My Faith Journey (Conversion Stories 2)

by Alan Lorrimer-Riley

Alan is pastor of the Snowdonia Christian Fellowship (website here). In this personal testimony he looks back at his journey from a Catholic upbringing to his vocation as Evangelical preacher and pastoral leader. 

    

Miners in County Durham in the 19th Century (photo: The Northern Echo)

I was born and brought up on Tyneside – a part of the post-war ‘baby boomer’ generation.

My dad was part of a family who had immigrated to the area from Ireland in the 1840s. They lived in an Irish enclave in one of the mining communities in County Durham. The Catholic Church was a central part of their community life. My dad, and his brother and sister, recalled getting abuse from other local children while they walked the 2 miles to the nearby Catholic school.

Saint John Henry Newman’s influence on my faith: A personal reflection (Conversion Stories 1)

In the following article Theresa Stiles, a new member of the church of Our Lady of Fatima in Bala, reflects on the background influences that led her to embrace the Catholic religion.

 

In the next article Alan Lorimer Riley, pastor of the Snowdonia Christian Fellowship, will describe his journey from a Roman Catholic youth to an adult faith, centred on the person of Christ and the witness of Scripture. 

____________________ 

Saint John Henry Newman, whose was canonised in 2019, and whose feast day falls on 9th October, [1], was granted the title ‘Doctor of the Church’ [2] by our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV on 31st July 2025.

Thoughts on 'Water Baptism'

In his latest contribution to the Forum Ray Caldwell sets out to clarify the place of baptism in the Christian life and the criteria for passing through water baptism. 

True, firm belief in Jesus Christ is an essential condition for receiving Christian baptism, he argues, and those who are reborn in Christ commit themselves to maintaining and deepening their faith in a world where they will be confronted with many arguments seeking to undermine it. 

When I am reading texts that interest me, mostly the four gospels, the book of Acts and select works of contemporary positive psychology, I often enjoy particularly affirming moments when brief verses or phrases 'speak to me'. This was my experience when I read an article about 'Water Baptism' at the Church Junction website:

'October 7': an exercise in investigative journalism

Two years ago today the Hamas attack on Israel took place. Richard Sanders is an English television producer, journalist and author who, in early 2024, finished four months of work with the Investigation Unit of the Qatari media network Al Jazeera, seeking to uncover the truth about what actually happened.

Readers may be interested in his report which is available on YouTube (click on the picture):

God and War. Some thoughts about how we interpret the Old Testament

by Father Ian Dalgleish

Photograph: ‘Damage in the Gaza Strip during October 2023’ by Al Araby 

Earlier in September, in connection with an appeal from the World Council of Churches for a Day of Prayer for Peace, members of the Catholic churches in Bala, Harlech and Gellilydan prayed at Sunday Mass for an end to the violent conflicts that are taking place in different parts of the world today. I offered the following reflection on the subject.

“Thou Shalt Not Kill.” Suicide, Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Some Considerations (2)

Sister Elizabeth John of the Dolgellau Carmel concludes her study of the rise in support for assisted suicide  

Sir Kier Starmer, Dame Esther Rantzen. Photo Sky News

Status of Assisted Suicide

The status of medically assisted dying has changed dramatically in the last twenty-six years. Switzerland permitted it before 1997. As of October 2022, it is legal in ten countries and parts of the USA: Switzerland (since 1942, but mostly from the 1980s), the Netherlands and  Belgium (2002),  Luxembourg (2009), Colombia (2014), Canada (2016), Austria, New Zealand, and Spain (2021), Australia (2022), plus twenty-two states or districts in the US. In 2023, medically-assisted dying was legalised in Portugal, but assisted suicide and euthanasia remain illegal. It is still being debated in Germany, France and Scotland.