Mass needs to be a worthy event

■ Michael Kelly makes practical suggestions for easing the burden on priests in cities at weekends (‘It makes practical sense to close down many churches’, Irish Independent, October 13). Reducing the number of Masses and rotating between parishes is a feasible option in every diocese now.

At the throw-in of a GAA league final involving Derry in Croke Park decades ago, an elderly spectator inquired of me as to when the soccer match was starting. Not knowing Dublin, he had followed the Derry supporters with their red and white banners to Croke Park, whereas he intended going to see Sligo Rovers (also red and white) in a cup final in Dalymount. He left immediately. There has to be a significant reason for attending an event.

While obviating the sense of emptiness and positive in themselves, attractive music, colours and full congregations do not generate continued attendance at Mass.

The Mass needs to be seen as an event of significance in its own right. Vatican II described it as the “source and summit” of Catholic faith. Church councils, exhortations, etc, have directed continuously that the laity be instructed in the Mass. This has not happened. But the current need for it is urgent, and practicable within the four walls of a church on Sundays. No need for committees!

Not alone has there been an absence of instruction on the Mass – the Catholic ordained priesthood has been dumbed down by priests themselves and by the laity over several decades. The laity needs instruction on its true nature because its dilution has robbed the ordained priesthood of much of its perceived meaning and consequently has contributed to the dwindling of vocations. Again no need for committees!

Neil Bray Cappamore, Co Limerick