Press Releases17 Jun 13

G8 ‘IF’ Campaign Service in St Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen

On the eve of the G8 meeting at the Lough Erne Golf Resort today and tomorrow, St Macartin’s Cathedral in Enniskillen hosted an ecumenical service organised by the ‘Enough Food for Everyone IF’ campaign at which the Archbishop of York was the guest speaker yesterday afternoon.

This Service of the Word brought together the people of St Macartin’s Cathedral, St Michael’s Roman Catholic church (to which the service was also relayed), the Enniskillen Methodist and Presbyterian churches and others, welcomed by the Dean, the Very Revd Kenneth Hall; the Very Revd Canon Peter O’Reilly, parish priest of St Michael’s; the Revd David Cupples of Enniskillen Presbyterian church and the Reverend Kenneth Lindsay, Former President of the Methodist Church in Ireland.

In his sermon, The Most Reverend and Rt Hon. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York focused on the issue of the outrage of global hunger, saying that the needless deaths of 3 million children every year from malnutrition is ‘a great scandal and scar on all our consciences’. (Archbishop Sentamu pictured preaching at the service above, photo: Harrisons)

‘Enough Food for Everyone – IF’ is a coalition of over 200 organisations across the UK and Ireland, including Christian Aid, Tearfund, Trócaire, the Irish Council of Churches and Fields of Life. It received both the strong endorsement of the Church of Ireland General Synod through its resolution to support the call to the G8 leaders to take urgent action in tackling the root causes of hunger in our world and in the pre–G8 Statement issued by the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of Ireland: see http://ireland.anglican.org/news/4618

As part of the campaign letters signed by senior Irish church figures including the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin and Bishop Trevor Williams (Chair of Christian Aid Ireland) have been sent to Prime Minister David Cameron and An Taoiseach Enda Kenny asking that the world’s hungry were put at the top of the agenda at the G8 summit.

The service closed with a Blessing given by the Rt Revd John McDowell; the Most Revd Liam MacDaid; the Rt Revd Robert Craig, the Presbyterian Moderator and the Reverend Kenneth Lindsay.

Above: At the IF service (L–R) The Revd Alister Warke, the Revd Rob Clements, Archbishop John Sentamu, Bishop John McDowell, Dean Kenneth Hall (photo: Glenn Moore)