Reflection from Revd Mike Dornan
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Revd Mike Dornan, curate in Hillsborough, reflects on his first year in the ordained ministry. Mike was ordained priest on 13th June in St Columba's, Knock.
I was born and grew up in Knock, East Belfast where I lived until I went to University in Glasgow. After graduating (in Economics & Marketing), my work (in Financial Services) took me across the water for 15 years, initially to Glasgow, then to London, before returning to Northern Ireland in 1995.
It was there that I married Gill and our children Nick and Ciara were born.
This was a time of journeying into the unknown both personally and for our community. It was during the following ten years that God began drawing me increasingly closer into the life of the church first in Saintfield and then into what the future might look like through the Moneyrea Fresh Expressions Church plant, headed up by Revd Adrian McCartney.
My first year serving in Hillsborough has been both very challenging and unbelievably rewarding. Within 24 hours of Simon, my Rector, going on holiday, I had my first funeral to arrange, but through passionate prayer and the help of friends, this proceeded with the gracious approval of the family.
After this, all the other firsts didn't seem quite so daunting. The first Baptism, the first time I assisted at a wedding, the first school assembly and being there for those trying to deal with tragedy in their lives.
I look forward to the unknown challenges on the next stage of my spiritual journey (in ministry), content knowing that God equips each of us for the work he wants us to do in His name.
However, I feel the greatest privilege has been travelling along side those on their last journey, into the eternal presence of God.