Patrick Comerford
As part of the Diocesan Synod of the United Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert today (25 September 2021), I presented my report as Director of Education and Training for clergy and readers in the diocese.
The report on Continuing Ministerial Education (CME), on p 80 of the Synod Reports, was seconded by the Dean of Killaloe, the Very Revd Rod Smyth:
Continuing Ministerial Education (CME):
Report to Diocesan Synod
The pandemic restrictions and lockdown have brought an inevitable suspension of the monthly ‘training days’ organised as part of the CME programme in the diocese.
Nevertheless, a full CME programme has continued, and clergy and readers in Limerick and Killaloe and Tuam, Killala and Achonry, receive by email and online a package of resources tailored to the needs of the following Sunday.
These resources include commentaries on and links to the readings, downloadable versions of the propers (Collects, Prefaces, Post-Communion Prayers and Blessings), recommended hymns, and images suitable for on-screen presentations or parish leaflets, notices and noticeboards.
These resources have been expanded to include the Paired Readings as well the Continuous Readings, and to include all the major feast days so that appropriate resources are available for mid-week services.
The statistics for ‘hits’ on these regular postings indicate how the lockdown has had an impact on planning for weekly services. For example, the highest number of monthly ‘hits’ are 2,764 (December 2019), and 2,414 (July 2020), when the lockdown restrictions were first eased last year; but this figure had dropped to 1,190 in February 2021.
The reopening of churches in recent months is reflected in the rise in ‘hits’ in recent months: (1,904, July 2021). The most popular postings include Harvest resources, resources for reopening churches after Covid-19 closures, and resources for major occasions, including Easter, Christmas, Lent, Advent, and Remembrance Sunday.
The resources are made available early each Monday morning, and a week in advance of major feasts and festivals on https://cmelimerick.blogspot.com/. A mailing list of almost 90 people – mainly in these dioceses, but in other dioceses and places too, from Spain to the US – receives email notifications of new postings. The postings are also shared through other social media platforms and forums, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. If you would like your name to be added to this mailing list, please let me know.
Happily, now that the vaccine rollout is delivering results and larger indoor gatherings become possible, plans are in place to resume the monthly ‘training days,’ with programmes designed for both clergy and ordinands in the diocese.
Patrick Comerford,
The Rectory, Askeaton
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