Letter from Archbishop Farrell on Share – The Diocesan Development Fund

A r c h b i s h o p ’ s H o u s e
D u b l i n 9
Tel 837 3732 Fax 836 9796

I am writing to you today about Share, the Diocesan Development Fund, the second collection at
Sunday Masses, which depends on the generosity of parishioners across the Archdiocese.
Building on the wisdom in parishes throughout the world, guided by the Holy Spirit, the Synod
in Rome last month grappled with the challenge of renewing the Church worldwide as the listening,
participative, active community of the followers of Jesus.
We are acutely aware of the need in the Archdiocese to encourage and support all our people
wisely, and to share our resources for the good of all. Through the work of the Dublin Diocesan
Offices, Share provides a range of essential services to our partnerships of parishes and to our schools,
including pastoral, administrative, financial, strategic, governance, legal, data protection, property,
health and safety, communications, education and safeguarding support. In their day-to-day work,
priests, deacons, parish pastoral workers and parish offices are resourced by the Diocesan Offices.
Planning for the future is also taking place. Training is being provided in order to develop and resource
lay pastoral ministry and leadership roles – for example, parish pastoral councils, catechists and lay
funeral leaders.
The Building Hope initiative this year is asking us to engage with social justice and the
transformation of our world, ‘as constitutive dimensions of the preaching of the Gospel’ (Synod of
Bishops, 1971, 6). Promoting pastoral renewal and partnership between parishes can help us focus
on the social needs of people locally and face together the challenge of attending to catastrophic
humanitarian and environmental concerns.
Share continues to provide much-needed financial support to disadvantaged parishes where
alternative funding cannot be secured, and for the Travelling Community. It is important for all of us
to become more aware of the challenges faced in different parishes in our diocese, and find ways to
reach out sustainably and creatively to each other.
While the purposes of the Share collection have evolved over the years, it is an essential source
of funding in the Archdiocese, supporting parish life and ministry. Thank you for your response over
the years. Please give as generously as you can on this Share Appeal Sunday, and continue to support
Share every Sunday throughout the year.
Like St Paul, we are people of hope, we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it
will be the same for those who live and die in Jesus… we shall stay with the Lord forever (see
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Let us also stay close to each other in the Christian family, and do all we
can to resource the mission of Christ handed on to us; wise, sensible, awake to people’s needs, with
the door held open to all, full of Christian hope (see Matthew 25:1-13).
Gratefully yours, with every blessing,

+Dermot Farrell
Archbishop of Dublin