Christmas Day worshippers in a tiny church at the tip of a remote West Cork peninsula will be joined this year by more than 1,000 emigrants from all over the world.
There will only be about 250 people in the congregation at Our Lady Star of the Sea church in Kilcrohane, in the parish of Muintir Bháire, at 11.30am Mass on Christmas morning. However, their ranks will be swelled by large crowds expected to log on remotely from all over the world, when the Mass goes out live on YouTube.
Viewers from as far afield as Tasmania, Singapore and the US are expected to join in the candle-lit ceremony taking place in what is believed to be one of Ireland's most remote churches. It was built in the 1890s on the Sheep's Head peninsula.
"The entire Mass will be streamed live on the internet," said Fr Gerard Galvin, parish priest of Muintir Bháire. The village choir, attired in festive red cloaks and supported by children from the local school, will sing a range of traditional carols as well as a gospel version of Go Tell It On The Mountain, he said. The candle-lit church will be festively decorated with papier-maché lanterns, garlands and Christmas bunting.
At the end of the hour-long ceremony, worshippers can speak directly to camera by microphone to give their Christmas messages to loved ones far away.
"We did this last year for the first time and we reached people all over the world. We got hits from Tasmania, Australia, Singapore, the US and the UK and all over Ireland, as well as Belgium and France, and probably also many more," he said.
“Most of the people who logged on for the Mass were emigrants,” said Fr Galvin, adding that others were the owners of holiday homes locally.
Some of the remote viewers will be getting up in the early hours of the morning in their part of the world, in order to log on for the special Christmas Mass, the priest said.
“Part of the fabric of rural communities is the ritual of going to Mass on Christmas Day and this system affords people who may be away an opportunity to be there, both in spirit and visually, on the day.”
“It’s about reaching out across the oceans to loved ones who are far away and sharing this special Christmas celebration with them, despite the thousands of miles that separate us.”
The Mass can be accessed on YouTube by searching for Kilcrohane Church or on streamingservices.ie