The Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal for World Aid and Development has launched a Mother and Child Advent Appeal, which seeks to raise support for four initiatives in the following countries:

• Nepal – Sundar Dhoka Saathi Sewa, which is being supported through CMS Ireland, provides emergency food to pregnant and lactating mothers whose access to harvests, work and food has been decimated due to the pandemic;
• Cambodia – Tearfund Ireland’s work to provide children in crisis situations with emergency foster parents to give them a safe, secure home as an alternative to going into an orphanage;
• Democratic Republic of the Congo – Christian Aid’s support for families who have fled conflict and are now living in overcrowded shelters, mostly without water or electricity; and
• Sierra Leone – refurbishment of health clinics alongside support in communities and education for women and their partners who are expecting a baby.

Lydia Monds, Bishops’ Appeal’s Education Advisor, says: ‘This Advent, how apt that as Christians follow the story of a heavily pregnant young woman on an arduous journey, going into labour in an overcrowded town and giving birth next to animals, that Bishops’ Appeal would focus on expectant and young mothers today and the challenges that they are facing in keeping themselves and their children safe.  In such difficult times, we are grateful to those who are in a position to support this Mother and Child Appeal.’

Donations to the appeal can be made by visiting www.bishopsappeal.ireland.anglican.org/give or by post to Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal (Mother & Child Appeal), Church of Ireland House, Church Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6.

In recent months, Bishops’ Appeal has also supported efforts to help communities in Lebanon as they recover from the explosion in Beirut’s port (Tearfund Ireland and Christian Aid); agricultural and forestry projects in Burkina Faso and Cameroon (Self Help Africa and Feed the Minds); support for education and girls’ health in six schools in Uganda (Fields of Life); vocational training for young adults who attend the Anglican Diocese of Egypt’s deaf centre in Cairo (CMS Ireland); increasing literacy and training women in business skills in Burundi (CMS Ireland and Mothers’ Union); and helping pea farmers in Malawi to access larger markets and strengthen their ability to sell their produce (Christian Aid).

The Liturgical Advisory Committee has announced that the Service of Prayer and Naming and the Funeral Service in cases of Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Neonatal Death, as approved by the General Synod, are available in the Prayer & Worship section of the Church of Ireland website.

The Services are accompanied by Pastoral and Liturgical Guidelines for Clergy, and a Certificate of Naming which commends a child to God’s ever–caring and gentle love.

Commending the resources, the Chair of the Committee, Archbishop Michael Jackson, remarked: “While no words can adequately respond to or address the sense of loss experienced by family members when a child dies near the time of birth, it is our hope that these resources for worship will go some way toward expressing loss and knowing that God is present.  It is in this spirit of compassion and hope that the Liturgical Advisory Committee offers them for use.”

The Services and related resources are available to download from this link.

Listen to expert advice from Dr Abigail Collins on what to do if your child has been in close contact with someone else who has COVID-19 in school or childcare.