This is a brilliant idea.
A parish priest is Laois has printed out pictures of his parishioners and stuck them to the empty seats in his church so he can feel like they are with him while he says mass.
Fr Martin Delaney got the idea after being sent an account of a priest in Northern Italy who did the same after his church was forced behind closed doors due to Coronavirus.
Now in Rathdowney, the smiling faces of all the people who would attend mass are looking back at Fr Delaney as he celebrates mass to what usually would be an empty church.
Fr Delaney said: “A few weeks ago, a priest in the North of Italy, Fr Giuseppe Corbari, whose church had been closed since the middle of February because of Covid-19, came up with an interesting idea to keep visual contact with his parishioners.
“He asked them all to send in photographs of themselves and their families and then he enlarged them and taped them to the empty pews.
“So every time he would come out to say mass, he would see the faces of his absent congregation.
“A priest friend of mine sent me an account of that and as I was reading it, I remembered that I have a lot of pictures of our parishioners – mainly taken by photographer Mary Delaney from the various parish celebrations and events.
“And thanks to Maureen Guilfoyle in our parish office, those photos have now been enlarged, laminated and are now assigned to a pew in the church.
“They include people from all over the parish. We sent out an appeal for people to send in photographs of them and their family.
“I encourage people to keep sending them in because we have plenty of room in Rathdowney as it is a large church.
“And if we run out, we can even stick them up on the back wall where I know some of you may feel more comfortable than being up the front anyway.
“I’m really missing our weekly gatherings and the sense of community and togetherness that we have in our parish.
“But it does help me enormously when I come out here to say mass to see all of your smiling faces and it does help to keep us all going.”
Seperately, Rathdowney has been hosting a weekly concert and today will be the fifth staging.
From 1pm today, Erin and Billy Dollard will perform live from the church itself.
This is streamed on webcam and anyone wishing to join can do so on www.rathdowneyparish.ie.
Our Congregation Updated from Maureen Guilfoyle on Vimeo.
SEE ALSO – Gardai launch investigation after Laois woman in mid-40s dies in Tullamore hostel tragedy
