The Church of Ireland Diocese of Connor

• News Archives
• March 2026
• February 2026
• January 2026
• December 2025
• November 2025
• October 2025
• September 2025
• August 2025
• July 2025

Stepping out in support of Northern Argentina Diocese

Wednesday March 18th 2026

The Rev Patrtick Barton, left, and fellow hikers from the Grouped Parishes of Ballintoy, Dunseverick and Rathlin, stepping out on one of their walks in support of Connor’s 2026 Lent Project with Northern Argentina.

The Rev Patrick Barton, rector of the Grouped Parishes of Ballintoy, Dunseverick and Rathlin, is putting his best foot forward in support of Connor Diocese’s 2026 Lent Project, and walking across all 70 townlands in the parishes!

This will be achieved over the course of 11 walks taking place through Lent, and Patrick and his hardy supporters are already well into their hiking programme.

The challenge is in support of the Sowing Seeds of Hope Lent Project initiated by Connor Diocese in partnership with the South American Mission Society (SAMS Ireland) to support rural and urban communities in Northern Argentina.

The first Lent Walk took place on February 21 when the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Rev George Davison joined a group of willing walkers to tackle the first 4.1-mile challenge across eight townlands.

Walk two was on February 26, with Patrick and a group of hardy hikers completing a rather wet 5.4 miles traversing 13 townlands.

RATHLIN ISLAND

The parishes then headed to Rathlin Island over the weekend of March 8 and 9, for three separate walks of differing lengths taking in all the island’s 22 townlands and the morning service in St Thomas’s Parish Church. Two days of very scenic walking for Patrick and the supporters who joined him over the weekend.

The next walk, planned for March 12, had to be postponed due to wind and heavy rain, but went ahead on March 14 with 6.1 miles and nine townlands covered.

Hardy hiker, the Rev Patrick Barton, who is raising funds for Connor’s 2026 Lent Project supporting communities in Northern Argentina.

Patrick said it was his love of walking which inspired this challenge.

“For a while now I’ve been considering the old practice of beating the parish bounds and have been fascinated by all the old townland names,” he said. “I thought ‘what if I could set foot in every townland in the grouped parishes?’ There are so many and it would take some time and cover some distance.

“Lent was coming up and the Seeds of Hope Lent Project seemed to gel well with my ambitions, so with a great deal of help from my wife Deborah, pouring over old maps we came up with the routes, avoiding busy roads for the main part.”

Patrick said the parishes have risen well to the challenge. “On every walk I have been joined by parishioners and friends of the parishes, even on a very wet early Thursday morning! It is great to be schooled in the proper pronunciation of the townlands and folk sharing stories as we walk down the ‘Haunted Glen’ or past ‘Sarah Bun’s’ old shop!

PRAYER

“Each walk starts with a prayer as we walk in solidarity with the Wichí people of the Diocese of Northern Argentina and ends with a blessing and tea and biscuits from the boot of my conveniently placed car.”

“There are 11 walks planned in total, three of those were on Rathlin, all bite-sized, maximum six miles and around two hours long,” Patrick explained.

“The walks culminate in Holy Week, Monday to Wednesday, with three shorter walks in stages, from Dunseverick Parish Church to Ballintoy Parish Church along the scenic coastline. In Holy Week I will try to maximize involvement with maybe a morning and evening shift to suit all abilities.”

By the end of this challenge, Patrick intends to have covered every one of the townlands of Ballintoy and Dunseverick with Rathlin Island on foot.

“That’s 16 townlands in Dunseverick, 32 in Ballintoy and a further 22 on Rathlin. From Ballygill North in the north to Carnlelis in the south, and Ballymoy in the west to Coolmaghera in the east,” he said.

POSITIVE

“It’s going great so far, with positive responses along the way far exceeding my expectations.” 

The aim, Patrick added, is to promote the Seeds of Hope Lent Project and raise funds for and awareness of the Diocese of Northern Argentina and SAMS work there.

“I’m inspired to try something along the same lines next Lent and maybe we could get a walking group together again, there is no better way to learn about each other than to walk and talk while enjoying God’s wonderful creation,” he said.

The Connor Diocese Lent project in conjunction with SAMS the South American Missionary Society, invites us to ‘walk alongside the Church in Northern Argentina,’ supporting the remote communities of the Chaco and in the city of Salta. 

You can support the efforts of Patrick and The Grouped Parishes of Ballintoy, Dunseverick and Rathlin with an online donation HERE.

Back to latest news