Greg Daly
Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ of Raphoe diocese. Parishes have been urged to look out for the elderly and vulnerable during the cold spell, and use Church structures to boost rural solidarity.
Raphoe’s Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ called on people coming to Christmas services to think of their neighbours and perhaps offer them a lift to Mass during poor weather, telling The Irish Catholic: “Some people are more confident than others about driving in winter conditions. It would be a sensitive thing for people who are confident to offer a lift to their neighbours to help them get to Christmas services.”
Commenting on how “slippery underfoot” he had found it when heading to early morning Mass, Ireland’s most recently ordained bishop said, “I felt for people going to the daily Mass, who often can be quite elderly. It is very hard on them. I hope they’ll be careful and look out for one another.”
Similar points would have been made by many priests in their homilies over the weekend, Killaloe’s Bishop Fintan Monahan said.
“I think an awful lot of priests would have mentioned it at the end of Mass,” he told The Irish Catholic, noting how in Ennis there has been a strong emphasis in looking after elderly neighbours during the cold snap, along with those who are homeless, who freezing temperatures have left especially vulnerable.
The work of the Society of St Vincent de Paul is particularly important for helping those in danger of homelessness, he added, saying that “Church structures have worked so well”.
While people in rural areas might know each other better than those in towns, physical isolation can pose a real challenge, he added, and one that Church structures can help address.
“Parishes are doing it already in a very organised way in conjunction with community daycare centres, where if somebody doesn’t turn up they make sure to check in on them. There’s a serious effort to make sure minibuses call in on people and make sure they keeping well,” he said.
“The whole thing is just being alert at this kind of year, and looking out for other people, but we get so caught up in our own thing we can forget to look out for other people,” he said, adding, “it was probably different in the past, but nowadays we may not have as much time as we used to have, and we don’t always think of other people.”