A Belfast parish has hosted a number of Fáilte ar Ais or 'welcome back' masses, to encourage people who have turned away from the church to return.
Lenadoon’s Saint Oliver Plunkett's parish in south Belfast, hosted the masses with local parish priest Fr Martin Magill affirming that attendance at mass is essential to Catholic life.
Local parishioner Annette Kennedy, who recently returned to the church, spoke at each of the three masses about her experiences.
Speaking to the local media in south Belfast Fr Magill said, “People will look to the very obvious reasons, such as the likes of the clerical abuse scandals within the Catholic church in Ireland as the reason for declining attendances. We used the Fáilte ar Ais weekend to say to parishioners - and I suspect many priests would say the same thing - that if we have hurt someone we are truly sorry.”
“But for me there seems to be a sense of malaise. I think the modern day pace of life does not fit in well with Mass attendance. All the demands that are on people nowadays, a very long working week, family and care commitments there is not much time left for mass. Come Sunday mornings there is almost a sense of wanting to relax and rest.”
He said that the point to the weekend was to show us that Mass gives us a core to our week, a way of nourishing us and helping us live out that experience for the rest of the week.
SIC: CIN/IE