Priests and parishes workers in rural Ireland are well aware of social isolation. This was reflected in the Diocese of Ossory tent at the National Ploughing Championship, where there was a welcome, an opportunity to make petitions, a quiet space for prayer or ‘time out’ and counselling services.
Of course the Co Kilkenny event was a joyful occasion too and a meeting place for parishioners and priests to chat with old and new friends.
A team of 120 priests and lay people were present at the diocesan tent over the three day farming event.
“We have a relay of lay people and priests to meet and greet people. We are not selling anything – it is a time for us to give something back to the people. Farmers are under great strain. The President and her husband Martin McAleese have highlighted rural isolation. Most of us priests have officiated at multiple funerals due to suicide. We know people who are depressed, they do talk to their priest about their depression – often they are high profile people in the community,” says Fr Anthony O’Connor, PP, Glenmore, who was on the stand on Tuesday.
“We have prayer here two times a day and people can let the stresses and strains go. It is also a great social event and chance to stand and chat to neighbours. We are here to say we have time we are approachable.”
On the stand there were representatives from the diocese including youth ministry, L’Arche, St Joseph’s Young Priest Society, and vocations groups amongst others. All age groups visited the stand and thousands of prayer cards, bottles of holy water, and the ubiquitous free pens were given out. The latter and fridge magnets bore the gospel sentence “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
Vocations was also important for the diocesan stand but also at other stands. The vocations director for Ireland and the UK of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Fr David Nixon, was present on their stand.
“We see a little improvement in numbers of vocations of late,” he says. “This is more in evidence in the UK than in Ireland but we are making a renewed effort to highlight vocations. When someone comes forward, we journey with them to help them decide. There is a lot of discerning and accompanying them to help them see their way in life – it might be to enter the priesthood but it might also be to get married.”
He explains how vocations have declined because we have smaller families in Ireland also because lay people can be more involved. Also present on the stand was Fr John Fitzgerald who said that they will soon visit the Cork Institute of Technology to meet young qualified people who want to share their training talents by giving a year or so as lay missionaries.
Prayer leaflets, holy water and petitions were popular at the many church stands at the event.
Supporters and patrons of various Catholic groups were glad to meet in person their representatives at the rural event for example of the Legion of Mary, a local parish, and Trócaire.
There is a particular fondness for Bóthar, which provides farm animals for families and communities in developing countries.
Set up in 1991, this body sends almost 500 in-calf friesian (milking) cows abroad each year and welcomes donations, of the animal or money kind.
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(Source: CIN)