Mags GarganEach parish in the diocese to be prayed for each week
The Diocese of Achonry has launched an initiative asking people to pray for a different parish of the diocese each week as part of a diocesan Year of Prayer.
The idea for the project came from a meeting of priests and lay people early last year to discuss the ways to meet the challenge of the fall in numbers practising the Faith.
“The question arose of what we can do about it and where to start,” Msgr Tommy Johnston, Vicar General told The Irish Catholic. “We decided the best place to start is to pray – that is where Jesus started before his public ministry – so we dedicated this year to prayer.”
Parish newsletters
A Diocesan Prayer has been composed and the diocese has drawn of up a schedule of parishes to be prayed for each week. A notice is also being published in parish newsletters with information about the nominated parish, to increase awareness of the different communities in the diocese.
Bishop Brendan Kelly also recorded a pastoral letter on DVD which was broadcast in every parish in the diocese in the New Year, asking parishioners to pray for their neighbours as an “essential first step” in renewing the Faith.