Bro. Kevin Crowley and Fr Sean Donohoe with Pope Francis during WMOF 2018.
Photo: Damien Eagers Vocations Supplement 2020
Heroic Callings during Troubled Times
Chaplaincy, provision of food supplies and offering Church property as refuge are some of the ways religious orders in Ireland are reaching out to those need during the pandemic. This week The Irish Catholic asked three religious communities how they are coping, operating and helping society during the lockdown.
The first of these is Sr Mary Hanrahan PBVM of the Presentation Sisters, who serves as a chaplain at Arbour Hill Prison in Co. Dublin. As the only member of the team providing this service, Sr Mary’s position has become integral to the prison in the current crisis. “At present we are the only outside agency that are allowed into the prison,” she says. “The other agencies like psychology, probation etc. are working from their offices, but they are not being given access.
“As chaplains we have the same access that we always have had to the prisoners and prison staff. We are there all day doing what we try to do best which is to be a listening, supportive presence.” In terms of preventing prisoners from feeling isolated or lonely due to restrictions on physical visits from loved ones during the lockdown, Sr Mary offers materials as well as spiritual messages. “My congregation and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) are able to fund and support me in purchasing things like jigsaws, music compact discs and prayer cards which are important for clients who maybe in quarantine or isolation for 14 days.
“We would be very mindful of the difference between a person being in quarantine or isolation in their home to being on their own in a prison cell.” Sr Mary, who has been working full-time in the prison for four years, says her “essential” chaplaincy role allows her to serve and be there for a “marginalised” group.
“We are very happy that we, as chaplains, are recognised as an essential service and it is very significant for us to actually able to be physically there for people, which is our role at all times.
“Our [Presentation Sisters] founder Nano Nagle always wanted to serve those most marginalised and I’m delighted to be facilitated by my congregation to serve one of the most marginalised groups in our society today.”
Since the onset of Covid-19 in Ireland, all work practices must now adhere to health guidelines and precautions in order to prevent contamination and stop the spread of the virus. “Our biggest response is being ultra-careful in terms of how we are in the prison and out of the prison,” says Sr Mary of how she and the IPS have responded to the pandemic. “We are very careful that when we are at home that we limit our contact with other people so that we are not carrying anything into the prison.”
She adds: “We are doing our utmost to keep the prisons Covid-19 free by doing little things like changing our clothes before we go into the prison, being careful about hand hygiene and following the usual protocols.
“We are also temperature checked every time we enter the prison.” Sr Mary hopes that even if the situation gets worse and leads to tighter restrictions being imposed, she can carry on her work for as long as she “needs to do it”.
“We hope that going forward we would be able to maintain access with those who are locked up, if not being there physically then over the phone to provide support and listening.
“We also want to keep giving prisoner families that support and reassurance that the person is ok, the prison is safe and Covid-19 free.
“These are the little things we will continue to do and keep doing as long as we need to do it.”
On the entirely different subject matter of vocations, Sr Mary says the sisters have a “very active vocation group” and have had a “number of enquiries” this year already.
“We had a number of enquires online with us and a day to bring them together, which unfortunately we had to cancel due to the pandemic.
“We are hoping to resume with that once restrictions are lifted as we have had a good level of interest, which has come directly through social media.”
For homeless people and those reliant on resistance, coronavirus has not changed their needs. Bro. Kevin Crowley OFM Cap, of the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin, whose service helps feed the homeless, families and those growing numbers in need during the crisis, is adapting.
“Our main concern is that we don’t want to see anybody going hungry and we seem to have a lot of new faces,” he says. “These are people who have probably lost their jobs and are finding it extremely difficult to ‘make ends meet’.
“Unfortunately the centre itself [at 29 Bow Street] is not open, so what we do is give out food for breakfast in the mornings to about 200 people to takeaway. In the afternoon for lunch and evenings for dinner, we have between 700 and 900 people every day.”
Bro. Crowley continues: “On Mondays we give out baby food and nappies to about 200 families. As well as that, we are giving out food hampers every Wednesday to between 800 and 900 families.
“The most important thing of all is we never ask any questions such as where they are from or who they are, we want to maintain the dignity of each person.”
Cork native Bro. Kevin says the charity, which he established back in 1969, relies on donations, fundraising and the support of volunteers.
“We would not be able to do what we are doing only for our excellent volunteers,” he explains.
“We have two groups: one comes in for two or three days, then the other comes in for two or three days. There is great harmony and spirit, and there is no problem adapting to a new system. They [volunteers] are fantastic, a great advertisement for us and are helping us in every possible way.”
Bro. Kevin says the centre will keep going as long as it can during the outbreak and “for as long as we get the support”.
“Thankfully none of our staff have gone down with the virus so far, which is a great blessing. The local church is open for people to eat in because when the crisis arose we said we had to provide a shelter or place where the homeless could eat their food.
“The majority of people take the food away and go off, but there are people who come to the church and treat it with great dignity and respect. We are supervising social distancing and constantly cleaning the building, taking all the necessary precautions.”
He concludes by saying: “Hopefully when all this [coronavirus] is over, there will be a big turn back to the Church and more vocations.
“It’s a very difficult time for us and many people are experiencing great difficulty, but we hope that our Lord God and Our Lady will lead us though it and many people will come back to us.”
Bro. Dominic Sassi CFC of the Christian Brothers is the third one to speak on his congregation and how they are operating in the current climate.
“We function mainly through Google, Zoom, Skype or teleconference when we want to speak as a team or speak to a particular community,” he says. “We try to make sure we keep in contact with one another by ringing up every now and again.
“We also employ a nurse, who is working from home but is in frequent contact by telephone or visit.
“She [the nurse] would go around and keep in constant contact with the brothers.”
The brothers keep themselves active through regularly praying and engaged through online religious services, according to Bro. Dominic. “As a religious community, we have various times for prayer in the community which, even with social distancing, we encourage the brothers to continue doing. We encourage them to do the liturgy and daily Mass through RTÉ or other web sources.”
Bro. Dominic, a leader in pastoral care, says there has been one death in the congregation so far during the pandemic – a 90-year-old brother, who lived in a nursing home. However, it has not been established if the cause of death was coronavirus related or not. “As there are very few Christian Brothers under 60 years of age,” points out Bro. Dominic, “it means that many of our members would be in that ‘high risk’ category.
“We are trying to stress to each other how important it is to comply with the guidelines through isolation, staying at home or cocooning and we feel we are compliant with those rules.”
The brothers have generously offered the Emmaus Retreat and Conference Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin to the State to use in “whatever form they wish” as a way of reaching out in the crisis.
“We have made that [Emmaus Centre] available and we got a reply back saying ‘thank you very much’,” says Bro. Dominic. “They are not sure if they will need it, but the offer is there.”