TikToking teens, devout pilgrims, and a strong feeling the Knock novena is in its twilight years
Worshippers at Knock Shrine, Co Mayo, for this year's in-person Novena, which had been hampered by the pandemic. Picture: Hany Marzouk
Mass at Knock isn’t what it used to be. Walking into the old chapel past a teenager recording a TikTok is certainly a change of tone from the pilgrimages of the 20th century, which in some respects seem centuries ago.
Uninterested children sit and play games on their phones and tablets, as their parents and grandparents listen to Fr Richard Gibbons on the altar.
Devout Catholics have returned after the pandemic, rosary beads in hand, to bear witness to the site of the 1879 apparition, where they believe the Virgin Mary, St Joseph, St John the Evangelist, and a Eucharistic lamb appeared in front of the village locals.
“We wish to do what your son tells us, what He commands us, for He has the words of eternal life.” These were the words of Pope John Paul II in his prayer addressing Mary at Knock for the 100th anniversary in 1979, where 450,000 pilgrims attended.
That was a very different Ireland.
Widespread secularisation has left the Catholic Church in Ireland like a restaurant that can’t get enough staff, and where most of their usual customers don’t like the food anymore.
After a mere trickle of devoted pilgrims travelled to Knock during the pandemic years, this year saw a return to large mass in the famous Basilica that’s become synonymous with the Shrine – but not in huge numbers.
Monday was the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a highlight in the nine-day novena which returned to its in-person format for the first time since 2019.
“We used to come on August 15 before the pandemic, and you wouldn’t get place to walk around,” said Ellen Joyce, who has been coming to Knock since the 1950s.
“You wouldn’t get standing here before the pandemic,” said Kieran, who came from the midlands with his wife.
“This is the anniversary of my father’s death, he died on the 15th of August, 30 years ago [today]… [He] brought us when we were very small from about four or five years of age, and it was a constant thing every year or so growing up.”
“We have great faith and great belief, and that’s about it,” he said. “We love our religion.”
Father Richard Gibbons, who has been the parish priest at Knock since 2012, said he was “very happy with the turnout, because you just don’t know after the pandemic how many would come”.
“We were completely surprised at how many came out today,” he said. “I would safely say about 6,000 or 7,000 have come.”
Online streaming of services has been introduced, which may also impact numbers.
The slow return of crowds has affected businesses which rely on pilgrims to survive. One shopkeeper said she saw three times as many before the pandemic.
Ballyhaunis man Martin Waldron opened West Craft in Knock earlier this year and said, “the season hasn’t really kicked off here”.
“Knock ticks all the boxes for a tourism retail business, except it doesn’t tick those at the moment,” he said. “We’re happy to be here and hopefully it’ll slowly start to return.”
Scanning the crowd, it’s abundantly clear that Knock is not for the young, save for children tagging along with their families. The church’s twilight years in Ireland seems defined not by those who practice, but by those who don’t.
But hope remains for advocates for change within the church, seeking to renew Ireland’s faith in its teachings. As pilgrims prayed at the Shrine, the church in Ireland was sending a landmark synodal report to the Vatican on what Irish Catholics want for the future of the institution.
The report from the church said many want female priests, optional celibacy and the full inclusion of the LGBTQI+ community. It said the church finds itself pushed to the margins of popular culture in Ireland and few young people are actively involved in church life.
Across the country, parishes are being amalgamated amid dwindling numbers of priests; and as many reach the age of retirement in the coming years, the church leaders recognise its need to change to survive.
But not all subscribe to the traditional image of Catholicism that campaigners seek to modernise for the 21st Century.
No collar, no robes and a physique worthy of a bodybuilder, Father Brendan Fitzgerald is not what you’d expect of a priest.
“I wanted to be a priest since I was a kid,” he said, showing a photograph of him aged five praying at Knock Shrine. “I couldn’t wait to grow up to be a priest. The Lord put it in my head somehow.”
Fr Fitzgerald is a priest at St Barnabus church in Bronx, New York city, and has been to Knock more than 40 times.
“When I was young, I went to school in Killarney and it was just part of the culture,” he said. “Every year a couple of buses went to Knock, and every family went to Knock for the pilgrimage.”
Asked about his interest in the synod, he said: “The secret to a happy life and a happy priesthood? Don’t get into all the politics! Keep it local. The people on the ground. That’s the church.”
Crowds from all over Ireland and the world, Travellers and settled people, gathered side by side at Knock in celebration of their faith.
A ruthlessly efficient assembly line of confession in the Chapel of Reconciliation demonstrates how far followers of Christ have come since His birth in a manger at Bethlehem.
The sight of some young women crowding around Fr Gibbons like a celebrity for blessings was a rare sight of enthusiasm from the youth.
And as mass came to a close, the younger ones were already leaving or left. Much like the Catholic Church in Ireland today, only the grey remain.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
