Guest Speaker, Mr Arthur Rainey, with John Buchanan [left]
On Saturday morning, 22 November 2025, Gordon Moore and his team served a hearty breakfast to some 2 dozen men who had come together in the Peter Good Hall for a meeting of the Omagh Methodist Men’s Breakfast Fellowship. Once the tables were cleared John Buchanan welcomed everyone and began by sharing some of the reflections that had struck him at the recent funeral of an old friend from the world of accountancy. In the balance sheet of life, the bottom line is that your fate and future is in the hands of God who will reach out to those whose faith and commitment is in his son, Jesus Christ.
The guest speaker was Mr Arthur Rainey talking about the Ulster Project, a scheme rooted in practical Christianity and the blessings that flow from bringing together young people from different backgrounds and traditions. Arthur illustrated the purpose of the Project by displaying the Project’s banner – four overlapping and interlocking circles representing the mixing and mingling of Roman Catholic and Protestant boys and girls with similar counterparts in the United States.
On 1st November 2025 two Archbishops, two Bishops and the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland together with a large congregation from both sides of the community met in Enniskillen to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Ulster Project. In the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth II, the service was held jointly in St McCartan’s Cathedral Church and St Michael’s Roman Catholic Chapel which face each other across Darling Street.
Fifty years on from its foundation in 1975 when the province was in turmoil the Project has slimmed down. In the early days 27 centres in 21 states across the USA and Canada hosted young people from 9 centres in Ulster including Belfast, Derry, Enniskillen and Omagh. At its height over 40 young persons from Omagh participated. Today the scheme operates with 7 centres in the United States and 5 in Northern Ireland.
Arthur concluded that a number of factors have contributed to the decline. Firstly, the Good Friday Agreement altered the perception of life in Northern Ireland in the USA. It appeared from the outside that peace had been established and the need for cross-community initiatives diminished. Covid put a halt to the Project for a time, a hiatus from which it has not fully recovered. The cost of living has made host families harder to find. Yet despite the perceived obstacles the Ulster Project continues to send young people from Northen Ireland on four-week visits to the United States where attitudes and values are challenged and unconscious prejudices replaced by trust, respect and friendship.
Many of those attending the breakfast know young people who have participated and who can readily testify to the lasting value of the scheme in the attitudes, minds and hearts of a generation not yet divorced from the divisions of the past. It was readily acknowledged that the ongoing success of the Ulster Project among the churches in Omagh is testament to the pioneering energy and drive of the late Fr. Kevin Mullan and his Protestant counterpart, Mr Ed Wiltshire.
Mr Rainey was thanked for his presentation by John Buchanan and warmly applauded.