More than 80 attend Age-Ability Committee dementia seminar

Wednesday October 22nd 2008

Canon Jim Moore, chairman, Age-Ability Committee; Bishop Alan Abernethy, Bishop of Connor; the Rev Dr Heather Morris, speaker; Mr Jeffrey Johnston, secretary, Age-Ability Committee; and Mr Roy Totton, committee member, at the seminar on dementia. More than 80 clergy and lay people from all over Connor Diocese attended a seminar on dementia organised by Connor Age-Ability Committee.

Speaker at the seminar in the Templeton Hotel, Templepatrick, on October 22 was the Rev Dr Heather Morris, Director of Ministry at Edgehill Theological College, Belfast.

Delegates were welcomed by the Rev Canon Jim Moore, chairman of the Age-Ability Committee, and committee secretary Mr Jeffrey Johnston. The Bishop of Connor, the Rt Rev Alan Abernethy, introduced Dr Morris with whom he worked closely in the past. Dr Morris has a strong interest in practical care and pastoral theology.

A group at one of the many tables at the dementia seminar in the Templeton Hotel. Bishop Alan told Dr Morris: “I know you will stimulate, encourage and even challenge us.”

Entitling her talk ‘The Pastoral and Spiritual Care of People with Dementia,’ Dr Morris looked at the background to dementia, the joys and sorrows of caring for someone with dementia, and how to care for a person with the condition.

The seminar aimed to prepare clergy and others involved in pastoral care to minister to those with dementia and addressed the nature of dementia, the spiritual needs of someone with dementia, and pastoral responses.

It followed the publication of Connor Age-Ability Committee’s autumn 2007 report on Dementia entitled “Ageing Minds – Caring Church,” which aimed to broaden people’s understanding of a condition that is increasingly common.

Canon Jim Moore listens intently to the speaker at the seminar. The Rev Dr Heather Morris addresses delegates at the Age-Ability Committee seminar.