NEARLY 500 names of young emigrants have been placed alongside the Christmas crib in St Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney, in response to a suggestion by local priests to help fill the void left in many local houses this Christmas.
Fr Kevin McNamara said there had been such a response to the invitation, at a carols service before Christmas, to write the names of loved ones on large boards, that it was decided to hold a special Mass on Sunday afternoon, which was attended by about 800 people.
There has been a recent spike in emigration from the wider Killarney area.
Fr McNamara said the placing of the names – headed “Your Loved Ones will be Remembered” – alongside the crib was “a positive statement for those who had left. We are telling them they are not forgotten.”