Archbishop Eamon Martin: Covid-19 devastated parish finances
The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland says the Covid-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on the finances of many parishes.
Irish bishops have issued new guidance ahead of the resumption of religious services on June 29, which calls for physical distancing to be in place at all churches.
Priests have also been advised to have a safe mechanism for taking up church collections.
Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin is appealing for people to be generous when mass resumes to help parishes recover from the financial impact of Covid-19.
He says: "Given that we haven't been meeting up with our congregation, we haven't been able to take up a collection, although a lot of people have been very generous using online donations, standing orders and that sort of thing,
"But I think for the foreseeable future we are going to be pretty cash strapped in our parishes. So we are appealing really to people's generosity at this time to help us through this difficult moment."
