Diocesan News12 Nov 15

Tyrone Clergy in the Van of Refugee Relief Response

Two neighbouring County Tyrone clergymen are heading off to France this weekend with a vanload of relief aid for a refugee camp in the French port of Calais.

The Rector of Urney, Rev Mark Greenstreet, and the Rev Mark Lennox, Bishop’s Curate–in–charge in Strabane (pictured), will be taking with them supplies donated by parishioners from churches throughout the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe.

Rev Greenstreet says they’ve been inundated with donations since they issued their appeal for aid three weeks ago: “People have been so generous in their response. We’ve been contacted by people from the Church of Ireland, obviously, but by members of other churches as well, from right across the community.

“The refugee crisis has touched many in our community but some people were unsure what practical help they could offer to help ease the refugees’ plight. Our initiative offers a way of getting the right kind of supplies directly to those people who desperately need them.”

The two ministers contacted humanitarian organisations on the ground in Calais to find out which items were needed most urgently.

Rev Lennox says they were surprised at what they discovered: “One of the things they’re crying out for is pairs of socks. They told us they have lots of other clothes but are desperately in need of pairs of socks – especially with the onset of winter and new refugee families arriving all the time. We’ve also been asked to bring blankets, sleeping bags, children’s educational books and non–perishable food items.”

Originally the clergymen planned to transport their cargo in a box–trailer but a local business, Cita Furniture in Sion Mills, has now offered them the use of a van.

“We’ve all been moved by the images we’ve seen on television of refugees fleeing war in Syria and elsewhere,” Rev Lennox said, “and by the pictures of despair in makeshift camps. Mark and I felt compelled to respond to the crisis. In James 2: 14–17, we – as Christians – are called to action: ‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill”, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.’”

The two clergy will leave Strabane on Saturday morning to catch the ferry to France and will share the driving during their four day trip.