Generous response to Trócaire’s famine collection

A TRÓCAIRE collection at last weekend’s masses for those affected by famine in East Africa received a generous response.

Communication officer for the Diocese of Killaloe, Fr Brendan Quinlivan said, “My understanding is that it hasn’t taken place in every parish yet, some of them will be next weekend and some the one after. I spoke to one priest who was deeply impressed. There was huge generosity and there is great awareness of the level of deprivation in Africa. Despite people’s own problems, there is great concern for the poorest of the poor.”
In Ennis parish, administrator Fr Tom Hogan said mass goers had been very generous. “It’s fantastic really. To date, €27,500 has been donated, which is phenomenal, particularly in the summer when a lot of people are away on holidays and given that there is a lot of negativity around at the moment too.”
He said people have been coming to the parish office during the week with contributions, having missed the original collection.
“Per head of population, I think the Irish are among the best in the world. I’m just back from the States and the situation in Africa wouldn’t even make headlines in the national news there.”
Shannon parish priest, Fr Tom Ryan noted, “Close on €15,000 has been donated so far. The collection took place at quite short notice and there was a great response, considering that a lot of people are gone away at this time of the year and money is still coming in from people who were away for it.”
He said there had been donations of up to €1,000, while a huge number of people had made smaller contributions. He noted that the collection came after a Lenten collection that raised €19,000 in Shannon.
Trócaire director, Justin Kilcullen said the situation is very serious. “The UN has declared a famine in some areas of Somalia. The word famine is emotive and is not used often. It means that one-third of children are malnourished and four out of every 1,000 children are dying every day. For the UN to use this gravest of classifications shows how desperate the crisis is.”
He said the contributions made last week are badly needed. “In the Gedo region, Trócaire is the only provider of healthcare for 200,000 people. In a country where one-third of the population is now facing starvation, I have no doubt that this programme, funded by the Irish people is saving lives,” he said.