Black Santa may not sound too jolly but he was on song as he joined in with a choir outside St Ann’s Church in Dublin as part of the church’s 10th annual Christmas appeal, the Irish Times reports.
The term “black Santa” comes from “the thick black clerical cloak that one wears in the winter” combined with the fact that “everything we get in we give away to charities, every last cent”, said Rev David Gillespie.
On Thursday last he was joined by Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and his Church of Ireland counterpart, Dr Michael Jackson.
Archbishop Martin said there was still great generosity in people, even in these difficult times. “We have to, as a country, get together and rebuild in the right way. Not rebuild what was there before, but build up a new type of Irish society in which solidarity will be much stronger than thinking of yourself and speculating,” he said.
Archbishop Jackson said this year’s appeal had already been strong. “There is generosity in the hearts of people and on their hands, and this is a real manifestation of it.
“There is a much deeper sense of community there as long as we share it with one another,” he said, adding that this year’s appeal had proven successful, with €20,000 raised to date.