THERE HAS BEEN a callout for priests to help minister sacraments at the top of Croagh Patrick for Reek Sunday – as the Church has been forced to halve the number of its services as a result of a diminished and ageing clergy.

Reek Sunday, also known as Garland Sunday, is celebrated annually on the last Sunday of July. The pilgrimage sees thousands scale Mayo’s Croagh Patrick – some barefoot – to celebrate St Patrick. Masses are held at the summit and the Eucharist and confessions are ministered by priests each hour from morning until late afternoon. 

However, an ageing clergy has created difficulty in sourcing enough priests able to climb the mountain to attend to the thousands that turn out for the pilgrimage.

Administrator of Westport parish, Father John Kenny, has invited priests who have the capacity to make the journey to join him among other clergymen on Croagh Patrick on 27 July.

The number of priests who have attended Reek Sunday has ranged between eight and up to 15 or 20 in recent years, Fr Kenny told The Journal.

Masses on the mountain used to be held every half hour as pilgrims reached the summit at their own pace, but a shortage of priests has forced the masses to be halved, and they are now held hourly from 8am to 2pm on the day.

Fr Kenny said that it is doubtful there will be enough priests available for Reek Sunday again to return to the original schedule. The weekends are priests’ busiest times and it is difficult to find the numbers.

“What happens sometimes is some of the priests that aren’t able to climb the mountain anymore would cover for somebody who would be able to climb,” Fr Kenny said, “and we’re always happy that happens. So a retired priest might volunteer to cover for another priest, and by that we’ve given him the freedom to be to be able to go up the mountain.”

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Each year, between 5,000 and 10,000 people will turn out for the day. The crowds depend on the weather and whether there’s a clash with an All-Ireland final, he said.

Fr Kenny is hoping for a few priests to get in touch with his parish of Westport in the Archdiocese of Tuam if they are available for the day. However, there is a large amount of support for the religious affairs on Croagh Patrick with laypeople and Eucharistic Ministers supporting the clergy.

Of the falling number of priests, Fr Kenny said that it is certainly a “dramatic” change but there is simultaneously a surge in lay activity and involvement – something he says appears to be the imminent future of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The role of a priest seems to be slightly less appealing to younger people, he thinks, as “we’re living in a society for a good few years now where a long term commitment is something hard to give”.

“I suppose a lifelong vocation is maybe not going to be a feature of the future to the extent it was now, or has been in the past.”