CHURCH OF IRELAND The Clogher Diocesan MAGAZINE Member of the worldwide Anglican Communion February 2016 | £1/€1.10 Confrmation Day in Donagh Parish Commissioning of MU President Winter at Coolbuck Church www.clogher.anglican.org ARMSTRONG Funeral Directors & Memorials Grave Plot Services • A dignifed and personal 24hr service • Offering a caring and professional service Specialists In Quality Grave Care • Memorials supplied and erected • Large selection of headstones, vases open books • Cleaning of Headstones & Surrounds • Resetting Fallen or Leaning Headstones or Damaged Surrounds • Open books & chipping’s • Reconstruction of Sunken or Raised Graves • Also cleaning and renovations • Supply & Erection of Memorial Headstones & Grave Surrounds to existing memorials • Additional Inscriptions & Repairs to Lettering • Additional lettering • New Marble or Granite Chips in your Chosen Colour • Marble or Granite Chips Washed & Restored • Regular Maintenance Visits eg : Weekly, Monthly, or Special Dates Dromore Tel. • Floral Tributes(Anniversary or Special Dates) 028 8289 8424 Contractors to The Commonwealth Omagh Tel. 028 8224 0803 War Graves Commission Robert Mob. 077 9870 0793 A Quality Professional & Personal Service Derek Mob. www.graveimage.co.uk • [email protected] 079 0027 8633 Contact : Stuart Brooker Tel: 028 6634 1611 Mob: 07968 738 491 35 Kildrum Rd, Dromore, Cullen, Monea, Enniskillen BT93 7BR Co. Tyrone, BT78 3AS IAN MCELROY JOINERY For all your joinery, carpentry, roofng and tiling needs Tel: 02866385226 or 07811397429 Home: (44) 02889521060 Mobile: 07713357156 www.clogher.anglican.org provided with material submitted and may then be CONTENTS published. The Magazine Committee accepts no responsibility for loss, damage or the return of material. Advertising rates are available upon request. NOTE FROM THE BISHOP 4 If parishes wish to alter the number of magazines ordered each month please inform Mrs Barbara Ingram CHURCH OF IRELAND NEWS 5-6 on 028 66 388306. Diocesan Offce DIOCESAN NEWS 6 Diocesan Offce, St Macartin’s Cathedral Hall, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. BT74 7DR DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 7-8 T: 028 66 347879 E: [email protected] NEWS FOR VESTRIES 8 Next Magazine Deadline for submission of material 15th February MOTHERS’ UNION NEWS 9-10 2016. Content to be sent to [email protected]. org MISSIONARY & CHARITABLE NEW 11-12 Advertising Charges As from February 2016 there will be advertising YOUTH NEWS 12-13 charges for material submitted in addition to the routine diocesan and parish submissions. CHILDRENS SECTION 13-15 Front Cover Photos COMMUNITY NEWS 16 Top - Confrmation candidates with Bishop McDowell and Revd Betty Thompson in Donagh Parish. Bottom Left - Bishop McDowell with Mrs Irene Boyd PARISH NOTES 16-67 at her Commissioning Service in Colebrooke Parish. Bottom Right - Winter at Coolbuck Parish Church. Clogher Magazine Committee Chairperson: Mrs Eleanor Lynn Vice-Chairperson: Mrs Barbara Ingram Secretary: Mrs Prue Mahood Treasurer: Mrs Mabel Black The Revd Canon Desmond Kingston and Mrs Jean Stinson Packing Team: Mrs Margaret Porter, Mrs Muriel Henderson, Mrs Barbara Ingram, Mrs Sadie Kane, Mrs Joyce Kerr, Mrs Eleanor Lynn, Mrs Maureen Robinson, Mrs Jean Stinson and Mr Robert Robinson Editor: Mr Glenn Moore For all your joinery, carpentry, roofng and tiling needs Assistant Editor: Ms Ruth McKane The Clogher Diocesan Magazine is published monthly except January and August. It is usually available from Parish Churches and other selected outlets by the frst Sunday of each month. Annual Subscription £10/€11. Postal Subscription £20/€22. Views expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Magazine Committee, the Diocese of Clogher nor the Church of Ireland. The Magazine Committee reserves the right to decline any material without assigning a reason. No correspondence can be entered into regarding non-publication of material or advertisements. Names and addresses of contributors must be 3 The Clogher Diocesan MAGAZINE A NOTE FROM THE BISHOP Dear Friends The Rt Revd John McDowell February 2016 February The See House, 152a Ballagh Road, Before I got slightly sidetracked by Advent Fivemiletown, Co. Tyrone. BT75 0QP and Christmas I had been Tel: 028 895 22461 writing in the Clogher Diocesan Magazine Email: [email protected] about how we as Christian believers can proclaim There is an old Roman proverb that “if the vessel is not the Gospel in a world that clean than everything that is poured into it turns sour”. That we are very much part is why Jesus sometimes speaks in what appear to us to be of and many of whose very extreme terms “If your eye offends you, pluck it out… characteristics (and faults) if your foot causes you to stumble cut it off”. It seems to me we