Press Release
ECUMENICAL SERVICE OF SUPPORT FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES
Opening Greeting of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, 11th December 2013
“This afternoon, at this ecumenical service of support for the People of the Philippines, and especially for the Philippine Community in Ireland, we join together in prayer as we remember those who died and as we remember those whose homes and livelihoods have been shattered. I think especially of the children, of the many are who are injured or are missing, of those who mourn and of those who still seek their lost loved ones.
I think of you here in Dublin who are so far from home on an occasion like this and who live with uncertainties about your families and friends. We gather to remind you that the people of this country are with you and will continue to stand by you.
This is just a small gesture of solidarity with you in your distress as we remember and recognise the thoughtful caring presence of so many Philippine men and women here in Ireland who day after day, night after night, bring care and comfort in our hospitals and health care services and to individuals. We are all indebted to you and all too rarely have we the opportunity to say that publicly.
Our prayers and our presence here in solidarity are a sign of our common hope and a pledge of our continuing generosity towards the rebuilding of what has been destroyed. Know that we are with you as you look to the future of your nation. Know that we are with you as you look to the future of your children here in Ireland. May they see in this ecumenical service of solidarity a witness of how much we feel that they belong to our national family.
We turn to God in prayer with confidence that he will watch over us and unite as his sons and daughters of the one human family.” ENDS
