Organisers of the Dublin City Marathon moved the event to a
Sunday this year for the first time.
What’s curious about the decision
is the fact that absolutely no consultation took place with parishes
along the route affected by the road closures.
In effect, many
parishioners along the route were unable to make it to Sunday Mass.
Some
Dublin parishes said that their attendance was down sharply on other
weeks.
Apparently, the reason why the marathon was moved from the
traditional October Bank Holiday Monday was to facilitate tourism.
Tourism Ireland pushed for the change in the hope that a Sunday marathon
would bring more visitors to the capital – where this was based on a
hunch or solid evidence remains unclear.
Road closures
In fairness, race organisers did write to parishes to
inform them of the road closures that resulted in fewer people being
able to attend Mass.
But, the letter was just that – for information.
There was no consultation about the change, no assessment of the impact
on parishioners, no discussion whether changing the day would cause
unnecessary inconvenience for people.
By the time parishes found out, it
was a fait accompli – a done deal, one might say, between race
organisers and tourism chiefs. And, according to the organisers, the
marathon will continue to go ahead on a Sunday from now on.
It’s another example of the marginalisation of faith in
contemporary Ireland.
A recent poll found Mass attendance across the
country to be at 40% - this number is higher in rural areas and lower in
urban areas. That’s a significant number of Irish people who
participate in the same communal activity (going to Mass) on a weekly
basis.
The same trend – to marginalise faith – is evident in a
lot of the commentary around the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
In fact, in major keynote addresses around the motivation of the rebels,
President Michael D. Higgins mentioned virtually every single aspect
except faith.
This is despite the fact that the book 1916: The Church and the Rising (edited
by my colleague Greg Daly) shows that faith played a very important
role in the lives of the rebels and the events surrounding Easter week
in 1916. But, to look at the official commemorations of the centenary,
one would be forgiven for thinking that religion meant nothing at the
time of the Easter Rising.
Many parts of ‘official Ireland’ suffer from a combination
of amnesia and blindness when it comes to faith.
Yet, Catholicism
continue to be a driving force for a great many people.
Often the
marginalisation of faith is not deliberate, it’s just that often the
decision-makers are not Mass-goers, and they don’t know anyone who does
go to Mass.
It’s simply not on their radar.