BLACK SANTA may not sound too jolly but he was on song yesterday as he joined in with a choir outside St Ann’s Church in Dublin as part of the church’s 10th annual Christmas appeal.
The term “black Santa” comes from “the thick black clerical cloak that one wears in the winter” combined with the fact that “everything we get in we give away to charities, every last cent”, said Rev David Gillespie.
He was joined by Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and his Church of Ireland counterpart, Dr Michael Jackson.
Archbishop Martin said there was still great generosity in people, even in these difficult times. “We have to, as a country, get together and rebuild in the right way. Not rebuild what was there before, but build up a new type of Irish society in which solidarity will be much stronger than thinking of yourself and speculating,” he said.
Archbishop Jackson said this year’s appeal had already been strong. “There is generosity in the hearts of people and on their hands, and this is a real manifestation of it.
“There is a much deeper sense of community there as long as we share it with one another,” he said, adding that this year’s appeal had proven successful, with €20,000 raised to date.
Later, 60 pupils of Belvedere College spent the night under an army tent in the shadow of the GPO, as part of an annual sleep-out in aid of the homeless, which has raised €1.5 million in the past 28 years.
As last-minute Christmas shoppers bustled around Dublin they were met by fifth- and sixth-year pupils, mainly 17- and 18-year-olds, who volunteered to spend two nights on the streets to raise funds for Focus Ireland, the Fr Peter McVerry Trust and Home Again.
Others took to the streets shaking buckets and lending their voices to attract donations, including some famous past pupils: rugby player Cian Healy and Ger Brennan, who won an All-Ireland medal with Dublin this year.
Other celebrity guests included Miss Ireland, Holly Carpenter, presenter Brian Ormond and model Pippa O’Connor.
Sixth-year pupil Ciarán Boylan (17) said 160 students applied, 60 of whom were successful.
“It’s a big thing in the school that everybody tries to get involved with,” he said, adding that they would be out until Christmas Eve.
Across the bridge, outside the Bank of Ireland on College Green, a second group consisting of past pupils of the school were also taking up collections.
Former Belvedere student Seán Williams (21), from Castleknock, took part in the sleep-out while he was in school: “Every few minutes people come up congratulating us on what we’re doing and saying we’re doing good work. The homeless people that we’ve met so far as well have been very positive.”