Lockdown grandson for new Presbyterian Moderator
It’s a great joy to be able to celebrate with one of your children and her family the birth of a baby
IT’S definitely a time for celebration in the household of the Presbyterian Moderator-designate the Reverend David Bruce.
While he looks forward to his installation in office next Monday evening — there was already a reason to celebrate.
For the Reverend Bruce and his family have told of their joy at the birth of their new grandson, Malek, who was born on Tuesday this week.
He and his wife, Zoe, already have one granddaughter named Marlow, aged 21 months and Malek’s sister.
Dr Bruce said: “One of the great joys of life is to be able to celebrate with one of your children and her family the birth of a new baby.
“It’s also so lovely for my wife, Zoe, and me.”
The baby’s parents are Dr Bruce’s daughter, Anna, and her husband, Nathan Mcconnell.
Anna studied theology and is now a make-up artist, and Nathan is a mentor with the Orchardville organisation, which is a registered charity and social enterprise unit committed to changing the lives of people with learning disabilities and autism.
The family have been living with Dr Bruce and his wife during lockdown.
He said: “This has given us an opportunity to get to know our granddaughter, Marlow, a little better and that has been a great experience. My daughter, Anna, and her family moved in with us at the end of January as they are between house purchases.”
Dr Bruce also has three other adult children — James, Harry and Ellen.
The Reverend Bruce, who succeeds the Rt Reverend Dr William Henry as Moderator, will be installed at a special ceremony in Church House, Fisherwick Place in Belfast on Monday June 1 — the date of the previously-scheduled Opening Night of the General Assembly which had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
However, the service will be streamed live for the benefit of church members and other interested viewers throughout Ireland.
The postponed meeting of the General Assembly will be held in the autumn, circumstances permitting.
Dr Bruce (62), the son of two medical doctors, was brought up in Banbridge and was a boarder at Campbell College.
He is secretary to the Presbyterian Church’s Council for Mission
in Ireland. He received 14 of the 19 Presbytery votes cast in the February election for Moderator-designate, and he is the first candidate outside a parish ministry in the past 20 years to have become Moderator.
He said, shortly after his election: “With the UK having left the European Union and we have entered the transition phase, a new set of political relationships will be formed on this island and beyond.
“As members of an all-island church, we will remain fully committed to our people and their witness on both sides of the border,” Presbyterian Moderator-designate added.
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