share. I had tried to that Jesus uses this very emphatic language to drive home give a little bit of a sketch the point that we must be strong at the spiritual centre of our of how the vocation of being if we are to be any use in the world or to the world. the Church to witness to Jesus Christ Himself could not redeem the world without frst the true king could ft in with our vocation to live under the passing through the temptation and agony in the garden and authority of other kings and/or parliaments. in his letters St. Paul emphasises that to be a good member At the beginning of 2016 I want to go back to basics - to the of the body we must be strong enough in Christ’s might to very rudimentary truth that we will only be of any use to win the victory in a fearful struggle. I know myself from bitter God in the world and in the Church if we do not neglect to experience that this spiritual centre cannot be maintained nurture our own spiritual personality. without regular prayer. Although prayer could be described The spiritual health of a society or a parish depends on as “being with God with other people on our hearts” it can the personality of those who make it up and the more we be much more than simply a list of requests. Prayer has, at its are involved in our communities or our church the more centre, a yearning of the heart for God. We have all felt that we feel the need for character in ourselves and in others. yearning at times of trouble and sorrow when we have been And the more serious we are about the health of our own at our lowest ebb emotionally and physically. Our discipline spirituality (our character) the more we realise the need for is to make that yearning real in ordinary times and not just self-discipline. when we are in desperation. We often speak about prayer as though it is easy. Anyone who has tried to have a regular and deepening prayer life knows it is not, especially in a world where we have so many responsibilities and so many apparently unavoidable claims upon our time. There is no ST MARKS point being unrealistic about this. It really does take quite an effort to fnd a regular time for prayer; a time when we can AGHADRUMSEE bring our whole selves into the presence of God. It is just as unrealistic to believe that there can be any growth in the spiritual life without it. And where here is no growth there Palm Praises will always be decay. Very often in prayer we either struggle to fnd the right words or we use too many words which have the unusual characteristic of saying the same thing again and again. WEEKEND OF MUSIC To some extent we in the Church of Ireland are lucky to have some very memorable prayers which we can fall back on when with the Ferguson we are tongue-tied or which we can use to “get us started”. Family and Friends For instance I know people who simply use the Collect of the week as the basis for the following week’s prayer. The collects are often very short but they are usually very tightly Saturday 19th March packed with spiritual food which grows in the mind and in the spirit when dwelt upon for a little longer. Such a way of from 10.30am - 5pm praying would not prevent us from offering other requests and thoughts to God but might just be helpful in helping us to approach Him in the right spirit. Concluding with a Why not try that next week? Service of Praise Almighty and everlasting God You are always more ready to hear than we are to pray And to give more than either we desire or deserve….. Sunday 20th March at 3pm +John www.clogher.anglican.org CHURCH OF IRELAND NEWS Launch of the Guide to the for their concerns or the confdence to search out further guidance”. Conversation on Human Sexuality Study modules will also be available to encourage discussion and personal refection. Dean Mann concluded: “These will help all who sincerely seek to engage with the issues and to understand all whose relationship with the Church is affected by their sexual orientation”. Exciting Opportunities with the Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade! The Very Revd John Mann, Chair of the Select Committee, with the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, Archbishop of Armagh, and Helen McClenaghan, Vice–Chair of the Select Committee, at the Dublin launch. The Church of Ireland’s Select Committee on Human Sexuality in the Context of Christian Belief has launched its ‘Guide to the Conversation’ – a new resource designed to assist members of the Church in the on- going process of listening, learning and dialogue on It has been an exciting year for the Church Lads’ and the issue. The Guide outlines the process to date along Church Girls’ Brigade, seeing new groups opening with contextual essays and contributions from different throughout Northern Ireland and many children and viewpoints.