CARRICKFERGUS UNITY PILGRIM VISITS 2007

Sunday 18th March is your opportunity to make a 'friendly visit' to another Church service in Carrickfergus.

Three churches will be visited;  Downshire Presbyterian,  St Colman’s Church of Ireland, Larne Rd and Gateway Church, Governors Place. .  The ministers of these churches meet monthly with Fr Dillon, our parish priest.  So it would be good to extend this to the people in the pews through Unity Pilgrim visits.  This is the third time these visits have taken place.  If you haven't taken part before, you are very welcome to do so.   If you took part before, you are welcome back again.

The hope is that these friendly, no strings attached, visits will be an opportunity for as many of our parishioners as possible to ‘boundary cross’ into another church environment, particularly if they have not done so before. 

If you are a parishioner reading this, please take this rare opportunity to go out as an ambassador for the parish, bringing God's Spirit of friendship, acceptance, reconciliation and love to our brothers and sisters in other Churches in Carrickfergus, as they gather on a Sunday morning, just as we do, to give our common Lord the worship, praise and thanksgiving due to His name.

PLEASE MEET HERE IN THE PARISH CHURCH AT
9-30am SHARP FOR A SHORT COMMISSIONING PRAYER, BEFORE SPLITTING UP INTO GROUPS TO VISIT THE THREE CHURCHES.

The times of the services are as follows:
Downshire Presbyterian Church,  10-00am
St Colman's Church of Ireland,  10-15am
Gateway Church,  10-30am

If you have preference please let the coordinator know which Church you would like to visit.

Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR.

tells how the

Unity Pilgrims began

On Memorial Sunday in November 1994 I decided, on a sudden impulse, to go on my own from Clonard Monastery to worship with a congregation of the Church in the Shankill. I cannot remember now which one it was. It just seemed right to me that I should worship together with them on that special Sunday. The IRA cease-fire had been announced on August 31st and the Loyalist cease-fire had followed on October 13th. 

Some grace drew me back on the following Sundays to visit other Shankill congregations and share in their worship. Gradually I began to bring others with me - initially Catholic members of Cornerstone Community. 

On the Catholic side pilgrims came mostly from local parishes of the Falls, though some came from further afield. All of them had some link with Clonard Monastery through various associations or devotions at the monastery. An average of seven or eight would go on any particular Sunday. People drew one another to the pilgrimages. Usually we went from Clonard in two or three cars to the Church we were visiting.

We arranged the day of the visit with the minister beforehand. We have been present in Shankill congregations for the celebration of Holy Communion, for Baptisms, for Harvest Services and for Memorial Services honouring those who died in the Great Wars. But generally the worship we shared was an ordinary Sunday Service with hymns, prayers, readings from scripture, an offering and a sermon. 

Initially for all the Catholic pilgrims the journey to the Shankill involved some fear of the unknown. But for those who continue making the pilgrimages, the fear has given way to a sense of blessing and of privilege. We recognise we are going to a holy place  "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them". We have a sense that in this simple gesture God is using us and that through the pilgrimages the Spirit is at work leading us into a deeper communion in Christ, breaking down old walls of separation.

The pilgrims gather in Clonard Monastery about thirty minutes before the service is due to start in the Shankill Church. Before setting out we always take a while to focus ourselves in Jesus' prayer: "Father, may they all be one". We see our visits as planting new seeds of friendship and prayer between the congregations of the Church in the Shankill and those in the Falls and as a communal response to Jesus' command "Love one another as I have loved you". That command binds us not only as individuals but also as congregations of the Church. We trust that the Holy Spirit will make the little seeds grow into the full unity of faith and mission which he desires for us all.

Our experience is that we get an ever warmer welcome from the regular members of the Shankill congregations. They are clearly delighted that we come. Where it is leading all of us, we leave to God's unfolding. We know it is good being together to be taught by the Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses to Jesus who makes us one. 

When the worship is over it is often hard to get away as members of the congregation and the "unity pilgrims" linger on sharing memories from earlier times and just delighting in being together despite the dividing wall.

The pilgrimage of the day always gets a mention in the Clonard Monastery Sunday Newsletter. The Prayers of the Faithful for the day include a petition for God's blessing on it. In that way all who come to the Sunday Eucharist in Clonard Monastery know what is happening and have the opportunity to identify with the particular pilgrimage.

There have been changes in the clergy of the Shankill since we began. New ministers have come to two of the Methodist congregations. One of the ministers when leaving wrote to me: "Do keep praying for our congregation and its leaders that they will leave the past behind for good and seriously move forward to engage in full fellowship with your parishes". The fundamental imperative is that we keep praying for one another with great faith. Earlier one of the present Shankill ministers called what has taken place so far "a miracle already happening". 

The characteristic of "unity pilgrims", their gift to the Church, is a dynamic "yearning" for the unity of Christians. Unless we "yearn" for this great gift of God, we are very unlikely to do anything to bring it about. "Yearning" creates an energy in our hearts for the work of reconciliation. Divided Christians ought to "yearn" for one another as St Paul yearned for the Christians of Philippi: "God is my witness how I long for you all in the heart of Christ Jesus".

Just as parishes have Ministers of the Word and Ministers of the Eucharist, I wish that each Catholic parish would have a group of "unity pilgrims" and mandate them to link the parish congregation with other congregations of the Church. The unity of the Church is realised in friendship and in prayer before it is worked out in doctrinal agreements and legal arrangements. The parishioners who become "unity pilgrims" take on a certain leadership in this great project.

In my early years at Clonard Monastery I would look out with "yearning" at the Shankill from the top floor of the monastery. The dividing wall, called the Peace Line, stands between us. A verse from psalm 41 came to embody my longing to be among the Shankill people in friendship and prayer: "When can I enter and see the face of God". Now, the "unity pilgrims" enter and see! We search for the way forward. We support all those who are trying in any way to renew relationships between the people of the Falls and the Shankill and between divided people wherever they are. We are all in God's hands. 

If the "yearning" is in the hearts of its members, each congregation of the Church will easily develop a group of "unity pilgrims" to act on its behalf. To form such a group is a sign that a local congregation understands the loving and compassionate heart of God for our divided world.