{"id":163961,"date":"2025-11-05T09:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T09:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/163961\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T09:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T09:19:08","slug":"the-new-parishioners-filling-dublin-pews-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/163961\/","title":{"rendered":"The new parishioners filling Dublin pews \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alice Quinza, a student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo<\/a>, had just attended Sunday evening Mass at the Pro Cathedral in Dublin city centre. She felt the Mass carried \u201cnot the same energy\u201das in her country, where it would be \u201cmore exuberant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Quinza said it was \u201cvery different to the way we worship back in Congo\u201d.<\/p>\n

Others from Nigeria, Spain and the Philippines agreed: the Masses here are shorter, less methodical and often \u201ctoo relaxed\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the number of practising Irish Catholics<\/a> decreases, a growing diversity among congregations attending Masses in the Republic is becoming ever more pronounced. <\/p>\n

It is similar with clergy in recent years, with more and more African and Asian priests leading liturgies in Catholic parishes across the island as a whole.<\/p>\n

Walter and Indira Kuizon, from the Philippines, have been in Ireland five years. Speaking after a Saturday vigil Mass, they said the main difference they notice about Masses is that \u201cin the Philippines there is a commentator to tell people when to kneel down, when to stand up, when to sit. `Please all kneel down, please all stand up,\u2019 the commentator would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

With them was Eburnia, their daughter. \u201cIvory in Latin,\u201d explained Walter. \u201cFour in December,\u201d he added. \u201cShe was made in Ireland,\u201d laughed Indira.<\/p>\n

Victor Diaz, who has been in Ireland for 20 years and runs a web design business, said: \u201cI see many mistakes celebrating Mass, also with people attending Mass. Why are they not following the rules; why are they not following the liturgy?\u201d <\/p>\n

From Madrid, he described himself as \u201ca normal Catholic\u201d and was speaking recently after Mass in Ballinteer, Co Dublin. It was all \u201ctoo relaxed\u201d, meaning \u201ceverything is possible in Ireland, and my concern is why everything is possible?\u201d he said. \u201cI have travelled in 21 countries, in my work and my life, and I only see something like this in Germany and here.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Ester Alvarez, who was at Mass with her daughter Iciar, son Inigo and six schoolfriends from Madrid who were visiting her in Dublin, said Mass was \u201cnot much different\u201d to what it is in Spain. She has been in Ireland for more than a year. <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you stand up when we don\u2019t, but the rest is certainly the same.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, in Madrid attendance would include \u201cmany more people\u201d, she said, adding: \u201cI can see here that the faith is going down, at least that\u2019s what I feel.”<\/p>\n

And congregations in Madrid would not be as diverse. \u201cIn Madrid, in Spain in general, there is less immigration. Here you can see a beautiful mix of different cultures,\u201d she said. In Madrid, Mass attendance \u201cis very strong\u201d. \u201cIn Bilbao, where my husband is from, it\u2019s a little bit down,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

If attendances at Masses in Ireland have become more diverse, so too have the new missionaries.<\/p>\n

Among them is the South American Shalom Catholic Community group. There are 10 of these young lay missionaries in Dublin at the moment, and they organise the 6pm Mass on Sunday\u2019s at the Pro Cathedral. The group has been in Ireland for seven years. In 2007 it was formally recognised by the Vatican and given final approval in 2012. <\/p>\n

Lorena Ruegg from the Brazilian city of Fortaleza has been in Dublin for 18 months and, though a qualified pharmacist, works as a technician in a city pharmacy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe began in Brazil but are now everywhere,\u201d she said. As well as organising the Sunday Mass at the Pro Cathedral, they have a prayer group, she said. \u201cWe are trying to evangelise the Irish people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"LorenaLorena Ruegg, from the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, says Mass in Ireland is not too different from elsewhere <\/p>\n

When it came to the style of worship in Ireland, she said that \u201ceverywhere I go I have the same experience\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what\u2019s beautiful about the Catholic Church.\u201d She was recently in Poland, where she \u201ccouldn\u2019t understand anything, but I knew it was the same as in Portuguese or English, as the Catholic Church is the same in the whole world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fr Tijo John, from Kerala in India, is a member of the Sacred Heart Missionaries Order. He and some Indian colleagues in the order arrived in Ireland last January. To date, he has served in Dublin, the second priest is in Galway and the third man is in Cork. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here at the invitation of the order, we have a province over here. We have been taking up what they are doing but will be working independently from next year onwards,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

On arrival in Ireland last January \u201cwe had two weeks of an inculturation programme\u201d. Taking part in that course were \u201c18 of us [priests] who came from Africa, India, Indonesia, other places, different orders\u201d. It was \u201cvery helpful\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Then they moved to different places. \u201cI was in Tallaght, in Killinarden. It\u2019s a very different community over there, and I moved from there to here [Ballinteer, Co Dublin] three months ago. The idea is to get experience of different places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theirs is \u201ca long-term project\u201d. \u201cThe plan is to stay in Ireland. We have a process whereby we serve for three years and we continue after that, but every year we go home for a holiday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At Masses in Ireland he noticed very different responses from young people in some churches and the elderly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the faith is still alive,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s so evident. They come to the church with openness. Maybe it\u2019s a task for us to see the other group, those who are not coming to church, how do we attract them?\u201d <\/p>\n

Faith is \u201cstill out there, so I\u2019m happy with that\u201d. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s a cycle, probably; people keep coming back. I\u2019ve been to different places in Europe, the US also, and I see more and more young people coming back. Probably that will take place here too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alice Quinza, a student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had just attended Sunday evening Mass at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[377,9,10,2512,36812,52,13,14,6,387,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-163961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-catholic-church","12":"tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","13":"tag-dublin","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-india","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories","25":"tag-world","26":"tag-world-news","27":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115496351670093520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}