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Limerick & Killaloe Mission Group Report

ref CALENDAR YEAR 2021

  1. Meetings:

    • There were 6 meetings of the Diocesan Council for Mission held in 2021. All meetings were held on Zoom due to Government restrictions on the Covid-19 pandemic. Mission Sunday Project for 2021 did go ahead on Sunday 21st Nov.
  2. Changes in Parish Representatives:

    • Ms. Geraldine Crinchly and Brendan Mulcahy stepped down during 2021. Rev Dr Leonard Maddon joined as representative for Limerick City Parish.
  3. Mission Evenings:

    1. On 28th January we had our first Mission Evening for 2021. Emma Lynch from Tear-fund Ireland brought us up to date with regards to the church-based learning centres for the children of Syrian refugees, which was our Mission Sunday project for 2019. The parents are very appreciative of the fact that their children are getting at least some form of basic education, which at present is being done through distance learning over the phone, Covid-19 having spread throughout the community. Currently 70% of the Syrian refugee children aged 6-14 are without any form of education. Emma asked that we remember the children, their families and communities and indeed the people of Lebanon, in our prayers.
    2. On 11th March, we had our second Mission Evening for 2021, again held on Zoom. Gerry Linnane from Jigsaw in Limerick brought us up to date with regards to the services they offer free, to young people between the age of 17 to 25 who are experiencing mild to moderate mental difficulties. Jigsaw is one of the charities we supported for our Mission Sunday project in 2020. All agreed it was a very informative and thorough presentation. We were also left with the impression of an efficient and well-run organisation, a charity well worth our support. The other members of staff from Jigsaw informed us that, ‘matters of the spirit’ can also have a strong bearing on mental health; our faith and the church community have a role to play!
    3. On 15th April we held our third Mission Evening for 2021, again held on Zoom; a few members of the Diocesan Mother’s Union were able to join us. Christina Sherlock, the Communications Officer with Women’s Aid, brought us up to date with regards to the services they have been offering as a charity over the past 74 years, to women who are in an abusive relationship. Women’s Aid is one of the charities we supported for our Mission Sunday project in 2020. We came to the conclusion that we could not have picked two more appropriate projects for Mission Sunday 2020; the Covid pandemic has affected all of us in many ways, visible and invisible!
    4. On 27th May, we had a joint meeting on Zoom with the Pioneering Ministry Team in the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achroney, under the Chr./ship of Bishop Patrick Rooke. The purpose of the meeting was to become acquainted with members of an organisation, which in many ways has similar objectives to our D.C M. On account of the two dioceses planning to work more together in the future, it was only natural that we get to know one another and discover our respective objectives, methods of spreading the good news of the ‘kingdom’ and of course common problems and weak points. The members all agreed that it been a very interesting and informative meeting, hopefully the first of many; it had given ‘much food for thought’!
    5. On 8th September we had two presentations on Zoom:
      1. Rev Stephen McElhinney, the mission director of SAMS Ireland, told us of the work they were doing in certain parts of South America, especially in Peru which currently has the highest death rate per million people in the world due to the ‘Peru Variant’, the most virulent of all the covid-19 related variants.
      2. Ms. Lydia Monds from Bishop’s Appeal, concerning the work of Christian Aid in Ethiopia. Currently the country is going through a time of crisis, with civil unrest raging in the northern province, extremes of climate in that there is either a severe drought or massive floods which only adds to problems of soil erosion and, of course the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which brings untold additional hardship to the rural community, especially where the health clinics and facilities are ‘very few and far between !’.
  4. Mission Sunday 2021 Sunday 21st. Nov.:

    The Treasurer informed us that he had transferred the sums of €4670.00 to both Jigsaw and Woman’s Aid (Mission Sunday Projects for 2020) along with a late donation of €605.00 to Tearfund for their work in Lebanon (Mission Sunday Project 2019).
    After a long discussion it was decided to adopt the Christian Aid project in Ethiopia as our Mission Sunday Project for 2021:

    1. A short power point presentation by Ms. Lydia Monds was downloaded on to the internet (or CD/ USB) for those parishes having the facilities to show them.
      Bishop Kenneth kindly agreed to include an introduction, plus the traditional method of promotion using an A3 sized colour poster for each church and a number of A4 ‘double sided’ information leaflets.
    2. All of the Head Teachers in the schools throughout the United Diocese were contacted.
  5. Central Council for Mission:

    1. As Diocesan Representative on the Council for Mission, Revd. Charles kept us up to date with discussions and decisions made at the Central Council for Mission, especially with regards to a service of worship based on the ‘five marks of mission’, transmitted on RTE1, on Sunday 13thJune at 11 a.m. and the Church of Ireland project concerned with mental health.

Signed: David Frizelle
Honorary Secretary