Special collections will be taken in Dublin parishes this coming weekend in an effort to raise funds to help with relief efforts in the Philippines and Syria.
“As news continues to arrive concerning the disastrous situation caused in the Philippines by the devastating typhoon Haiyan,” writes Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, in a letter to the priests in the diocese, “urgent requests are coming from the Church in the Philippines for prayers and for help to provide immediate relief for hundreds of thousands of people who are struggling simply to stay alive.”
Archbishop Martin has asked that a special collection due to be taken up at all Masses this weekend be used to help with the relief effort in the Philippines and in Syria. The second collection at Dublin Masses at the weekend was to be replaced by a special collection, asked for by the Irish Bishops, for the relief effort in Syria.
He asks Dublin priests “to appeal to Mass goers to be particularly generous in the face of these two disasters.”
“I am conscious of the fact that many people here in Ireland are under great financial pressure at this moment, but I have no doubt that those who can, will be willing to support the Filipino and Syrian people.”
On Sunday evening, Archbishop Martin will celebrate Mass in St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral for the situation in the Philippines. He said many members of the Filipino community here in Dublin are anxiously awaiting news of loved ones as the scale of the damage caused by the natural disaster continues to unfold.
