Frazzled Christmas shoppers can swap the festive mania for CONFESSION in a busy shopping centre.
A bishop and over a dozen priests will be on hand at the mall in the west as people are invited to make a bit of time for God during their shopping sprees.
And if you’ve blitzed the credit card or even bought some jewellery for your bit on the side, you can offload your guilty conscience with confession.
The organisers have now called on Catholic Church leaders across Ireland to “take a risk” and follow their lead.
On Friday, the bustling Skycourt Shopping Centre in Clare will once again host its popular ‘Mercy On The Mall’.
The novel initiative, now in its fifth year, will see 16 priests and Bishop of Killaloe Fintan Monahan take centre-stage in the busy centre to offer a prayer or blessing to Christmas shoppers.
The unique event has caught the imagination of the public to such an extent that people travel up from across the country for the opportunity to combine both spiritual and retail therapy.
But Fr Arnold Rosney, one of the co-founders of the initiative, said such events should now be rolled out across the country to help the Catholic Church re-connect with people.
The Shannon-based clergyman said: “This was certainly a risk when we first set it up, but it’s definitely paid off. It immediately captured the imagination of the shoppers here and the local population, and it’s something that the priests very much like to be involved in.
“When we set it up, it was in response to the call from Pope Francis to us to go to the marketplace, and that was what we did - bring the church out to the people.
“I don’t know anywhere else that does this, and certainly I think it hasn’t been taken up anywhere else in Ireland. But I hope that changes soon. Other parishes may well see it as a bit of a risk, but from our experience it’s been a risk very much worth taking.
“I understand other parishes might have a bit of unease about arranging for confessions to be heard in a shopping centre, and they may have a fear of failure.
“But we’ve received no negative feedback about it whatsoever, and I think even the non church-going people appreciate it, too.”
He added: “I don’t think we anticipated it would have become such a success when we first set it up, but it has and I’m sure it would be very much missed if we stopped it.
“But I don’t see that happening. We think this is very much worth doing, and so do the parishioners, so it’s certainly here to stay for the foreseeable future.”
As in previous years, Bishop Monahan and a group of 16 mainly-local clergymen will make themselves available throughout the precint for “a confession, a chat, a blessing, or a prayer”.
This year’s event will be played out with the backdrop of a life-sized crib.
The Mercy On The Mall runs from 1pm to 5pm on Friday
