renewing vows, making new friends, and a fantastic use of technology in church

Just back from Antrim, where I was visiting friends as they renewed their wedding vows and had their marriage blessed by the Roman Catholic Church. Having come to faith at the age of 19 in a very ecumenical church (it was a united Anglican and Baptist church), I have never really understood the divisiveness of church tradition, and the willingness of people to hate others simply because of the church they are affiliated with. Yes I know (as much as an English exile can) the historical context, the pains, battles and oppression of both sides of the Catholic/Protestant divide. I understand the arguments of both sides in the current fights and tensions within my own Anglican tradition, and my sympathies, much like the church, are divided. Jesus prayed that the church “may be one, as I and the Father are one”, he taught us to pray that we may forgive those who hurt us, called us to love our enemies. So we vilify them, dehumanise them and claim their faith is less than ours, so that we may feel more Godly, more superior, more holy. Or rather than engage with those we don’t understand or have disagreements with, we pity them, look down on them, or simply ignore them. That is what I dont understand.

Yes, I’m oversimplifying - the pain on all sides of the debates in the multitudinous divisions within the worldwide church is deep-seated, deep-rooted. It takes courage and commitment for all to deal with in a realistic fashion, that we may grow and move forward in life and in faith.

Anyway, I digress. The renewal of vows for Bob & Tory was a fantastic event, and my first trip to NI. Father Tony Devlin, the RC parish priest conducting the service, kindly and generously invited me to take part. To be honest, I was expecting to do a reading at the most so didn’t take robes, only a collar and a clean shirt. I got to the church, which was beautiful, airy and light despite its exterior (very dark) and its nickname within Antrim as the Black Chapel (or Grey chapel since the black tower was pulled down). Fr Devlin split the service between us: the readings, the prayers, the nuptial blessing were mine to adapt and lead, giving me my homework at the rehearsal. He lent me a priest’s cassock-alb and a beautiful golden stole, and welcomed me as a fellow priest in his church without worrying about my tradition or gender, even allowing me to import a little piece of our own Wedding Rite into the service. In a Northern Ireland recovering from the turmoils of a lifetime, he showed himself to be a Godly and courageous man, as do many of the Clergy in NI. My prayers are with him and his congregation as they continue to grow together.

St Comgall’s itself has a couple of fantastic technological ministries which deserve mention. They, like many other churches in the UK, have members from all over the world - Eastern European workers, foreign students and others who have moved into the area. A webcam is installed in the church, and Mass is broadcast to all who have access. For those special events and occasional offices, family unable to attend can log onto the church website and still be a part of the service, in their own home, wherever in the world that may be. For others a radio is provided (pretuned, with batteries) so that congregants suffering illness or the frailites of age can still be a part of the Mass. The full service is broadcast each Sunday over a 4 mile radius. The radios are free for all who need them, for however long they need them. Visit St Comgall’s for more info or the webcasts and Mass times. Its a fantastic ministry to members both worldwide and local, and one which I wish my 2 small congregations could afford…