Newsletter No 37 September 2010 |
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Working Together
Our vision day call for the coming year: We are seeking to: We really are Working Together! REPORT: KILDALLON AND SWANLINBAR GROUP OF PARISHES
Background The Group of parishes consists of seven churches, six parishes and five Select Vestries and covers parts of Counties Fermanagh, Cavan and Leitrim. The most northerly church in Kinawley (Co. Fermanagh) is some 22 miles from the most southerly church in Corrawallen (Co. Leitrim). Swanlinbar parish has two churches, one in Swanlinbar and one in Kinawley and one Select Vestry. Each of the parishes of Kildallon, Tomregan (Ballyconnell) and Templeport has a church and a Select Vestry. Both Corawallen and Newtowngore parishes have their own churches with a joint Select Vestry serving both parishes. Numerically, Kildallon is the largest parish, followed by Tomregan, Swanlinbar, Newtowngore, Templeport and Corrawallen. Until May 2007 the parishes formed two separate Groups with Swanlinbar, Tomregan and Templeport forming one Group and Kildallon, Corrawallen and Newtowngore forming the other. In May 2007 these two Groups were united with the rector of the Swanlinbar Group becoming the rector of the new Group. Between May 2007 and June 2009 the parishes in the Group were served by a rector and a Church Army evangelist. The Church Army evangelist continued to serve the parishes after the rector took up a new appointment in June 2009. The Group continues to be without a rector and is currently served by the Church Army evangelist and a temporary Priest in Charge who works ‘half-duty’ in the Group. There are some 560 parishioners in the Group (195 households) with around 160 people attending church services on a ‘typical’ Sunday. These congregations are very stable with around 120-130 people attending almost every Sunday. Since the current Group was formed, there have been four services of worship on most Sunday mornings with Swanlinbar and Templeport alternating with Kinawley and Tomregan and Corawallen alternating with Newtowngore. Kildallon has had a weekly service. In effect, the congregations in Swanlinbar and Kinawley are the same so Swanlinbar and Kildallon parishioners have had weekly services in their churches and Corawallen, Newtowngore, Templeport and Tomregan parishioners have had services in their churches on alternating Sundays. At one point, monthly Sunday morning united services were integrated into this rota. Since 2009, united services have not been held monthly but were based on special events with eight or nine being planned each year. There are two Church of Ireland Primary schools in the group: Ballyconnell has 28 pupils on the roll and Newtowngore has 29 pupils . Various organisations and clubs serve the parishes in the Group including Sunday Schools, Mothers’ Union, Girls Friendly Society, Mothers and Toddlers group, Bowls and Badminton. A monthly youth service began in 2010 in cooperation with neighbouring parishes and a ‘Forward’ group has been responsible for planning united events each year. Each parish also holds various social and fund-raising events. There are parish halls in Swanlinbar, Kinawley, Ballyconnell and Newtowngore and churchyards in Swanlinbar, Ballyconnell, Templeport, Kildallon, Newtowngore and Corrawallen.
In order to identify issues and to assess opinions within the Group an ‘Opinion Finder’ was distributed to every household as well as being made available at church services. A number of discussions took place with individuals and groups. An ‘Away Day’, open to all parishioners, was held during which topics of interest or concern were identified and discussed. The ‘Opinion Finder’ replies were anonymous and came almost exclusively from individuals who attended church services on most Sundays; around 75% of this group made their opinions known. The people who attended the ‘Away Day’ were also frequent church-goers and discussions with individuals and groups reflected this. The ‘Opinion Finder’ asked people to indicate their responses to a series of questions by using a 1-5 numerical scale with 1 indicating a very positive response and 5 a very negative response. When the results were collated, an average score under 2 demonstrated a very positive response to a proposition, a score between 2 and 2.5 indicated a generally positive response, a score over 2.5 indicated a generally negative response and a score over 3 indicated a very negative response. Strength of feeling for or against a proposition was also measured by indicating the percentage of 1-2 category and 4-5 category answers.
