“Chaplains will come and go but the church will be here foverver”

At 11 o'clock this morning, Canon Jim Hawthorne will hold his final service in Majorca, exactly 11 years to the day after taking over the chaplaincy of the parish of St Philip and St James in Son Armadans, Palma. Canon Jim said yesterday that the past 11 years in Majorca have been “demanding, stimulating, challenging, moving, very rewarding” and that he feels “privileged” to had been part of the community for the past decade. Canon Jim said that the highlights of his time in Majorca have been the “opportunity to have reached out beyond the bounds of the church,” and the way in which he has “been well received by the wider community, which are often easier to identify with than the piety of an established church congregation.” He singled out for particular mention the opportunity he has had to have worked in the prison “with young people who, for a variety of circumstances or mishaps, have found themselves on the other side of the law.” “I have often found more Christianity in them, than from those people who stand on top of mountains preaching their profession of faith.”