An Irish Mass

Today was the first time we attended mass at an actual Irish church. Last week we had mass at Kevin's house and in the O'Connell House chapel, so this was the first time we actually ventured into a church. We were all wondering what it was going to be like after the things we've heard. In our theology class, the professor was talking about how the Church is dying here. The Trinity kids said mass is depressing: there's no music, there's usually not many people there (especially under age 30), and it's really quick. We were interested to see if these things were true.

We went to mass in Donnybrook, and the church was really nice. The architecture of it reminded me a lot of the basilica at ND, but it was less ornate. There were a lot more people there than we expected. It wasn't packed, but there were certainly a lot of people there. The quickness of the mass was definitely true. I had a hard time keeping up with the Creed, and we only had time to say peace to two people. The mass was over in less than 45 minutes.

Unfortunately the homily was an appeal (some things never change no matter where you are lol), so I didn't really get to hear a real homily, which I was looking forward to. An interesting thing though was communion. It was a free for all, with everyone just rushing toward the altar. People have told me that Americans are known for their line skills - we automatically form an orderly line for things while elsewhere in the world people don't do that. This certainly seemed true at mass.