Perspectives on the Church
A series of questions sought to discover how people currently viewed the church.
This series of questions asked people to identify a number of possible priority activities of the Church.
Identification These questions were aimed at discovering people’s levels of identification with various ‘structural’ bodies within the Group.
The next series of Questions focused on aspects of worship and teaching
The final series of questions using the 1-5 response scale was centred on ‘extra-parochial’ activities.
Respondents were also asked if they would like to become more involved in church life.
Finally, people were asked to list, in order of priority (1-4), four activities of the Church.
Response In order to respond positively to the data presented above and to comments and opinions expressed in conversations and during the ‘Away Day’, it is first of all necessary to set out a positive and progressive understanding of Parish life. A Parish comprises a diverse group of households and individuals who share a common sense of ‘connection’ to the Church in that parish. While the Church has a clear theological, historical and social identity, individuals understand their connection to the Church in disparate ways. Some people are very clear about their faith and their theological convictions, others may connect primarily through a sense of community while still others may view their connection to the Church mostly in cultural terms or through ties of family history. Faith may have many expressions and care ought to be taken to avoid making judgements: neither attributing nor denying faith to anyone other than on the basis of that person’s own acknowledgement. Everyone who ‘belongs’ to a parish, truly belongs, regardless of their degree of involvement in parish life and it is essential that all are made to feel welcome, included and important. A ‘standard’ way of viewing parish life is to present it as a ‘bull’s eye’ target of concentric circles with a core of activists at the centre and ‘nominal’ members in the outside ring. This model is problematic for a number of reasons. In the first instance, it is unclear who decides what the circles represent and who ought to be in them. Is the ‘core’ determined by theological criteria, by church attendance, by financial giving or by a combination of these and other criteria? Significantly, such a model encourages division and fosters an ‘us and them’ mentality with those ‘in the centre’ often critical of others and those ‘on the fringes’ left feeling marginalised. It is difficult to establish a genuine sense of community if ‘belonging’ depends on individuals being able to demonstrate a certain degree of ‘commitment’ measured by pre-determined levels of faith, activism or financial giving. A better model of parish life is to view the parish like a 3-D image that is built up of many layers, each of which is necessary to present the whole picture. A useful illustration (and one that owes something to St Paul!) is that of an image of the human body made up of layers of transparencies, each placed on top of each other. One layer may show the skeleton, another, the circulatory system, yet another, the nervous system and so on. Some layers may be quite complex and full, others very simple; regardless of this, all layers are needed to build up the complete image. This model of parish life views everyone as important, it allows each individual to participate in parish life to the extent that he or she may wish and it allows people to be encouraged in their involvement without pressure or expectation. It is on the basis of this model that the following suggestions are made for a way forward in the Group.
A way forward for the parishes in the Group recognises the salient messages that have come from the Opinion Finder and other sources of information. In particular, a way forward must respond positively to general issues and concerns. It must also provide opportunities for people who welcome activities that may not command general support without pressuring or marginalising others who do not wish to be involved in these activities.
Four priority requirements have been identified for the parishes within the Group. They are:
Immediate Implementation Sunday Services In responding to the need for stability within the parishes in the Group (a commonly expressed desire) a new service schedule is now being implemented, assisted by the willing cooperation of our Parish Readers:
The next united services will be in October this year and January, May, July and October 2011.
