Latin Mass celebrated once again in West Cork

On the evening of Monday August 9 2004, in the beautiful Church of the Sacred Heart in Durrus, County Cork, Fr. Gabriel Burke, a curate from the Diocese of Cloyne, celebrated a Tridentine Latin Mass.

This was the third summer in a row that the old Mass had been celebrated in West Cork. The Mass attracted a crowd estimated at between 200 and 250 people - by far the largest congregation yet.

Most of the worshippers came from Durrus and neighbouring parishes, including Ballydehob, Bantry, Goleen, Schull and Skibbereen. Some came from as a far away as Dublin and Cork. One overseas visitor in West Cork on holiday hailed from the west coast of Florida.

There was no shortage of older people in the congregation. Many remembered the old Mass from their youth and retained a fondness for it. There were also young families, teenagers and at least one infant in its mother's arms.

"What a beautiful Mass," was how one man put it. "It all comes back to you," said a woman after reading the Latin prayers in the missalettes. More than one worshipper said he was struck by the reverence of the old Mass and hoped that it would again would be celebrated regularly in West Cork.

Fr. Burke in his sermon spoke about the important role that liturgy plays in people's lives. He asked why Ireland - which, despite its small size, had for so many years sent priests and religious throughout the world - had now begun to import priests from abroad to staff its parishes.

The reason, he said, was a decline in religious fervour among Catholics. This development, he argued, was tied in with how Catholics now worshipped. He urged a return to the sense of the sacred in Catholic worship.

In Ireland, the Tridentine Mass is now celebrated every Sunday in four dioceses, with permission now granted in a fifth. The liturgy is regularly celebrated in three other dioceses.

The Durrus Mass was sponsored by the Munster Chapter of the Latin Mass Society of Ireland and was celebrated with the permission of the Bishop John Buckley of Cork and Ross, thanks to the hospitality of Fr Liam Crowley, the parish priest of Durrus.

Fr. Burke celebrates the Tridentine Latin Mass
at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Durrus, County Cork.

The Church of the Sacred Heart.