The annual memorial mass for those who’ve died at St Luke’s Hospital for Carlow & Kilkenny has been moved online.
Traditionally each year those bereaved are invited to the service but, due to Covid restrictions, this year’s event will instead be broadcast online from St Canice’s Church from 7:30pm next Monday (19th October).
Brenda Cooper is with the hospital’s End of Life Committee and explains “We’ve been having this Mass for about 14 years now and in the last ten years we’ve sent out invitations to the families of the patients who died from the 1st of September say 2019 until 31st of August 2020 so any of those families would have received those invitations and this year it is different because of the restrictions & because of Covid-19 it will be actually broadcast on the webcam from St Canice’s parish”.
Candles will also be lit while Ms Cooper adds another tradition will return saying “It really is a beautiful ceremony every year and the families who have come found it very moving and poignant and Fr Paddy Carey, our wonderful Chaplain of the hospital and Sr Margaret Mary, his assistant if you like, have always made it such a wonderful ceremony but obviously this year we’re very conscious that the families can’t be with us so we do want to make it very special and the other thing we’re doing now is we will be reading out the names of all the deceased in the last year, we would have done that before but the numbers have gone up and it would have taken quite a bit of time in the Mass but we will be doing it again next Monday”.
The service can be viewed here
