If you were to ask the majority in leadership positions in the Catholic Church in Ireland about their goal for the next ten years, almost all would give you the same answer: Managing the Decline.
This institutional and managerial concerns should never, ever, take precedent over evangelisation and the care of souls. Yet, that is precisely what is happening.
The two most common problems within the Irish church are the lack of participation of the faithful and the lack of vocations. In a disgraceful passage in the recent Synod Synthesis Report, those few young priests who are coming forward were the only people out of a population of 7 million who were singled out for nasty and personal criticism, much of it motivated by jealousy from older Modernists. Some of these older Modernists have become infamous worldwide in the past month for their complaints about young priests, even going so far as to say that they would rather have none than the ones that we currently have.
In the middle of all of the difficulties of the Irish church, there have been some success stories. Groups like Youth 2000 continue to draw big crowds, the Legion of Mary is experiencing a growth in popularity as part of its Centenary Celebrations and huge numbers are to be found at Latin Masses in all of Ireland's cities.
One city however, is putting a stop to that.
Cork City has been blessed to see not one, not two but three Traditional Masses flourishing in the city.
Saints Peter and Paul's, a Diocesan church, has been a hub for new and old Latin Mass devotees over the past few years. Not only on weekends, but during weekday Masses also, the numbers attending have been significant in comparison to dwindling numbers elsewhere at Novus Ordo Masses throughout the country.
Many of those in attendance were young people, something noted by popular radio DJ Gareth O'Callaghan when he tweeted in July 2020:
'We went for a walk around Cork city centre early this morning, and ended up going to a Latin Mass. The most beautiful experience. So many young people there. Is that ageist? Not intended. Times are changing so fast. So many people looking to find a personal meaning to their lives'.
You might assume that such a tweet would draw attention to this phenomenon from the Irish hierarchy but it did not.
The other popular Traditional Mass in the city started up a number of years ago, with the early Sunday Dominican Rite Mass attracting similarly impressive crowds at Saint Mary's on the Quay. The church is the home to the Dominican Novitiate, where students spend their first year in the order, under the care of former Manchester United player Father Philip Mulryne. The Dominicans, unlike most other orders in Ireland, have managed to attract a stream of highly capable young candidates to the priesthood each year, with two ordinations this month, four solemn professions and three new novices. It might not be enough to maintain all of the areas under their care from the past, as their recent withdrawal from Waterford has shown, but it is enough to ensure that the order has a future and a will continue to attract youth.
Finally, there is the Society of Saint Pius X, which says Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary. The attendance there is large and continues to grow.
Instead of harnessing this incredible outpouring of devotion by the People of God, Catholic Arena got word last Christmas that Bishop Fintan Gavin was eager to suppress the Latin Mass within the city.
In June of this year, it was announced that the Traditional Latin Mass would now no longer take place on weekdays in Saints Peter and Paul's.
This move coincided with a wider plan unveiled in a pastoral letter entitled:
Putting out into deep waters (Lk 5:4) Transforming parishes together into mission-centred faith communities
The bishop explained the rationale behind a large scale series of personnel changes and parish 'families' by writing:
"People have often said to me: “You have a very difficult job ahead of you, Bishop”. A system that served well in the past is crumbling".
Astute. The next lines however seem ironic:
"In the past, the local community was also the faith community – where going to Mass was the place where you met everyone, young and old. Many parents and grandparents now express sadness that their own children no longer practise their faith or seem interested in Church matters.
Many lamented the fact that large numbers of our young people are not present in our churches on Sundays. At the recent CONNECT event in UCC, for young adults (aged 18 to 35) the loudest message of these young adults was how isolated and alone they feel at times at Sunday Mass — because most of the people there are ‘much older’."
Perhaps Bishop Gavin didn't read Gareth O'Callaghan's tweet, but the truth is clear, Traditional Masses are the ONLY places in the Irish church where a consistent presence of young people is to be found, apart from perhaps at Polish Masses.
Bishop Gavin's letter continues:
"Our diocese will give thanks for the ordination of one young man who will serve in our diocese. However, during this summer, 12 of our priests will step aside from their former responsibilities. While a small number will continue to help out as assistant priests, most have understandably decided they would prefer to retire fully from their appointments. In addition, a number of religious provincials are recalling priests to their orders this summer and will not be in a position to replace them.
It is important to be aware that this picture is not unique to our diocese, but is replicated throughout Ireland, Europe and indeed in most parts of the Western World. It is part of a much larger societal change which we can’t control."
This sense of helplessness and impending doom is not shared by many young people in the church. Tradition has been shown to revitalise countless parishes, not merely in the Mass, but in pilgrimages, consecrations and devotions too.
The disappearance of weekday Masses at Saints Peter and Paul and of Dominican Rite Mass at St. Mary's is the temporary triumph of short term fears over long term hope. Those young people who have been thronging both will now move to the SSPX in big numbers, some will travel to the ICKSP in Limerick and some, realistically, will just feel unwanted and lose interest.
In the Synod Synthesis Report it was written:
"Some feel the Church’s liturgies are boring, monotonous, jaded and flat; that they no longer speak to people’s lives"
"A minority view seeks a return of the Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II celebrations".
"There are other minority, yet strong, voices that believe the Church, rooted in the Catholic Tradition, should not conform to secular standards when it comes to questions regarding gender, sexuality, and relationships".
This leads us to reflect on the Synod guidelines from Rome, which state:
"Accurate syntheses that truly captures the range of critical and appreciative perspectives of all responses, including views that are expressed only by a minority of participants
The synthesis should pay special attention to the voices of those who are not often heard and integrate what we could call the “minority report.”
Views should not be excluded simply because they were expressed by a small minority of participants. Indeed, sometimes the perspective of what we could call the “minority report” can be a prophetic witness to what God wants to say to the Church".
If Ireland is truly to believe in the Synodal process, if it is to reverse its crisis in attracting young laity and vocations then it must actually start listening to the People of God, rather than talking at them and making esoteric and irrational decisions that claim to assume their best interests.
Wildly Popular Latin Mass Suppressed in Cork