A prominent Irish language broadcaster has called on the Church to help preserve the Irish language by offering more Masses in Irish in the Gaeltacht. Seán Ó Héalaí, speaking at a conference in Castlebar on the future of the Gaeltacht areas in County Mayo, said no complete Mass in Irish was available in any of five parishes on Achill Island, a designated Gaeltacht region.
He said the Church had never recognised Achill as a Gaeltacht, despite its official designation and said that when he grew up on the adjacent Corran peninsula, people were loyal to the Catholic faith and the Irish language but could not avail of Mass in Irish.
“Despite strong outside pressure, prayers were always said in Irish at home, at school, at funerals and almost everywhere except the House of God” Mr Ó Héalaí recalled.
“The use of Irish would stop at the gates of the churches and when the Church announced that Latin Mass was being ended, responses through English were taught by the priests to the Gaeltacht communities throughout the parish”.
Mr Ó Héalaí was speaking in the context of a new linguistic study which showed everyday usage of Irish in Gaeltacht areas contracting and suggested that the population of the Mayo Gaeltacht could be cut to 2,000 if new linguistic criteria were introduced.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce