ARCHBISHOP’S HOUSE
DUBLIN 9
Tel 837 3732 Fax 836 9796
3 June 2021
Dear Parishioner,
In the last fifteen months, we have been unable to do the things we normally do to express our faith
and our solidarity with each other. This is not to say that the life of prayer and charity have ceased,
but life’s usual patterns have been disrupted, as have the deep practices that nourish our faith,
empower our social solidarity, and animate the mission of the Church towards the poor and
disadvantaged. Along with the countries of the developed world, our country has been fortunate that
people have been supported during the significant economic upheaval and hardship of the pandemic.
Even in our grief and loss, we have much to be thankful for.
Communities and parishes have shown resilience and imagination in their responses to the challenges
of the pandemic. For many this has revealed new ways of collaboration and involvement. We also
have to acknowledge that certain aspects of Church life have been severely impacted. One of these is
parish finances, and while we eagerly long for a return to the life that we knew, we also have to act to
ensure that our parishes have the financial minimum they need to survive.
The necessary restriction of public worship has profoundly affected the two essential Sunday Mass
collections on which parish funds depend. The first collection—as you know—supports clergy
ministering throughout the diocese as well as sick and retired priests and priests working in other
ministries throughout the diocese. The second collection—the ‘Share’ collection—supports diocesan
services to parishes especially disadvantaged parishes. In the last financial year, the clergy collection
decreased by 54% and the ‘Share’ collection decreased by 65%. This year the situation is even more
grave—with a decrease of 80% and 86% respectively for the first quarter (January to March 2021
That this would have happened, given the character of the necessary lockdowns, is not surprising. I am
grateful to all who have continued to give so generously in the past 15 months.
This generosity cannot be expected to address the deeper financial challenges which the Archdiocese
faces. I have therefore approved the proposal to hold a new Summer Dues collection to support priests
of the diocese. This initiative will follow the pattern of the Christmas and Easter dues collections giving
parishioners an opportunity to contribute to the income that supports priests.
The Summer Offering collection will be launched on the weekend of the 20th June. In making this
appeal, I ask you to remember that the greatest resource of the Church is its people—both laity and
clergy —working hand-in-hand. The age profile of the priest is rapidly increasing, and there are few
vocations to priesthood and religious life. Yet the priests we have in the diocese continue to serve
quietly week-in-week-out while more is being asked of fewer and fewer. The ministry and mission of
our Church cannot continue without this humble, generous service.
I thank you for continuing to support our parishes and the clergy who work among you. Your
generosity to this new initiative of Summer Dues will provide much needed practical and moral
support for priests working quietly and effectively at the heart of every local community of faith.
While great strides have been made in getting the virus under control, there is still a way to go before
our country and other nations are out of the woods. We are facing the summer with its the brighter
mornings and long evenings. May the change of pace that summer brings provide a break from the
darkness of the difficult winter we have endured. May the Holy Spirit lift our hearts, and renew our
hope so that in ‘our common home’ we may share the life for which God created us (see Gen 1:3 1,2:18, and John 10:10).
Dermot Farrell
Archbishop of Dublin.
PAT SAYS:
The Irish people now have a once in a lifetime opportunity to break the back of the RCC in Ireland and its disastrous control of Ireland since at least 1922.
Starve them of money!
Cahal Daly once told his fellow bishops at Maynooth: “Starve Buckley of the oxygen of publicity” 😁
Now we have this unrivalled opportunity to starve the RCC of the oxygen of finance and money.
It is interesting to hear that in Dublin their finances are down by 54% to 86%.
For Ireland’s sake it needs to be down by 100%
In my opinion, anyone contributing to the RCC is contributing to an evil project.
I support seven charities and I’ve made sure none of them are Roman Catholic. I support secular charities that look after the homeless, the provision of fresh water in third world countries, animal welfare and cancer research and treatment.
Any organisation that has done and is doing evil is unworthy of the generosity of ordinary people.
Of course you will always have the blind Catholics who think they are buying their way into heaven by giving money to the RCC and its reps.
GER FITZGERALD’S STRANGE FRIEND SENDS ME ANOTHER THREAT 😁
MY REPLY
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 