Shrewsbury Cathedral has recorded the largest congregations in its 170-year history since it started live streaming services. On Easter Sunday, 11,446 people watched Mass online, more than ten times the usual attendance of 1000 people. The highest number of service views was on Good Friday, when 13,594 people watched the liturgy. The monthly total of unique views exceeds 83,000, with some 33,307 logging in for the first time. As well as daily Mass, the Cathedral livestreams liturgies including morning, evening and night prayer, amounting to more than 40,000 hours of footage in the last month alone.
The Bishops’ Conference’s Day for Life fund, which supports projects that protect the dignity of the human person, has donated £15,000 to Hospice UK’s coronavirus appeal. Bishop John Sherrington, lead Bishop for Life Issues, said hospices are in desperate need of resources. “This donation can help provide personal protective equipment for those who work there and so ensure the continuation of care and support for those who are dying at this time of crisis,” he said.
BBC Scotland has aired a documentary about seminarians at the Pontifical Scots College in Rome. Priest School was originally aired in December 2019 as Sgoil nan Sagart on BBC Alba, the country’s Gaelic service. The re-broadcast was welcomed by Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, who said that the programme would help mitigate the restrictions that would inevitably affect this year’s Vocations Awareness week, and “cause some of those who watch to consider what it is God wants of them and how they can respond by considering a vocation.”
Aid to the Church in Need is to hold a virtual Mass for persecuted Christians on 13 May. The Mass, which will be celebrated at Farm Street Church in Mayfair at 10am, coincides with the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
The National Board of Catholic Women (NBCW) has welcomed Bishop John Sherrington’s warning that lockdown could be life-threatening for victims of domestic abuse. Celia Capstick and Freda Lambert, coordinators of the Social Responsibility Committee of the NBCW, said parish safeguarding officers are in a good position to listen and help. They called for their contact details to be placed on parish websites.
Bishop Brendan Leahy has spoken of the impact of the pandemic on Church services and sacraments, particularly the postponement of First Holy Communions and Confirmations. In a statement after Sunday Mass at St John’s Cathedral, the Bishop of Limerick said he would write to children preparing for the sacraments to encourage them despite the delay. He will invite them to write back or send a drawing to tell him what they are learning about Jesus or the Holy Spirit.
A member of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) with more than 25 years of missionary service in the Middle East and Africa has been appointed as the new National Director of World Missions Ireland. The appointment of Fr Michael P O’Sullivan MAfr by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples was welcomed by Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly, SMA, Chair of the Board of World Missions Ireland, who said Fr O’Sullivan’s knowledge of today’s missionary challenges facing the Church would bring a new dimension to the work. Founded almost 200 years ago, World Missions Ireland is the Pope’s official charity for overseas mission.
Malawi has just one intensive care bed for every million people while Sierra Leone has no ICU beds and South Sudan has only two ventilators for 12 million people, Trócaire has warned. The Irish bishops’ development agency appealed to those who took home its Lent collection boxes to make their contribution online or over the phone and to hold onto their boxes until it is safe and possible to return them. Trócaire boxes are usually returned to schools and parishes after Easter Sunday, but this year that will not be possible due to government restrictions related to the Coronavirus.
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