Longford parishioners gather to express gratitude to Lay Pastor Ruth Galbraith

Local people gathered recently for a thanksgiving service for Church of Ireland Lay Pastor, Ruth Galbraith who is retiring after eight years service in the Ardagh Union of Parishes.

A sizeable gathering of parishioners came together on Sunday, April 27 at the Lecture Hall in Kenagh near St George’s Church of Ireland for a special thanksgiving service.

Ms Galbraith who served people living in the Ardagh-Kenagh-Ballymahon -Tashinny area said she enjoyed her eight years and it was a

"It was an absolute privilege and a joy to be in the parish with the parishioners for eight years, they were just so welcoming and supportive.

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"There had initially been four parishes and during that time we had them become one parish with four churches.”

Ms Galbraith described it as a lovely gathering organised by Bishop Ferran Glenfield and a special brochure booklet was also produced.

"The Bishop preached, there was a children's talk that I would have led, we had the children singing and the usual sort of service of prayers and reading."

The MC was George Farrell and Myrtle Kenny spoke on behalf of the parish while several presentations were made to Ms Galbraith.

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"It was a lovely gathering and they were all incredibly kind," Ms Galbraith added.

The departing lay pastor was presented with a photograph of her and Bishop Ferran Glenfield, a picture of the four churches, a swan made of Longford bog oak by Kevin Casey and with flowers by Tashinny National School.

Ms Galbraith was also gifted a poem written by parishioners, which was made into a little booklet in conjunction with their diocesan magazine.

"One of the special things was that the bishop called forward the various different ministries, the lay ministries and the priests that were in that, including Father Brian Brennan to lay hands on me while he pronounced the Aramaic blessing.

"That was rather lovely,” she added.

Ms Galbraith said it was a 'very personal' service.

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“It was a lovely gathering.

“I would say virtually everybody in the parish was there who was able to be there,” she added.

Ms Galbraith said there were eight parish readers in attendance along with Canon Janet and Canon David Catterall who would have once a month celebrated Holy Communion.

“That is because being lay, I can lead services and preach, but I can't celebrate Holy Communion or baptisms or weddings and so on.

“They helped out very much and previously it would have been Canon Trevor Sullivan.”

Ms Galbraith, who lives in Dublin, began travelling to the parish in February 2017 after taking up the role a few months after the conclusion of several years teaching at Sligo Grammar School.

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"I had been what would have been called a diocesan reader, and Bishop Glenfield invited me because there wasn't a possibility of an incumbent person who was full-time and ordained when Canon Bertie Kingston left.”

Ms Galbraith travelled to the Ardagh Union of Parishes every second weekend and she explained her administerial duties could be completed remotely when she was not there in-person.

During her eight year term, Ms Galbraith was tasked with with responsibilities for spiritual and pastoral affairs in the union, but also to be a 'go-to' person.

“There was certain things that I couldn't do because I wasn't actually ordained, I would ensure they were sorted and I would get somebody for them."

“They could not have made it in any way more special. And the fact that Bishop Glenfield had gone to a lot of trouble to organise a lovely service in conjunction with us and to come was the icing on the cake,” she concluded.