To offset the geographically dispersed nature of the Group, it is essential that everyone feels that they have good access to personal pastoral care. The households in each parish will, therefore, be visited by the current leadership team, twice per year (more or fewer visits by arrangement):
Hospitals Nursing Homes and Housebound In the Near-Future Meetings for worship leaders: Ongoing meetings of ‘Forward’ Group Thursday evening course:
To celebrate Holy Week in 2011 we are going to host a Parishes’ Mission Week. This will involve a range of events centred on a pilgrimage / prayer walk linking the seven churches in the Group. The pilgrimage / prayer walk will echo the ancient Christian custom of ‘beating the bounds’ when clergy, churchwardens and parishioners would walk the boundaries of a parish in Spring praying for blessing on the people, animals and crops of the parish, seeking a good harvest in the Autumn. Our pilgrimage/prayer walk will be open to everyone who wants to take part in it, for however long or short a period. The idea is to begin in Kinawley on the afternoon of Palm Sunday (17th April) with a short service of worship and then to walk to Swanlinbar church for an evening service, pausing at set points along the way for a Bible-reading and to say together the Lord’s Prayer. Monday will see us move on to Templeport, Tuesday to Newtowngore, Wednesday to Corrawallen, Thursday to Kildallon and Friday to Ballyconnell for our final service: a renewal of Baptismal vows. On Saturday we will complete the circuit, returning to Kinawley. We will complete our Parishes’ Mission with special Easter services, including services of Holy Communion in our parish churches.
More details to follow . . . . . . And in the longer Term At our ‘Away Day’ we spoke of developing SMART projects. These are projects that are:
This has led to the idea of establishing ‘12 x 12’ groups. The idea is to encourage groups of people in our parishes to get together to run a project for one year. Ideally, the groups should have around twelve members and run their project for twelve months, hence the title ‘12 x 12’. Some suggestions for projects include anything from organising carol singers, through putting together a team of people to offer practical help within the parishes to arranging an overseas trip to support an orphanage or mission. The sky is the limit and now is the time to begin to think of what might be achieved in the future…..
September 2010 |
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Everyone is encouraged to join in prayer for the ongoing work and life of our group. The meetings are for 1 hour only beginning with a cup of tea. .
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Surgery Hours |
 Richard will be available in the Church office, Tomregan hall, Ballyconnell at the times on the left. |
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Day |
Date |
Time |
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| Thursday | 16th September | 1.30 - 3.30 | |
| Saturday | 25th September | 11 am - 1 pm | |
| Friday | 1st October | 10 am - midday | |
| Thursday | 7th October | 9.30 -11.30 | |
| Wednesday | 13th October | 9.30 - 11.30 | |
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Sunday School Leaders An important meeting for leaders will be held on Thursday 23rd September at 7 pm in Ballyconnell Minor hall. As well as reminding ourselves of safeguarding trust issues we will be looking at the year ahead. Leaders and anyone else interested are also invited to a special training evening on Teaching the Bible using Story Telling and Drama. This takes place on Thursday 23rd September in the Salvation Army Church Enniskillen at 7.30pm. |
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Usually meeting on the 2nd Tuesday each month, the opening service for the Mothers Union will be at 8pm in Kildallon on Tuesday 14th September. This will be led by Rev Hazel Hicks. Members and those wanting to look in perhaps for the first time are warmly invited. As well as the service we will be able to catch up on the latest plans for the coming year. Regular members are also encouraged to bring their annual membership fees along. |
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Just a short note to let folk know that the Annual Gift Day for St. Peter’s Templeport will be on Sunday 17th October. Templeport parishioners who normally give to the gift day will receive envelopes in the next newsletter. Contact Linda for further details. |
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Always a memorable night, the Swanlinbar Supper dance will be at 9 pm in the regular Enniskillen Venue on Friday 22nd October. Dancing is to Singing Digger Man. Anyone wishing to buy a ticket at the bargain price of £12 can do so by contacting Alice Gould on 048 6774 8749. |
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A great evening of Gospel Praise to mark the launch of a new recording by Lorraine Vance. This will be held in Cavan Crystal Hotel 18th September at 7.30pm. Supporting artists Margaret Johnston, New Dawn Quartet and Lynda Lindsay. For further information Tel: 00353 861 995943. |
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Congratulations to Alan & Michelle Gould on the birth of baby Laura Alice. Born on the 24th June to the delight of all the Gould family and brother and sister Ryan and Tara. There is also much delight in the Mitten family with the birth of William James to parents Roy and Rachel. Weighing 8lbs mum should be home at the time of reading this and Edith is a very proud big sister! We are also delighted that the Ivan and Lorna Hewson family were able to celebrate the baptism of twins Gavin and Bethany. It has been a difficult and hectic few months for the Hewsons and this was a hugely significant day. We continue to pray for the family as they seek to encourage their children in the journey of Christian faith.
