By editor - 27 December, 2015
Anyone who received a Christmas present they are unhappy with or don’t really want has been urged to donate it to the homeless through St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin.
On Christmas Day, hundreds of people living in homeless and emergency accommodation in the capital received gifts which were donated to the Pro Cathedral after Christmas 2014.
Fr Damien O’Reilly, administrator in the Pro Cathedral, said they were delighted to be able to facilitate the appeal which every year results in those most in need receiving some Christmas cheer.
“This simple scheme allows Crosscare to give a gift to someone in their services who would not normally receive one, he explained.
“It is also a reminder to us all of how we can get needlessly caught up in wasteful commercialism at this time of year,” he warned.
Fr O’Reilly stressed how Pope Francis has consistently preached about the need to control waste in our world – using gifts you don’t need to give to those who have little, is one small gesture of sharing that can help.
According to Fr O’Reilly, Dublin parishioners had already been extraordinarily generous to Crosscare this month with tons of food collected for the Diocesan Food Appeal.
The unwanted gifts appeal will make sure that as well as the essentials, people who are struggling with life, will get a small token of cheer each Christmas, he said.
He suggested that before people start looking for the gift receipts to exchange unwanted presents from Christmas this year, they could put them to really good use by supporting one of Dublin’s busiest charities, Crosscare.
Crosscare will redistribute them next year to young people living in care and the homeless.
Unwanted presents can be brought to the crib in the Pro Cathedral in Dublin until 6 January.
