THE MINISTER of the First Derry Presbyterian Church, which overlooks
the Bogside area from within the city’s walls, has said he was
overwhelmed by the cross-community response to the reopening of the
church at the weekend after a nine-year closure.
Rev David Latimer
said he hoped the refurbished church, which was closed in 2002 because
of dry rot, would become a shared space in the city centre for people of
all religious and political beliefs.
After a £2.4 million (€2.8
million) renovation project, the church was reopened on Saturday.
A
Service was held in the church at which two babies
were baptised and a gala musical performance for peace took
place.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Catholic Bishop
of Derry Dr Séamus Hegarty attended Saturday’s interdenominational
ceremony.
In the days leading up to the ceremony a number of groups were
given a private tour of the renovated building by the Rev Latimer,
among them a group of ex-republican prisoners and residents of the
Bogside, Brandywell and Creggan areas.
“What we are doing here is
happening in a God-given opportunity. The temperature in this shared
city of ours is defrosting and the Presbyterian community has a part to
play in that process. I have 240 families in my congregation who have
given me their unswerving loyalty. Yes it is fair to say that a very
small minority does not agree with what I am trying to achieve here,
that maybe I’m going too fast in a particular direction, but I can buy
into that well-founded pragmatism,” said the Rev Latimer.
“During
my time as padre to the 204th North Irish field hospital in Afghanistan
in 2008 I became more determined than ever before to make sure that this
project would proceed. That was a horrible time . . . I saw war and . .
. what I experienced there made me more determined to bring
togetherness to my own city,” he added.
He said he was delighted
that so many neighbours attended a Presbyterian worship for the first
time. That it was terrific for his congregation to return to their
spiritual home after such a long absence.
Rev Latimer added that
there had been a Presbyterian church on the site since 1690.
The
building was badly damaged in an arson attack in 1984 but what happened
over the weekend in terms of reaching out could only be good.