ALTHOUGH the offertory collection at weekend Masses in Kilcummin had plummeted from €1,795 to just €412 in a week, with parishioners withholding donations in protest at the loss of their resident priest, it had almost doubled again the following week after the Bishop of Kerry had addressed concerns raised, KillarneyToday.com understands.
The weekly collection at Masses in Our Lady of Lourdes Church on July 6/7 amounted to €795 – almost €400 more than the previous weekend – with an additional €920 donated to a separate collection for sick and retired priests.
Locals are upset that Parish Priest, Fr Eamonn Mulvihill, is not being replaced following his transfer to Castlegregory and, instead, priests from the Killarney Pastoral Area will now share duties in Kilcummin under the direction of Killarney Parish Administrator Fr Kieran O’Brien.
At a public meeting of parishioners a proposal that they should protest by withholding contributions at Masses was greeted with sustained applause but with Fr Mulvihill now left the parish, the new visiting priest system proposed by the diocese has been implemented.
Meanwhile, a note in the parish newsletter at Masses last weekend outlined clearly how money donated through the parish blue envelope collections is spent.
It was stressed that all contributions are lodged in the Kilcummin parish bank account and blue envelopes handed in at other Churches, such as St Mary’s Cathedral and the Franciscan Friary in Killarney, are also lodged to the Kilcummin account and the funds are used to run the parish.
The donations help fund repairs, renovations and maintenance in the Church, presbytery and parish centre and their grounds and it meets the costs associated with lighting, heating, rates and service charges, telephone, printing, postage and stationery.
It is also used for altar requisites, education and pastoral programmes, wages and PRSI and professional fees as well as meeting the parish levy for running the diocese.
Any savings from the parish account are lodged to the diocesan St Brendan’s Trust account to earn interest and, the diocese has stressed, none of the blue envelope donations go to the parish priest.
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