Recession leading more Irish to church

Catholic churches in Ireland are seeing attendance at Mass rise as much as 30 per cent all over the country in what some see as a response to the desperate times brought on by the economic crisis.

Bishop Joseph Duffy of Clogher, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland told the Catholic News Service, “People are experiencing deep crisis for the first time in their lives … The pace of this economic collapse has been so swift, I think it is causing people to stop and search; this naturally finds a home in coming back to church.”

Currently, there are around 1,000 workers in Ireland losing their job every day.

Bishop Duffy said, “People are seeing the need for deeper values, for moral values that lead on to a search for spiritual values. People are certainly searching for something deeper.”

Another Catholic clergyman, Father William Peoples of County Donegal said that Mass attendance on Easter Sunday was up 30 per cent this year, while the last few months have seen a noticeable rise in numbers.

He said, “The recession certainly has something to do with it, I suppose we have walked down the road of the Celtic Tiger for many years; we get fed up of a materialistic world and desire more.”

A similar rise has also been noted in parishes in the US. In St Stephen’s Church in San Francisco, which has a large Irish congregation, recent months have seen a rise in both attendance and, perhaps surprisingly, donations.

Jim Cook, manager of the parish said that a rise was typical in times of economic hardship. He said that the Great Depression of the 1930s also saw a large increase in the number of people attending Mass and donating to church.

He said, “I think there’s a comfort level. It’s a place you can go and feel good about giving at a time when it’s tough, because your money is going to a good cause,” reports Irish Central.

He added, “It’s a good chance to talk to your neighbours … There are also opportunities for different kinds of networking, perhaps with someone who knows someone else who’s hiring.”