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Dear Friend/Browser,

On behalf of the parish community of St Joseph’s and Calry, in Sligo, Ireland, I welcome you to our parish website. I welcome especially those with connections to our parish or to Sligo who are visiting our site.

Our parish is the youngest in the Diocese of Elphin as you can read in our history elsewhere on this site. Our population has a huge young and computer literate membership. To them, and indeed to those who are just taking their first steps on the net, we humbly offer the contents of our website.

Happy browsing and God bless,

Noel Rooney, P.P.

Statement of the Irish Bishops for the occasion of the National Famine
Commemoration Day, Sunday 16 May 2010

‘You will be my Witnesses’ (Acts 1:8)

As the country holds the second National Famine Commemoration Day, we are
confronted by the shocking reality that more than one billion people on the planet are
victims of hunger. Remembering the millions who died or were forced to emigrate at
the time of the Irish Famine brings to mind that almost one in six of the world’s
people does not have enough food to eat today. On this Ascension Day we hear the
words of Jesus: “You will be my witnesses… to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). As
witnesses to Christ’s love we are challenged to ‘feed the hungry’ and to give concrete
expression to Christ’s deep concern for the poor.
In his recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that the
elimination of world hunger has become a requirement for safeguarding the peace and
stability of the planet. It is necessary, wrote the Holy Father, ‘to cultivate a public
conscience that considers food and access to water as universal rights of all human
beings, without distinction or discrimination’.
In September 2010 world leaders will gather at the United Nations in New York to
assess progress in implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
Included in the first of these is an international determination to reduce by half the
number of people living in hunger by the year 2015. Agencies like Trócaire are
actively engaged in the MDG process. The Irish government made a special
commitment to pursue this target particularly in the light of our national experience of
famine. As we urge other developed countries to meet their commitments on
development aid, fair trade and the relief of debt, we too must fulfil our
responsibilities in these areas. We owe it to those who suffered at the time of the Irish
Famine to stand in solidarity with the hungry of today.

PASTORAL LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE BENEDICT XVI
TO THE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND - 20/03/2010

Full Letter
Extracts

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV and Aids, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development