Ireland: The only major Church in Ireland to make a direct financial contribution from its own funds to the relief efforts in South-East Asia is the Presbyterian Church.
On December 30th, the Presbyterian Moderator, the Rev Dr Ken Newell, launching a special appeal for funds for the relief effort, announced that the Presbyterian Church had released £100,000, split between Tearfund and Christian Aid, for immediate relief in the disaster area.
A spokesman for Ireland's Catholic bishops said yesterday that the Irish Episcopal Conference was not making a direct financial contribution to relief efforts as "it does not have the reserves to do so". He pointed out that the bishops had their own development agency, Trócaire, to collect and distribute funds for South-East Asia and other regions. Individual dioceses were also making their own donations.
Father Michael Drennan, secretary-general of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI), said that, whereas CORI was not making a direct financial contribution, congregations among its membership were doing so.
A spokesman for the Church of Ireland said that, while its House of Bishops was not making a direct financial contribution to the relief effort in South-East Asia, money collected for the Bishops' Relief Fund was being directed there. This fund collects money on an ongoing basis for development and relief purposes. A special appeal has been launched by the church for contributions to the fund.
Meanwhile, at a Mass in Dublin's Pro-Cathedral yesterday to mark the day of solidarity with people devastated by the tsunami, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said: "Many have asked about how a loving God could possibly have tolerated such an immense tragedy as that which happened across the Indian Ocean in these days. The answer is that we do not know, and to try to give a trivial or superficial answer would amount to blasphemy, an offence to God." The only Christian answer to the great unknowns was "to respond with a love which mirrors that of God himself, revealed in Jesus Christ".
A sit-out to raise funds for the victims of the tsunami disaster by churchmen at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast topped the £1 million mark yesterday. Dean Houston McKelvey who restarted his "Black Santa" Christmas charity appeal in response to the disaster said there had been a huge response from members of the public, businesses, workers and sporting clubs all turning up at the cathedral to pour money into the collection barrels.
