Ruadhán Jones
A picture of a young Sr Clare Crockett, the Derry nun who was killed by an earthquake in Ecuador. Bishop Dónal McKeown concluded the weeklong retreat in memory of Sr Clare Crockett by praying for her canonisation, as people tuned in from across the globe.
The retreat, organised to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Derry nun’s death in Ecuador, saw an average of 4,800 people tune into the livestream every day.
“The amount of engagement we’ve had during the retreat, it was unbelievable,” said Emmet Thompson, who ran the retreat’s digital outreach. “We had people tuning in through our social media platforms and our webcam from all around the globe. That was surprising. To see people from Toronto, New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, the UK, all of Ireland, Greece – it was just all around the world.”
Bishop McKeown of Derry celebrated the final Mass of the retreat, comparing Sr Clare’s faithfulness to St Joseph’s.
The retreat was “a celebration of God’s grace in a local girl whose family are here in front of us”, Bishop McKeown said.
Drawing on the three themes – dream, service and faithfulness – proposed by Pope Francis for the Year of St Joseph, the bishop of Derry said Sr Clare demonstrated all three.