03.03.2014
Good News For Charities as Black Santa Funds Handed Out
It may have been cold and wet outside but there was a warm glow inside St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, yesterday morning (Sunday March 2) as almost €28,000 was distributed to charity. The money was the proceeds of the 2013 Black Santa Appeal which took place outside St Ann’s Church in the days before Christmas when the vicar, the Revd David Gillespie, curate, the Revd Martin O’Connor, caretaker, Fred Deane and their team of volunteers braved the elements to man the collecting buckets backed by choirs from local schools.
Yesterday’s service was attended by representatives of the charities receiving funds from the appeal. Among them were Barnardos, PACT, Merchant’s Quay Ireland, the Laura Lynn Foundation, the Samaritans, St Vincent de Paul, the Simon Community, the Solas Project, the Salvation Army, TRUST, Protestant Aid, and Bishops’ Appeal.
The preacher was the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Revd Pat Storey, who reflected on the theme of generosity of spirit. She said the Black Santa Appeal was a good news story for the Church of Ireland, particularly at a time when so much bad news abounded in places like Ukraine, Syria, China and with austerity at home.
She posed the questions: What is money for? What is its purpose? And what is God’s purpose for our money? She asked how could Christians and members of the Church of Ireland respond in these less affluent times and pointed out that the Church was not immune to the credit crunch.
Referring to the Old Testament reading (Exodus 16: 2–18), Bishop Storey said the Israelites took an immense risk in following Moses to the Promised Land. Almost as soon as the journey had begun people started to complain and having set out full of home and optimism they soon sank into despair. However, God rained down food on them with the proviso that they only take enough for that day.
The Bishop suggested that we could learn from this passage. “Are we used to spending money without thinking? Do we get into debt without giving it a thought? It is part of our culture now that we buy something before we have the money and pay later. Debt is a curse,” she said pointing out that in the passage God provided everyone with enough and asked them not to take more than they needed.
Generosity of spirit was a Godly quality, she suggested. “Whilst many people are struggling today there is still a generosity of spirit and while we may have less than we used to… we still must be generous of spirit,” Bishop Storey stated.
In these times, she proposed that God wanted us to retain thankful hearts for what we have, continue to demonstrate generosity of spirit and that we reveal by our actions that our trust truly lies in God.
Photo caption: Representatives of the charities benefiting from the 2013 Black Santa Sit Out are pictured in St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, with the vicar, the Revd David Gillespie and the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Revd Pat Storey.