme. While our BCA ‘Peace and Reconciliation’ concern is not ‘funding-led’ it is enormously helpful to be able to plan and carry through such events at absolutely no cost to limited BCA central funds or our local church budgets - for that BCA is very grateful to the various Peace lll funders.
Some BCA members recently attended a very interesting seminar entitled Faith in Policing led by the Chief Constable Matt Baggott. Faith in Policing is about positive engagement with the church and faith sector. It is about law enforcement and making communities safer and bringing the community involvement to those suffering because of suicide; victims of domestic or sexual abuse; families with not enough food or clothing and the addict who has reached the end of the road and has been written off by society. Our local PSNI Inspector Bryan Hume and Chief Inspector Steven Cargin addressed our last BCA meeting and appealed for the Church involvement through practical application of Christian love that can often reach where ‘official’ lines of communication cannot.
Who Are Ballycastle Church Action? The following comprises BCA : Canon Stuart Lloyd in the absence of Rev. David Palmer of the Church of Ireland, V. Rev. Fr. Brian Daly, new Parish Priest in the Catholic Church and Rev. Philip Wilson representing the Presbyterian Church following the departure of Rev. Eddie Dorrans. Church of Ireland & Presbyterian Church in Ballycastle are in the process of choosing a new Rector and a new Minister and we look forward to them joining us in due course.
BCA Church Representatives are:
3 from each denomination: Catholic Church: Kate O’Connor; Donnacha O’Brion and Maeve Walsh.
Presbyterian Church: Olive Bell; Rev. Dr. Gordon Gray and another to be appointed.
Church of Ireland: Betty Wilkinson, Dr. Ivan Bell and John Nicholl.
Independent Members of Committee:
David Quinney Mee (Secretary) Gerry McConville, (Treasurer) Christine Mitchell (Vice Chair), Eleanor Duff, Caroline McCaughan and Mark Myer.
Paul Hutchinson, Centre Director, represents the Corrymeela Community and Ryan Moore represents Moyle District Council.
Carol Services:
Each of the churches held wonderful Carol Services but I think we were all “caroled out” by the time Christmas came! How about next year we all join together for one carol service. It would be good if we could walk together from church to church, regardless of the weather, with lanterns representing the Light of Christ? All those who cannot walk from church to church could go to their own (or another’s) church and join in with us when we reach you. What do you think?
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity : St. Patrick’s & St. Brigid’s hosted this service on 23rd January. Rev. Dr. Victor Dobbin addressed the congregation; Rev. Dr. Godfrey Brown, Rev. Gordon Freeman and V. Rev. Brian Daly, PP officiated. Readers were Olive Bell, Christine Mitchell and Maeve Walsh. The service was aided by a beautiful choir from all three churches, directed by Siobhán Mullin with organ accompaniment by Pat Black.
Election of New Chair:
Maeve Walsh was unanimously elected to the office of Chair for BCA. Having lived in Ballycastle for 40+ years. Maeve will be well known to many of you. Originally she hailed from Dublin’s Fair City and is married to Colum – a well known Ballycastle man. They have two adult children Fiona and Brian (both married) and four grandchildren.
Maeve brings to the office of Chair a wide interest and knowledge of ecumenism; she is a member of St. Patrick’s & St. Brigid’s Catholic Church where she enjoys her Church Choir on a regular basis. She has been a Eucharistic Minister and Reader in her church and served on the inaugural Parish Pastoral Council in the past.
Maeve is a member of the Corrymeela Community and the local branch of U3A. She recently retired from her post as Office Manager with Ballycastle Social Services after 30+ years service. She is a Cruse Bereavement Counsellor. Suffice to say Maeve has a plethora of diploma/certificates in Peace & Reconciliation studies, Catholic Evangelization, Counseling, Community Relations etc. She has enjoyed membership of many Ballycastle groups and served on the Down & Connor Diocesan Committee for Charismatic Renewal in the past. For 20+ years Maeve served on the school Board of Governors for St. Patrick’s & St. Brigid’s during which she held the office of Vice Chair and Secretary for many years.
Maeve has a keen interest in the role of Women in the Church and longs for the day when all offices in the church will be open to the best candidate regardless of whether they be male or female.
One of her treasured memories is attending the installation of the Rev. Dr. Godfrey Brown’s installation as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church with a number of Catholic friends (including the late Ita McMichael) in the days when “ecumenism” was anything but a popular activity. And this is an opportune moment to congratulate Godfrey and Dr. Gordon Gray on the 50th Anniversary of their Ordinations to the Ministry. May you both continue to know the love and blessings of God in the years to come.
The Messines Experience: On Friday 26th November 2010 at 0400 hrs. Kate Elliott and Maeve Walsh, set off for Ieper (formally known as Ypres) in Belgium, at the invitation of Ryan Moore of MDC, funded by NE Peace lll Partnership. The group was made up of 25 folk from Moyle, Coleraine and Larne Council areas.
We do not have space to tell you the detail of this fantastic trip in this issue - suffice to say it was a trip of a lifetime, superbly led by delegates from the International School for Peace Studies, whose knowledge of the World War One Battlefields was second to none. One highlight of the trip was the daily rendition of the “Last Post” at the Menin Gate in Ieper, every evening at 8pm (since 1928). The memorial houses the names of over 55,500 soldiers who died defending this town and have no known grave. Kate had the opportunity to lay a wreath on behalf of our group. Kate and Maeve are working on a power point presentation, which they will share with any interested group in due course.
Good Morning Ballycastle's charity golf day
Good Morning Ballycastle's Charity Golf Day
On Sunday 30th August 2009 Good Morning Ballycastle had a charity golf day, thanks to the generosity of Ballycastle Golf Club and the many local business' who sponsored the event. We are delighted to say that a total of almost £1600 was raised.
This is one of six charity days that they have held. This will be a three or four ball tem competition made up of men, ladies or mixed teams.
Good Morning Ballycastle provides a much needed “Friend on the phone” for vulnerable, lonely and elderly people living in the local Council area and beyond, including Rathlin Island.
The service offers free, a daily morning telephone call, Monday to Friday to check on the person’s well being, and to offer friendly help and advice, with referral to other services if necessary. At present trained volunteers deliver this very confidential service to many people in this area.
Trusting relationships have been built between the volunteers and the people called. People now talk more openly about matters that are important to them. These can be very private and personal or simple and practical. Much appreciation has been shown by families, as they have peace of mind knowing that we contact their loved ones regularly.
The Good Morning Office also offers benefit checks for people over 60 . We can check your entitlements and guide you to the appropriate authority to get help if required. This is a one to one appointment system and like all our work is confidential.
If you wish to avail of any of these services please contact the Co-ordinator Kate Elliott at 92820768309 or at the office 60 Ann St Ballycastle BT54 6AD.
All entries for the golf competition would be welcome, and to book a time slot please contact Ballycastle Golf Club at 02820762536 of 20762506 or visit the club web site at www.ballycastlegolfclub.comG
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