14 April 2020
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
- Bishop Paul Colton announces Postponement of Confirmation Services of 2020 in Cork, Cloyne and Ross
- Confirmations are held mainly during the 50 days of Easter and on the Sundays after Easter into the summer months, but not this year
The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, has requested clergy in the Diocese this morning to bring the news to young people and their families, as well as to adult confirmands, that, with immense disappointment, he has reached the decision to postpone all the Services of Confirmation in the Diocese for 2020.
In Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Services of Confirmation are held mainly during the 50 days of Easter and on the Sundays after Easter into the summer months. This year all the Confirmation Services were planned for that period so that they could be completed before the Bishop travelled to the Lambeth Conference which has, itself, been postponed.
Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross Paul Colton
Writing to the clergy of the Diocese this morning, Bishop Colton said:
“When we met on 7th March last in Douglas for the ‘Confirmation Morning with the Bishop’ – the annual gathering for all those who are going to be confirmed in a particular calendar year – we already had every precaution in place and, a world away, public gatherings were still not restricted.
There was palpable enthusiasm and fun, as there is every year, as well as anticipation of the Confirmation Services in this Easter season and in the Sundays following.That all seems a world away now and it is, therefore, with great regret and immense disappointment, that I have to ask you to inform the young people and their families, as well as adult confirmands, in your care, that all the Confirmation Services we had planned and were looking forward to in 2020, must now be postponed.
Like so many others in many organisations I had held off in the hope of change but, as is now clear, events the world over, local and international, scheduled to take place up to and including the month of August at least, are being rescheduled.
Naturally, I am not in a position to say when or where or in what form these Confirmations will now take place. I will be considering every option and will have to be pragmatic in doing so and, of course, we will all have to await the unfolding public health scenario and guidance.
In communicating with the young people please tell them how disappointed I am too, and assure them of my prayers for them all. I look forward to the day when we will be able to meet to celebrate with them their Christian faith.”
