This year’s annual Solemn Novena at Mount St Alphonsus Church in
Limerick drew 100,000 participants and the congregation for early
morning sessions of the novena began filling up from as early as 6:30am
each morning.
A large banner was erected outside the church for the duration of the
novena with the slogan “God’s house, your home, all are welcome here.”
Meanwhile, the novena had been advertised with the slogan - mimicking
Carlsberg beer – “Limerick- probably the best novena in the world.”
Organiser Fr Seamus Devitt said at the weekend that the recession had
boosted attendances and had re-awakened faith in some people.
“During the belly-up of the (Celtic) Tiger, people found there is
more to life,” he remarked.
“In the last couple of years people are
coming back looking for something and obviously finding something as
well.”
“It uplifts everybody; we might be conducting it, but it’s the people
who attend that lift us up,” said Fr Devitt, who said the work of
organising it was “a labour of love” because it was “a joy to see
everyone coming.”
Fr Devitt said that apart from those who attended in person,
thousands are also believed to have watched the proceedings live on the
novena internet site. His colleague Fr Adrian Egan said that people
“want to connect again and yearning for a substance and a spirituality
that fulfils a need in their lives.”
“It doesn’t matter how long it has been since they have been in
church, there is a welcome and togetherness and people support and pray
for each other.”
Fr Egan, who is rector of the Limerick Redemptorists, said that the
petitions, a selection from which were read at Masses, were often
“heart-breaking” and “would draw blood from a stone.”
“These days everyone is suffering the consequences of the recession –
unemployment, finance problems and all the worries that go with them,”
he observed. “There are a lot of people feeling lost and in writing the
petition, some small weight has been lifted.”
Another of the officiating priests, Fr Seamus Enright attributed the success of the novena to the fact that people had bought into the idea that prosperity would bring happiness, but now we hadn’t got either prosperity or happiness.
Another of the officiating priests, Fr Seamus Enright attributed the success of the novena to the fact that people had bought into the idea that prosperity would bring happiness, but now we hadn’t got either prosperity or happiness.
A professional team of counsellors was available throughout the
novena to help people with their problems, while around a hundred lay
people volunteered their services to help the proceedings run smoothly.