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| Day & Date | Location | Parish |
| Thursday 16th September | the Sunday school Room | Kildallon |
| Thursday 23rd September | Kinawley Hall | Swanlinbar/Kinawley |
| Monday 27th September | St. Peter's Church | Templeport |
| Tuesday 28th September | Tomregan hall | Ballyconnell |
| Monday 4th October | Newtowngore hall |
Corawallen/Newtowngore |
The United Vestry date is yet to be arranged. |
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Beryl’s latest letter tells of her neighbours in Asunción taking pot shots at her cats with a shotgun (punishable by a jail sentence), and spreading broken glass bottles on her boundary wall. Temperatures vary in the Chaco from 34° one week to the mid-twenties the following week. Local resident Miguel was working for an unqualified electrician, fell 5 m. from a concrete post, which then fell on him and killed him. Len Hollingsworth 19th July 2010 |
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Do you remember your school days? I expect you do, probably with a few yarns as well. Yesterday I looked up a few of my old class on the internet. I found it fascinating to find out what some of the folk I spent key years of my life with were now doing. Most had moved a distance. Some were now happily married. One was a very successful chef. I managed to contact an old friend who I hadn’t been in touch with for over 25 years. I was amazed at some of the things he remembered, some of which I had long forgotten. For him life since had been a very real struggle and he now works with drug addicts. As I continue to try and contact folk in my old class the starting question is, “I’m curious to know how you are. How are you doing?”
Mother’s Union 
Gift Day
Harvest Concert & Supper 
Swanlinbar Supper Dance
Gospel Evening 
Celebrations
There were also celebrations in the Fisher family as Louise Sharon Fisher was married to Michael Betts in St Cuthbert's, Leicester in England on 29th July. Both are to remain teaching in Leicester. It was great to see Louise with us recently still radiant after the joy of the summer’s big day! We do pray for both Louise and Michael in their married life together as they continue to grow their relationship in England. 
Mark Crawford, eldest son of Frederick and Margaret Crawford, Mullaghgarrow, Kinawley (parishoner of St Paul's Church Kinawley) has graduated recently from Queen's University Belfast, with a Masters of Engineering (MEng) First Class Honours Degree in Civil Engineering. Mark is currently working on civil engineering projects in Edinburgh. 
Vestry Meetings 
Letter from South America
The Chaco covers about 60% of Paraguay and as one travels north, its nature changes. Leaving Asunción on the Trans-Chaco Highway, the Lower Chaco begins almost immediately. Here it is beautifully green at present, but about one third of the way to Bolivia the Middle Chaco takes over. This is just around the right turning to Brazil, at Pozo Colorado. Here there is less foliage and the landscape becomes one of scrub and indeterminate bushes. About 85 km. beyond Pozo Colorado one finds Beryl’s house and clinic. It’s still not halfway to Bolivia, and it will be another 200km. or so before the High Chaco makes its mark. This isn’t mountainous “high”, for until then the land rises at 1cm. per kilometer. In the High Chaco one can use the term “desolate”. We are reminded of the fine balance upon which life, especially human life, exists. Here one finds warnings such as one would find in Death Valley- walk for 20 minutes from your car without a head-covering, and your life will be in great peril. Take rations for several days, plenty of water, your mobile phone (you might just get a signal) and motor spares, as well as extra fuel.
West Sector Community Forum
Dear the Swanlinbar and Kildallon Sunday Schools
Cavan Beekeepers Association
Time for a smile! 
If you have a digital camera or a camera on your mobile phone please take photographs of your local parish activities. We would love to hear from you or, just send your photos to the group office. 
