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The County Cork town of Fermoy will once again have regular weekly Presbyterian services when the church there is reopened this Friday night 16-10-98 at 7.30pm by the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr John Dixon.
For some years the congregation has been without its own minister and the church building has been in need of major repair which the handful of worshippers could not afford to carry out.
However things are changing and earlier this year the Presbyterian Church under its Home Mission Development Scheme appointed Rev Sam Mawhinney as minister of its congregations in Clonmel, Cahir and Fermoy. Sam's arrival together with his wife Karen and their three children sparked off a determined campaign to restore the church to its fully functional status.
With the help of Karen's father, Fred Wilson, a retired builder, and a gift of £15,000 donated from Sam and Karen's home congregation of 1st Antrim Presbyterian, the church is now ready for its official reopening on Friday which will be followed on Sunday with a Harvest Thanksgiving service at 10.00am and then. Also helping with the renovations have been nearby Irish Mission workers Harry Moreland based in Cork and Keith Preston who until recently worked in Clonmel.
Commenting on the reopening of the church building Rev Sam Mawhinney said; "We truly believed that it was possible to maintain the work of our church in Fermoy and sincere wishes have been expressed to us from throughout the local community to reopen the church. People very much wanted a Presbyterian witness to continue in Fermoy."
It is fitting that the reopening will be carried out by the Moderator Dr John Dixon who is also the minister of 1st Antrim who have helped fund the refurbishment . He comments; "One of the great strengths of Presbyterianism is that the weaker are supported by the stronger to help maintain their ministry which is of equal importance, whatever the size of the congregation."
Issued by Stephen Lynas, Presbyterian Information Services. Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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