10,000 people flocked to Knock this past Saturday for a Rosary Rally, with some commentators also pointing to significant increases in attendances elsewhere as potential signs of a faith comeback or even revival.
In Knock, Bishop Donal McKeown reflected on the challenges of modern life, promoting the meditative prayer of the rosary as an “antidote to this cultural haste” which surrounds us.
“We live in a frenetic age. Speed is of the essence. Attention spans are increasingly brief. Listening is in short supply,” the Bishop of Derry said.
Exorcist priest Monsignor Steve Rosett said he believed “the holy gathering at Knock will be a powerful force of good for Ireland and indeed the entire world.”
It is interesting that in uber-liberal Ireland, where religion has been put on the backburner, that the prayer rally – which began in 1985 – has attracted increasingly larger crowds in the last few years.
The Rally’s organiser, Fr Marius O’Reilly, said: “The rally was initially inspired by the rallies that the famous Mayo priest, Fr Patrick Peyton, held worldwide. It is said he spoke to over 35 million people at his rallies. He taught that a world at prayer is a world at peace. People are realising the importance of this simple message.”
The Rally included a youth conference, as well as a prayer vigil in the Basilica to mark the feast of Pentecost. On Sunday morning, hundreds climbed Croagh Patrick where Mass was celebrated at noon on the summit.
One school teacher who had travelled from Cork with a group of students said it was her second year going to the event.
“I attended the Rosary Rally the past two years with a group of students from Coláiste Chríost Rí. Students felt the presence of Christ at Holy Mass in the Basilica and in the Apparition Chapel. All the students got Confession. The atmosphere was amazing. It was wonderful to see thousands of people in Knock,” she said.
It seems as though in a world so steeped in secularism, religion is making somewhat of a comeback. I’m not sure if the level of so-called revival is exaggerated, or maybe I’m underestimating it because in my own experience, faith circles are small.
But even in the left-wing Guardian newspaper, you can find a recent article claiming just that – that a revival is happening, and there is a resurgence among the young in Britain.
Meanwhile, the French Church hit a record of more than 17,800 baptisms of adults and adolescents at Easter, which represented a record for the Catholic Church. It’s a doubling of baptisms in just two years. It was even reported in the Economist as a Baptism Boom, with the leading newspaper emphatically declaring: “A secular country returns to the church.”
This past week, a record 19,000 young Catholics walked from Paris to the French city of Chartres this weekend in what has become France’s largest traditional pilgrimage, according to organisers.
There’s also a story, carried by the Catholic News Agency – CNA – just last week which claims that a record number of adults have been baptised in Dublin as faith grows among young Irish people.
The paper reports: “Thirty-year-old Mahon McCann was baptized during the Easter Vigil Mass in his parish of Rathfarnham in Dublin this year. He was one of 70 adults baptized into the Catholic faith that evening in the Dublin Archdiocese, the largest number of adult baptisms recorded there.
“The recent upturn in the number of people being received into the Catholic faith in Ireland can be partly explained by young adults who are seeking and searching, people who are looking for a home, somewhere they can be accompanied and grow in faith, according to Patricia Carroll, director of the office for mission and ministry in the archdiocese.”
“The new Irish are coming from other countries. Then the others are Irish,” Carroll told CNA. “A lot of parents here decided that they wouldn’t bring their children through the sacraments. So that generation is starting to come to the fore, seeking and searching, looking for something.”
I have some experience in this, having been a sponsor to a friend who entered the Catholic Church two years ago having grown up Protestant. I was shocked to see more than fifty people in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) class where candidates were offered formation and were baptised and confirmed at Easter. There were so many modern looking young people, all totally different from one another. I remember thinking it was fascinating, and that in reality, the extent of what’s happening in the Catholic Church is probably often overlooked or even ignored in the Irish media.
All of this is unequivocally positive for the Church. We often hear about ‘vibe shifts,’ but there has definitely been something of a shift. Whether it’s over-hyped, I am not sure. But what does seem true is that a rekindling of Christian values could help heal a culture afflicted with brokenness through large-scale family breakdown, promiscuity, divorce and single motherhood.
The attraction of the Church is clear to see, and is likely a response to the degeneracy many people have started to perceive in the culture. Look at the movement of new theists, from Joe Rogan to Russell Brand to Theo Von. Influencers are increasingly confidently talking about the value of the Christian faith in a modern world which is so peaceless and divided and often miserable. Young priests who share the word on social media have been transformed into online stars. And as a believer, there are definitely signs that Christ is moving in the minds and hearts of the most secular of intellectuals.
You can look at it from a purely worldly point of view. But I suspect it’s more important for the Church to look at it in the way the Archbishop of Lyon Oliver de Germay, head of the catechumenate at the national level, has. The prelate said he perceived the rise in baptisms in France as something spiritual – a “sign from Heaven” and an invitation to recognize that “it is the Lord who draws people to Himself, touches hearts, and reveals Himself.”
In a church which has been damaged by home-grown sexual abuse scandals, where churches have for years struggled to get people into pews and priests on the altar, that seems like the more likely scenario. Others have suggested that Ireland is now among countries pushing back against a strict secular culture which has sprung up in recent years.
In a culture increasingly driven by materialism and individualism, it seems clear to this writer that there is some movement, and that a not so insignificant amount of young adults, in particular, are seeking and searching, and looking for somewhere they can call home.