Patrick Comerford
It seems everyone in Ireland – and almost everyone of Irish ancestry – has been celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day today. Some of my plans for Saint Patrick’s Day this year have been cancelled, but for many people the lifting of Covid restrictions means this has been their first truly joyful and public celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day.
Three pre-planned contributions, prepared some months ago, remain in circulation to mark Saint Patrick’s Day this week.
Reality, the monthly magazine produced by Redemptorist Publications and edited by Triona Doherty, published my five-page feature on Saint Patrick, as the cover-story for March 2022. And I am also featuring in a monthly service being recorded for this evening by the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship to mark Saint Patrick’s Day.
As today is Saint Patrick’s Day, Ireland is the focus of the monthly prayers of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship. This month’s online prayers this evening will include a special contribution from Mairead Maguire, the Northern Ireland Nobel Peace Laureate. Mairead will reflect on the growing arms trade in Ireland.
My contribution this evening was originally recorded last August in the cloisters of the ruined Franciscan Abbey in Askeaton, Co Limerick, to accompany my contribution to this year’s Lenten Study programme of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), ‘Living Stones, Living Hope.’
As the war in Ukraine continues, this evening’s prayers with the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship will also involve praying for the people of Ukraine and Russia.
APF’s Monthly Prayers this evening (17 March 2022) begin at 8 pm (GMT and Irish time), 9 pm (Central European) 3 pm (Atlantic Daylight) 4 pm (Eastern Daylight) and 18 March 9 am (New Zealand).
This Zoom Meeting can be joined through links on the website and Facebook page of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship.
My third prepared contribution to this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations is also available online. I wrote the introduction to this week’s prayers in the current USPG Prayer Diary, drawing on my experience of working to break down community differences in Rathkeale, Co Limerick.
The current USPG Prayer Diary is available HERE.
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