The Diocese of Kerry has issued a public invitation to attend a Mission Month webinar with Liam O’Callaghan, an Irish Columban priest working in Pakistan which was the site of horrific flooding and climate carnage this year.
The online event will take place on Thursday, October 20 at 7.00pm and people are asked to register in advance on the Kerry Diocesan website.
The diocese said with people here in Kerry facing inflation hikes and electricity shortages, they will turn their attention during the webinar to poverty-stricken countries and people, like Fr Liam O’Callagahan, who dedicate their lives to working with the poor, focusing on education, health and dialogue between faith groups, in the hope of peace and justice.
Throw into that mix the overwhelming negative impacts of climate change to which richer countries have contributed and one can see how the problems for poorer countries like Pakistan have escalated.
This year extreme heat, followed by the well documented, severe monsoon floods, left one third of Pakistan under water. This caused widespread devastation to the agricultural sector, especially in the southern parts of the country where Fr Liam is based.
Villages were washed away leaving around 3.4 million children in need of assistance and at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition. The situation is still critical in the worst affected areas due to the flooding from the overflowing River Indus and Lake Manchhar.
The Sindh Government has declared 23 out of 29 districts as calamity-hit areas.
The webinar event is an initiative of the Diocesan Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee and Fr Liam coordinates the equivalent group in Pakistan.
The webinar is timed to take place just before Mission Sunday and a collection is taken up in all parishes for overseas mission. The funds collected are, in essence, a solidarity fund to enable missionaries, often in remote areas devastated by conflict or climate change, to continue their dedicated work.
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