Generous parish tops charity fund
But Limerick’s Holy Family parish, which takes in Southill, is one of the most generous contributors in the country to Trócaire’s annual Lenten Collection.
Last year, it headed the 42 parishes in the diocese of Limerick raising in excess of €13,000 for Trócaire’s third world fund.
Trócaire, the Catholic Church’s Third World agency, expects to raise in excess of €300,000 from its current Lenten collection in the diocese of Limerick.
The agency will sent about €12 million this year to help projects in about 50 countries.
Trócaire’s director Justin Kilcullen yesterday completed a two-day visit to Southill where he stayed in the home of local parish priest Fr Pat Hogan.
Mr Kilcullen said: “I have been really struck by the quality of the generosity of the people in Southill who get so little input from society.”
He said many in Southill appear not to have any stake in society. “They don’t vote, the politicians don’t go there for votes and the councillors are never seen either. The only presence of the State is the gardaí who try to make some sense of order.”
Mr Kilcullen said the underlying problems in Southill were similar to those in the third level where people have no stake and feel helpless.
“One has to ask how, with the Celtic Tiger, we have people living in these circumstances,” said Mr Kilcullen.
He said one of the phenomenon’s of Trócaire’s history has been the generosity of disadvantaged areas.
Mr Kilcullen said: “I can remember during the troubles in the North, that Derry was the highest contributing diocese in the country.
“When I told the congregation that they had been the number one parish in the diocese in the Lenten collection, there were gasps of surprise.”
