From the charity box, the car window stickers, and religious clocks strange objects still remain, artifacts of Ireland’s strong Catholic follow in our midst.
Ireland, in the last centuries, without a doubt has been considered one of the most Catholic countries in the world. In fact, research conducted by the Central Statistics Office shows in the last census of 2022 that 69% of the Irish population were identified as Catholic, numbering approximately 3.5 million people.
Furthermore, if on one hand, this trend has seen a significant decline from the 84.2% who identified as Catholic in 2011, on the other hand, the perception of Ireland as a Catholic country could still be felt by observing the national culture, the customs, or simply by observing “religious symbolism ” that is related to it, which we can verify in daily life.
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Let’s take some interesting examples:
The “blessed” charity box
If you are in Ireland and you go to buy something in a small shop, especially if this is located in proximity to a church, you’ll probably see these charity boxes strategically placed close to the till so that you can drop some coins in them.
They have been used by the parishes (or by some associations) to collect funds for different projects such as fighting poverty, building a school, feeding the homeless, or organizing a Pilgrimage to visit holy places such as Knock, Medjugorje, rather than The Vatican State.
The “blessed” window sticker
On the Emerald Isle, it is very common to see religious car window stickers. For instance, there is Padre Pio, with over 35 prayer groups. Yet, besides being one of the most prayed-to saints in Ireland, he is the most popularly selected figure for stickers, especially by families and the elderly.
Following popular religious beliefs, it is believed that having a religious adhesive sticker on a car keeps the driver and the passengers safer, blessing them to have a lovely trip.
The living room Jesus clock
This last example is a must that could be admired if entering some Irish houses like the one of my old Catholic friend Denys, a retired Dubliner who lived part of his life between America and Australia before coming back to Ireland to spend the rest of his time.
While I am eating bacon and cabbage at his house, he often remembers the importance of having that clock as a blessing for his own place.
“This is not only a clock he says, I had brought this article with me everywhere: In Australia when I worked as a painter and in the USA where I worked without having papers. It reminds me when it is time for prayers, for mass and furthermore, it reminds me that Jesus is part of our legacy, part of our time, part of our Irishness. Now that I’m living in Ireland,” Denys concludes. “It keeps the same company it used to keep throughout my life.”
In the end, stories like Denys’s, like those of the drivers who seek protection from a saint by putting stickers on their cars, or like the story of the shop’s owner who helps the church by displaying the donation box close to the till, represents a part of Ireland that nostalgically remembers its own traditions with the hope that those may be handed down to the future generations.
This year’s Gaelic language Mass will focus on families who lost loved ones in the Troubles.
News October 19, 2023 by Irish Echo Staff
There is much to pray for in today’s troubled world. And yet much to pray for in the context of more troubled times in Northern Ireland.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians will join with Gaelic Societies, Irish community groups and parishioners in the strongly Irish Woodlawn-McLean area to host the annual Irish language Mass on Sunday, October 29 at 2:30 p.m.
Fr. Brendan Fitzgerald, according to a release, will celebrate the Mass in Gaelic, which this year will include special prayers for those who “hunger and thirst for justice” offered for bereaved relatives of those killed during the Troubles and whose hopes for justice are being taken away by the new British Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.
Continued the release: The Bronx AOH Irish language Mass became a national AOH event viewed by Hibernians across the United States and in Ireland via the St. Barnabas Facebook and AOH youtube. The link is https://youtube.com/live/stWJSVBRYWc?feature=share
Irish-English translations of the liturgy will be made available, so that anyone can read the prayers in English as they hear the Mass said in Irish. A special musical program will be provided by the Dawn Doherty Academy of Irish music.
Added the release: “The Bronx County Irish Language Mass at St. Barnabas is dedicated to all those who have kept the Irish language and culture alive. To symbolize this theme, the AOH flyer depicts a Mass Rock where Gaelic speakers gathered in secret to hear outlawed Masses said by outlawed priests in defiance of English penal laws.
“This year, following a call by Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of all Ireland, the Irish Mass will include a special remembrance of those bereaved families who lost loved ones during the Troubles, and must now see their hopes of justice taken away by a new British amnesty law. The Mass will be held in the Main Church on Martha Avenue near East 241st Street. The location is near the Bronx River Parkway, Deegan Expressway, or Metro-North Railroad
Bronx County AOH President Martin Galvin said: “The Irish Language Mass or Gaelic Mass, at St. Barnabas has become an annual event on the AOH national calendar, viewed in person or facebook or the AOH youtube ,by many people who had never before seen the Mass said in the language of our ancestors.
“This year, following the enactment with new British laws that take away Inquests, Ombudsmen Investigations, as well as criminal and civil court actions, the Mass will include a call for prayers for the bereaved as requested by Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of all Ireland.
“The Irish language is an important and indestructible part of our Irish heritage. Measures to wipe out the Irish language began even before penal laws to wipe out the Catholic religion in Ireland. Ireland’s cherished landmarks include Mass Rocks, where Gaelic speakers risked death or imprisonment simply to worship. Even today a simple Irish language Act is still denied to six county nationalists.
“As an organization formed to promote Irish ideals, culture, history and national freedom, we can think of no more fitting way for AOH members to honor Irish heritage than an Irish Mass embodying all of these themes.”
“There has been a great response each year from AOH officers, Gaelic clubs, community groups and individuals who would just like to hear the Mass said in the language of our ancestors. St. Barnabas is fortunate enough to have a pastor like Fr. Fitzgerald who can say the Mass in Gaelic.”
Sam Mcbride’s article in last Saturday’s BelTel was a broad overview of just how screwed we are. From crumbling public services to ecological collapse, it made for depressing reading:
A veteran unionist politician recently said to me: “The whole place is an absolute mess.” Another MLA is for the first time seriously considering quitting politics.
One senior business figure phoned a week ago to lament how so much of Northern Ireland is falling apart.
He likened the situation to Libya – there, two warring leaders had fought while their infrastructure collapsed, killing thousands of people when two dams burst. Here, he said that the two sides were expending their energy on tribal disputes while critical infrastructure degrades around them.
The consequences might not come while these politicians and civil servants are in power, but come they surely will. He said that spending on roads had been almost £1bn short over the last nine years – a false economy because the more roads regress, the more expensive they become to maintain.
The civil service isn’t trusted by the Treasury, the Irish government or business to spend their money, he said, because the scandalous behaviour of cash for ash had not been addressed – despite what the head of the Civil Service claims.
Having sown the wind, we’re now reaping the whirlwind.
This day next week, Northern Ireland enters a critical period of electricity insecurity. Kilroot power station’s coal-fired units shut next Saturday evening, but the gas-fired generators which were meant to replace them are nowhere near ready.
Even when those generators come online some time early next year, they will not replace the lost capacity due to a gaffe by those overseeing the electricity system.
There will be a critical gap in generating capacity which means that on calm, cold days when problems develop at other plants there could be blackouts. Yet no one seems terribly exercised by this. There’s scant evidence of it being treated as a crisis.
Last year, a refugee fleeing the Ukrainian war came here for sanctuary. But when they needed an urgent operation the waiting list was so long that they considered returning to Ukraine for treatment. Now health faces a £470m shortfall.
The Department of Education is £382m short and admits that disabled children will experience “major negative impacts”. The infrastructure budget is £167m short. Officials there say all streetlights will have to be switched off and salting of the roads will end.
The subject was also debated on last night’s The View on BBC (clip below).
How bad is it all likely to get? Are we being too fatalistic or willfully ignoring the problems?
That centenary stone is looking more like a headstone every day.
