IRISH NEWS BULLETIN

Coping with corona

Photo above – Outside Drumbo Parish Church yesterday. Social media invite – Free Open Air Delicious Filter coffee (carry out cups-or bring your own)…on tap till 12MD! Also for all mums, we had pansies for Mothering Sunday…so if you call today please lift one for mums and ladies! #mothersday #foodbank #ballylesson #pray #nofear

Churches in Eglinton respond to Coronavirus challenge

Photo above – Eglinton Churches Together is responding to the COVID–19 public health crisis by introducing a free service for local people in the Eglinton and Greysteel areas who are self–isolating or feeling vulnerable.

Clergy and members of the three main Churches in the area are joining with Eglinton Community Centre to offer practical help and moral support. More than three thousand homes in the two villages and surrounding areas are to be leafletted with flyers explaining what assistance is available and providing contact details.

Three individuals from the churches have been nominated as ‘contact persons’ who can be telephoned by members of the community. Volunteers will be available to pick up and deliver shopping, collect medicines and other urgent supplies, and post mail. Church members will also be available for friendly phone calls to those who are feeling lonely or anxious.

The churches involved are St Canice’s Church of Ireland Church, Faughanvale Roman Catholic Parish and Faughanvale Presbyterian Church. The Rector of St Canice’s, Rev’d Canon Paul Hoey, said: “We, in Eglinton Churches Together, have already been responding prayerfully to the public health emergency, but we felt that it was important to respond in a practical way, too. There will be many people in our community – neighbours of ours – who will be hurting in the weeks and months ahead. Some will be self–isolating. Many will be anxious. Some will be experiencing financial distress. We want to be there for them, to help them and support them.”

Canon Hoey has urged those who are feeling vulnerable or who are self–isolating to call any of the numbers on the leaflet which is popped through their doors and assures them help will be on hand.

Worshippers flock to the internet to stream St Patrick’s Day Masses

St Patrick’s Day Masses were streamed live on the internet from dozens of parishes on Tuesday after the public were warned against attending mass gatherings at churches.

Archbishop Eamon Martin live-streamed Mass from an empty St Patrick’s Cathedral in Co. Armagh, during which he urged an ‘outpouring of the works of mercy towards the sick and vulnerable’, and for ‘a spirit of generosity and self-sacrifice, compassion and charity in Ireland, and across the world’.

At the suggestion of the Bishop of Waterford, church bells rang at 11am across the country yesterday. The Waterford diocese urged people not to turn up in large numbers for the bell ringing.

In an email to priests and parishes, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said yesterday’s bell ringing was ‘a reminder of the faith that has sustained the people of our island throughout the centuries’.

Although many churches remained closed for Masses, some found novel ways to stay open.

St Kevin’s Church on Harrington Street in Dublin divided its Latin Mass congregation into three separate St Patrick’s Day Masses, so as not to surpass the 100-person limit for indoor events. People with surnames that start with the letters A to F were asked to go to the 9am Mass, G to M were asked to go at 10am and N to Z at 11am.

The church also cordoned off pews and instructed parishioners to sit three feet apart with a maximum of three people per pew.

The Kerry diocese continued to hear Masses without a congregation. The Kenmare parish livestreamed two Masses yesterday and will broadcast another today and tomorrow at 10am. The diocese will decide tomorrow on whether to keep Masses closed to the public for the coming weeks.

Elsewhere, in a streamed homily, the Bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown, criticised the Northern Ireland leaders, consumerism and the legalistion of abortion on both sides of the border.

‘Political parties suggest new structures and they promise that they can deliver the necessary changes. But St Patrick would say that he offered good news and not just new structures that might look well on a drawing board or in an election slogan,’ he said.

‘We have to learn from the mistakes of the past. But that does not mean proposing a fantasy future that will simply end up repeating past errors and sacrificing children’s welfare on the altar of the adult’s right to choose,’ he added.

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Current crisis an opportunity for real Christian community

Rt Rev’d Andrew Forster, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, announcing the arrangements for worship during the present emergency, also encouraged parishioners to continue to look out for one another and ensure that anyone who is struggling as a result of the crisis receives the support they need.

He said: “In the midst of crisis, we have an opportunity to show what real Christian community is all about.

“Stay in touch with one another. Keep an eye on your neighbours, especially those who are older, those who are more vulnerable and those who are lonely.

“Look after them. Don’t do anything that puts their health at risk. Make sure they’re okay.

“Some in our Church family and in the wider community will be experiencing financial hardship.

“Be generous. Give to charities. Support local foodbanks. Let us show what real community is all about.”

The Bishop expressed his regret at having to take the measures regarding worship in the face of what he described as a ‘rapidly changing situation’.

He said: “We, at diocesan level, will be in regular communication with parishioners.

“No bishop wants to suspend services – especially not a Church of Ireland bishop on the Feast Day of St Patrick. But it is done for the right reasons and with people’s best interests at heart.”

God in creation

In love, O Lord, all your works have begun; by love you sustain them and in your love our life is everlasting.
So let the beginning and ending of all our loving be to see you O God, for ever and ever.