New Year's Message

Rev. Colin Hall-Thompson gave a most entertaining, amusing, anecdotal, whistle-stop tour of his life and ministry which centred on reconciliation. He advised that having left Campbell College he had started in business as a Chartered Surveyor but was drawn to Theology and Church of Ireland Ministry. He was posted as a Curate to Rathfarnam, Dublin and after a couple of years as Priest in Charge in a small parish in Cork. He revealed that he had an excellent time during the 5 years he was there which had been a formative time for his daughters. He then returned to Northern Ireland and spent 10 years in Doagh, Ballyclare before being called to Ballymacarret, East Belfast. For the last 10 years he has been with the Mission to Seafarers ministering with an “all nations” approach to all sorts of nationalities and creeds. He concluded that his life had been influenced by C.S.Lewis’s book Mere Christianity and the Bible text “Love your enemy”. President Ken thanked him for his frequently self-deprecating address with its straightforward theme of reconciliation.