Rathlin church features in glossy magazine

Wednesday November 15th 2006

St Thomas’s Church of Ireland on Rathlin Island is featured in the December issue of the glossy magazine Country Living.

Rev Neal Phair, Priest-in-charge, Rathlin parish As part of a focus on Christmas in churches in remote parts of the country, Rev Neal Phair, Priest-in Charge of Rathlin, is interviewed about his ministry to parishioners on this small island off the north Antrim coast.

St Thomas’s Church, built in 1725 and renovated two years ago, is a special place of worship for some 15 households on Rathlin.

Services are held at 11am every Sunday during July and August, with a service of Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month. During the rest of the year, when bad weather can disrupt the ferry crossing to Rathlin, a service of Holy Communion is held at 11.30am every third Sunday.

Rev Phair, rector of Ballintoy, Dunseverick and Rathlin parishes, lives on the mainland, and takes the ferry out to Rathlin. If the weather is too bad on a particular Sunday, the service has to be delayed by a week.