Cathal BarryShopping centres to hear of Pope’s message of love
Irish parishes are gearing up to bring the Pope’s message of mercy to Christmas shoppers in some of the country’s best known shopping centres during the festive season. And every parish in the country is being urged to take up the challenge and bring the Gospel to the modern-day marketplace.
Sixteen priests will be available to customers for confessions in Skycourt Shopping Centre in Co. Clare on December 8 as Pope Francis opens the extraordinary jubilee dedicated to emphasising God’s boundless mercy.
It is part of Shannon parish’s ‘Mercy on the Mall’ initiative to mark the opening of the Year of Mercy.
Shannon’s Parish Priest Fr Tom Ryan told The Irish Catholic the initiative “was in response to Pope Francis’ call to priests to go out to the market place and proclaim the Gospel”.
“There are shopping centres in every large town in the country. There is no reason why they couldn’t do the same,” he said.
According to Fr Ryan, “the Year of Mercy is the opportunity to do that. I think if the initiative is of benefit to just one person the day will have been worthwhile,” he said.
Supportive
Skycourt Manager Pat Kelly said he was very supportive of the initiative.
“I jumped on it straight away as I thought it was a great idea. It gives Christmas shoppers an opportunity to do their shopping under one roof and avail of the opportunity to meet with a priest and have a chat in a neutral environment where they are comfortable,” he said.
Fr Ryan said he hoped other parishes would attempt a similar initiative in shopping malls in their locality.
Capuchin Friar Fr Dan Joe O’Mahony, who runs a popular oratory in the Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin, said ministering in large shopping malls was about “meeting people where they are at”.
Noting that the availability of the sacraments in large centres was “invaluable”, Fr O’Mahony said “it’s all about getting the Church into the market place which is where the Lord worked himself”.
“You can’t go wrong. I’m all in favour of it,” he said.
Jim Lovett, who assists with the operation of the Dominican-run Oratory of the Holy Family at The Square in Tallaght, described as “wonderful” the idea of providing the Sacrament of Reconciliation to shoppers.
“It would be a wonderful thing if there was a priest permanently available for Confessions,” he said.
Spreading
Tommy Lyons, who is part of a group of parishioners that organise daily Masses, prayers and a religious bookshop at the Oratory at Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt, said he was “delighted” to hear that shopping-centre based ministries were spreading as part of the Year of Mercy.
Mr Lyons said providing Confessions in a prefab based in the Cornelscourt carpark “was the way we started out over 40 years ago”. The existing oratory, built in the early 1990s, now boasts over 80 people at each of its twice daily weekday Masses.
The Year of Mercy, which has been called by Pope Francis, will begin on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 2015 and will conclude on November 20, 2016, the feast of Christ the King.
In Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy), the papal bull which outlines the intentions for the Jubilee, the Pope said the holy year is “dedicated to living out in our daily lives the mercy”.