Diocese of Down & Dromore

Last year, at Diocesan Synod, the Revd Nigel Mumford from Albany diocese preached at the Holy Communion service.  There was complete silence in the room, and in the foyer, when he described his experience of being a young Royal Marine on the streets of Belfast in the early 1970's.  He had grown up in a clergy family and had just become a Christian as he started out on his Army career.

Many of those at the Synod had never heard the Troubles described from a young soldier's perspective before.  Nigel had three tours of duty during which he witnessed his best friend killed beside him on a North Belfast street, was shot at on three occasions and blown up five times, but his injuries were not purely physical - after six and a half years he was medically discharged from the Army suffering from post traumatic stress and spent six months requiring hospitalisation.

Nigel vowed never to return to Belfast and it must have been an extremely difficult decision for him to make to return to a place which had so many painful memories.  During his return visit he went back to some of the areas he had patrolled as a young soldier. With the help and companionship of Brother David Jardine, of Divine Healing Ministries, he was able to lay to rest many of his ghosts associated with our Troubles.

Nearly a year later, Nigel is making another trip to Belfast.  He will be speaking on ‘The Healing of Trauma' at three services in the city.  The first is on Monday, 28th April, at 1pm at St George's Church, High Street, Belfast.  Another opportunity to hear him speak is at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast that same evening, starting at 8pm.  The following evening, Tuesday 29th, Nigel will have his final speaking engagement at St Finnian's Church on the Cregagh Road, Belfast at 8pm.

Today Nigel, ordained in the Episcopal Church in 2005, works with many of the veterans from the Iraq and Vietnam wars.  In the early 1990's his healing capabilities became apparent and he sold his business to concentrate on the healing ministry.  His work is not entirely related to trauma suffered by war veterans, but includes victims of domestic, physical and sexual violence and abuse.  He is currently the director of the Healing Ministries of Christ the King Spiritual Life Centre in New York, which is in the diocese of Albany which enjoys a companionship link with the diocese of Down & Dromore.