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2018 Joint Ecumenical Service on Day of Pentecost

 


Making preparations for the Joint Ecumenical Service on Day of Pentecost

On the afternoon of Sunday, 20th May 2018 at 3pm, the Day of Pentecost, the annual ecumenical service that has customarily been led by both Bishops of Clogher will take place this year at Camagh Bay looking out onto Inishmacsaint island on Lower Lough Erne.

The Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher, Right Revd John McDowell and the Roman Catholic Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Clogher, Monsignor Joseph McGuinness will lead this special outdoor service, together with local clergy; Chancellor David Skuce, Rector of Inishmacsaint Parish; Revd Fr Jimmy McPhillips, Parish Priest of Botha (Derrygonnelly) Parish and Revd Sampson Ajuka, of Devenish Parish Church. The singing will be led by local musicians.

There will be a talk on the history of Inishmacsaint given by local historian and past President of Clogher Historical Society, Mr. James McCanny.

Camagh Bay is just off the A46 from Enniskillen to Belleek and marshalls will be in place to advise on parking.

A warm invitation is extended to all to join in this occasion.

Refreshments will be available afterwards at the Tir Navar Centre, Derrygonnelly.

In the event of bad weather, the service will also be held in the Tir Navar Centre.

Directions to Camagh Bay - To reach Camagh Bay, take the Enniskillen to Belleek road and after approximately eight miles and just past Blaney Yoga Centre, take the road on the right marked “Camagh Bay Jetty and Slipway.” Follow the road past the jetty to the car park at the end.

History of Inishmacsaint - The name, Inis-maige-samh, means the island of the sorrel plain. The founding saint, Ninnid, lived in the 6th century. Rectors of the church appear in 15th and 16th century annals. A roofless church on the island is shown in a 1609-10 map, and it was probably still ruined in 1622, when there was a complaint that ‘the old church standeth in an inconvenient place’. The Protestant population appears to have worshipped in Sir John Dunbar’s church at Der¬rygonnelly until a new church was built at Church Hill in 1688, to be replaced in turn in 1831 by the present Inishmacsaint parish church at Benmore.
The cross stands just south west of the church, its two stones joined at the head with a mortice-and-tenon joint, visible in the break on the east side and is thought to be from the period between the 10th and 12th centuries.

Pentecost - The Day of Pentecost marks the end of the fifty-day season of Easter and the descent of the Holy Spirit in the upper room and the beginning of apostolic preaching, thus marking a defining moment in the origin of the Christian Church. Christian associations with the feast begin with Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-45.