Rodney Magennis
	In September we welcomed to St John's Rodney Magennis for an eight week Sunday placement from the Church of Ireland Theological Institute where he is in his first year for full-time ordained ministry. Rodney, aged 40, belongs to the parishes of Rathfriland and Ballyward. From a young age he attended St John's, Rathfriland with his parents. From that time he has known Canon Robert Jones who was then Rector of Rathfriland and Ballyward. He joined the Church Choir and became a Sunday school teacher. In 2001 he became organist in Ballyward Church, a post he held for 12 years until 2013. During this time he felt God calling and when his then Rector, Revd David Somerville, asked for anyone interested in becoming a Parish Reader, he put his name forward. That was his role from 2005 until 2014. On 4 October 2014 he was licensed as a Diocesan Lay Reader. He then applied for Ordination training and commenced at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute in Dublin at the end of September 2017.