Leaders urge Ulster to pray for ill Paisley
27/1/12 PACEMAKER BELFAST. The Rev. Ian Paisley poses with fellow clergy before the Special Farewell Service in his honour after 65 years of Ministry at the Martyrs Memorial Church, on the Ravenhill Road, Belfast. Picture CHARLES MCQUILLAN/PACEMAKER
THE people of Northern Ireland have been urged to pray for the Rev Ian Paisley, who remains seriously ill in hospital.
The call came from the First and Deputy First Ministers yesterday as the Paisley family maintained their bedside vigil at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.
Dr Paisley is still being treated in the intensive care unit for suspected heart failure. The former First Minister and founder of the DUP was rushed to the hospital on Sunday, just 10 days after preaching his final sermon as a church minister.
There were reports yesterday that Dr Paisley had communicated with his family.
Both Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness have been in touch with the Paisley family.
A spokesperson for the two leaders said: “The First Minister and the Deputy First Minister have both been in contact with the Paisley family.
“They have offered their best wishes to Dr Paisley and his family and call on the community to give prayerful support to Ian and his family at this time.
“The First Minister and the Deputy First Minister would appeal for the Paisley family to be given the space and privacy they deserve and that their wishes are respected.”
Dr Paisley is a former moderator and founding member of the Free Presbyterian Church and was MP for north Antrim for almost 40 years.
His son Ian Jnr, who succeeded him at Westminster, was with other family members at the hospital through the day. He left at about 4.30pm without making any public comment on his father’s condition.
There had been concerns several years ago about Dr Paisley’s health, when he lost weight and looked gaunt.
But he made a good recovery from heart problems and while his voice was showing signs of obvious weakness, some people who were there for his farewell sermon at the Martyrs Memorial Church in Belfast on January 27 remarked on how well he appeared for his age.
After withdrawing from church and public life, he was planning to write his autobiography.
Dr Paisley’s five children - twin sons Ian Jnr and Kyle, an ordained minister as well, and three daughters, Rhonda, Sharon and Cherith - were among the 3,000 people attending his final address.
Free Presbyterian minister David McIlveen, who has worked closely with Dr Paisley for decades, said he remained hopeful that his close friend would recover.
“My thoughts and prayers are with Dr Paisley and his family at this time. I am very conscious how people will react to his condition at the moment but we are optimistic that things will improve,” he told the News Letter.
In Ian Paisley’s heartland of Ballymena yesterday, the DUP Mayor Hubert Nicholl said he was praying that Dr Paisley “will get over this ill-turn”.
“He has been very ill before and came through it – and hopefully he will come through it again. We pray that God will see fit to raise him up again even if it is to enjoy his retirement with his family.
“That is all we expect from him now when he is 85. I hope he gets time to finish his autobiography.”
Jim Flanagan, editor of the Ballymena Guardian, told the BBC that Mr Paisley had been able to communicate “to some degree” with family members.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
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