APOSTOLIC WORK  DOWN & CONNOR

Apostolic Work, the Down and Connor charity led by lay people who support Irish missionaries abroad, marked World Mission Sunday with a concelebrated Mass  by 14 priests hosted by Drumbo and Carryduff parish in the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

In his homily Fr Derek Kearney, SMA, thanked all who had organised the Mass and recalled the great difference the generosity of  Apostolic Work has made and continues to make in the mission fields since its foundation in 1923.  

Fr Kearney said: “Over the years I received vestments and Mass kits and altar linens, finance for the purchase of parish vehicles. But  my deepest gratitude  lay in my ability to purchase medical books for medical and nursing students in Nigeria and Zambia.”

Delivering those books to the African students, Fr Kearney continued, “always filled me with profound gratitude when I saw the joy in their faces.”

He added that there could be no way of knowing how much healing was brought to numerous African patients over the years. 

Fr Kearney said along with the need for the proclamation of the Gospel abroad  “there is the realisation of the need to proclaim the Gospel  here at home in our post-modern culture.”

Mrs Valerie O’Brien, president of Apostolic Work in Down and Connor who also heads Carryduff branch thanked parish priest, Fr Michael Sheehan, for hosting the Mass and all involved in organising a celebratory lunch in the nearby Ivanhoe Hotel afterwards.

Chief celebrant, Fr Eugene O’Hagan, the Chancellor of the diocese, conveyed greetings and best wishes from Bishop Alan McGuckian who could not attend owing to his attendance at the Synod on Synodality  in Rome. 

This group picture after the Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Carryduff includes in the front row centre Mrs Valerie O’Brien, President Apostolic Work, Down and Connor, and from her left Fr Eugene O’Hagan, Chancellor, diocese of Down and Connor; Mrs Margaret Buckle, Vice President; Fr Derek Kearney, SMA and Fr Michael O’Sullivan, M. Afr. (Photo courtesy of  Peter O’Hara.)