CHURCHES AROUND THE country have closed their doors due to the coronavirus outbreak, but some parishes are finding new ways to reach out to their communities this Holy Week.
Co Louth priest Fr Malachy Conlon gave a 6-hour drive by blessing to parishioners in the Cooley and Carlingford areas of the county yesterday.
Fr Conlon said he alerted parishioners to his planned drive around the county through the parish Facebook page.
“We are fortunate to have that the Popemobile used by Pope John Paul II, now St Pope John Paul, has been made available to us for this purpose,” Fr Conlon wrote on Facebook.
“Beginning at 12 noon on Thursday I will make my way around the parishes of both Cooley and Carlingford with the blessed eucharist, pausing to bless people of both parishes and their homes.”
Conlon said that the response from people lining the roads was so great that he ended being in the Popemobile for 6 hours.
The idea to do a drive-by blessing came about during a pastoral council meeting, which was held over Zoom, the video chat platform, Conlon said.
“We were looking at different ways in which we might reach out to people. The effects of the crisis have brought us all out of comfort zone, so we decided that it would be great to bring a blessing to the people,” Fr Conlon told Morning Ireland.
Many different car manufacturers have produced Popemobiles – a term that didn’t come into common use until the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.
The Popemobile used by Fr Conlon yesterday was used by Pope John Paul II when he was in the UK and South Africa.
When Pope John Paul II visited the UK in 1982 he was driven around in a modified truck supplied by British manufacturer Leyland Motors and a modified Range Rover – two of the most well-known badges in British motoring.
The Popemobile of the 1979 visit to Ireland was a 15-seat modified Ford Transit. The vehicle was donated to the National Wax Museum in Dublin decades previously, and could be hired out for stag and hen nights.
It was refurbished ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland in 2018.
Separately, The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Alphonsus Cullinan, carried a large cross through the empty streets of Waterford today in commemoration of Good Friday.
Bishop Cullinan said the country should remember that Easter was “a time to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that suffering with love leads to greater glory”.
“Our nations knows a lot about sacrifice these days” Bishop Cullinan said.
“But the sun will rise again, just as Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead on Easter Sunday almost 2,000 years ago.”
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