From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


Ireland: Catholics Aid Adventists in Time of Grief


From "Beckett, John" <BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org>
Date 19 Apr 2000 04:37:56

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
April 18, 2000
----------------------
Ireland: Catholics Aid Adventists in Time of Grief
Shannon, Ireland .... [ANN]

The tragic death of an Adventist teenager brought an offer of aid from the
Catholic Church to the Seventh-day Adventist community in Shannon, Ireland.

Amerley Amarteifio, 18, died from an asthma attack hours after completing
her final school exams. Recognizing that many would wish to attend the
funeral service, the local Catholic priest, in consultation with Bishop
Walsh of Clare, offered the Adventist family the use of the Church of Mary
Immaculate.

Adventist pastor Philip Rhodes officiated at the service on March 27 with
colleagues Pastor Michael Logan and Dr. Richard Clark and spoke of his
appreciation to the Catholic clergy for their aid in a time of great grief.

"This was a demonstration of the strong feeling of community that brought
people of different cultural and religious divides together in shared
grief," said Rhodes. "We are deeply grateful for this extremely generous
demonstration of Christian charity that has done a great deal of good for
the community."

The church which seats 750 was filled to overflowing, comments Rhodes. The
local school children were given the day off to attend the service in which
three Adventist pastors participated.

"It was my privilege to present Amerley's life sketch from information
provided by the family," says Pastor Logan, minister of the Adventist church
in Cork. "The church itself had been prepared specially for our service, and
the six priests who attended just wore suits, not vestments. The service
touched many people and the Catholic Church's kindness brought many people
together."

In a report in the Limerick Echo, local priest Fr. Ryan is quoted as saying,
"We knew they wouldn't have somewhere big enough to hold all the people who
wanted to mourn, so we offered the church." Then he added, "It wouldn't be
that normal, but we felt-why not?"

Pastor Rhodes personally delivered a letter to the Bishop thanking him and
the clergy for their kind actions. The Adventist community in Shannon is
small, with under 20 attending church.

"On behalf of the family we express our appreciation for the great number of
condolences received," Rhodes concludes. "Many have spoken of the service,
appreciating the message of hope presented." [Jonathan Gallagher]

----------------------
Contact Information: 
Communications Department
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600

Phone: 301-680-6300
e-mail: info@gc.adventist.org
web: http://www.adventist.org/


Browse month . . . Browse month (sort by Source) . . . Advanced Search & Browse . . . WFN Home