| THEY DID NOT give anything up for Lent: they set about fund-raising instead. The congregation of St Columba’s at Knock, in the part of Belfast that is in the diocese of Down & Dromore, raised no less than £6500 to add to the £1000 from church funds they had already sent to Bóthar, a Third World development agency that helps poverty-stricken families to solve their problems permanently.
Their aim was to purchase goats, and they raised enough money in Lent to buy 32, making a total of 37, together with veterinary support and training for the families who would receive them. “I simply wrote to all the parish organisations,” said the Rector, the Revd John Auchmuty (second from right), “and then went to visit them all to explain the need.”
Although he was new to his parish and it was his first Lent there, he says he was overwhelmed by the response from the 300 families that make up the parish. The confirmation class offered a shoe-shine to the whole congregation; there was a wine-tasting; a soup-and-cheese lunch was held for the entire parish; the choir had a “bubbly and bites” reception; and there was an art demonstration and art sale by some of the parishioners.
Individual subscriptions also came in, but the great thing was the way it brought people together, Mr Auchmuty says.
Bishop Edward Darling, the former Bishop of Limerick & Killaloe and one of the patrons of Bòthar, came to receive the cheque.
www.bothar.org
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