Archbishop Michael Jackson of Dublin and Glendalough has expressed concern over people who are one utility bill away or one food shopping away from going under this Christmas.
In his annual Christmas message, Dr Jackson lamented that, “Some people have nowhere to live” while some risk falling through “the thin line of survival”.
He said: “Some people are one shopping trip for food or one utility bill for light or heat away from going under, not only the radar, but also the thin line of survival.”
He highlighted the plight of those who are “cold and getting colder by the day” and are challenged by a lack of mobility.
“At home, we are conscious that poverty and homelessness take many forms, and that deprivation is a sophisticated chameleon which changes its spots according to anyone’s circumstances.”
His remarks follow news that the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin ran out of Christmas food parcel tickets last week amid unprecedented demand for its 3,000 vouchers. The centre also ran out of its weekly food bags earlier than usual.
Looking beyond Ireland, Dr Jackson also regretted that “warfare is the new normal” with Ukraine and Israel-Palestine falling over “the precipice of our consciousness and conscience all too readily”.
He reminded the faithful that Jesus was born in what is now a Palestinian village.
“Other theatres of war are long gone from our social media ‘likes’,” he criticised and highlighted that not enough people make the connection between climate change, local warfare, poverty and enforced emigration as well as domestic violence and religious persecution.
“What we see is more and more people who do not look like us in our country. And in 2024, we have reacted physically and shamefully. Fearfully we set to one side our obligation to be humans and neighbours. We shrivel out of self-protection,” he hit out.
This year, according to Dr Jackson, people are looking to Christmas for hope, though some decry the fact that Christmas begins earlier and earlier in the year.
“In some of our towns and cities, it is not so much that the Christmas lights go up. It is more that they never come down and are switched on as soon after the change in the hour as seems possible.”
But he said Christians should embrace this because “we are supposed to live Christmas, like Easter, every day of the year”.
Separately, in a joint Christmas message, Archbishop Eamon Martin and Archbishop John McDowell said in many parts of the world today, not least in the places where Jesus was born and “went about doing good”, evil, sin, suffering and death are “a persistent daily reality, often in their most gruesome and demoralising forms”.
Highlighting that Christmas “guides our feet into the way of peace”, they stressed, “We are called to ensure that the light of Bethlehem continues to stream out across the world, from Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Syria, and on into our own homes, communities and workplaces across the island of Ireland.”
They added, “Where hatred, war and violence abound, the world falls deeper and deeper into darkness. Where the light of Christ is shared, love and peace shall be found.”