150th Anniversary Service for Mission to Seafarers, Belfast
150 years ago on Sunday 14th March, the Mission to Seafarers in Northern Ireland commenced its outreach and pastoral support in Belfast Lough - then a distinctly maritime location.
Despite the many changes over the years, the work of the Mission continues today to cater for the needs of the merchant services and world of seafaring, with a busy presence in Belfast Harbour at the 'Flying Angel Centre'.
To mark the significance of a century-and-a-half’s work and to give thanks to God for the Mission’s witness, a special Anniversary Service will take place on Sunday 14 March 2010 in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, at 3.30pm.The Service will also include the commissioning by the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Revd Alan Abernethy, of the Revd Colin Hall-Thompson as Port Chaplain to the Mission to Seafarers in Belfast. Colin served as Rector of Ballymacarrett (Down Diocese) in East Belfast from 2003 to 2010 prior to taking up his new appointment as Port Chaplain.The preacher at the service will be the Revd Canon Huw Mosford, the Mission to Seafarer’s Director of Chaplaincy and a former Trustee of the society.
The Mission to Seafarers is an Anglican society which also works with members of other church traditions. It serves seafarers of all races and creeds through a network of full- and part-time chaplains, staff and voluntary helpers in over 300 ports around the world. Seafarers face danger, loneliness and long periods of separation from loved ones and many continue to depend on the work of the Mission for support.