PITTSBURGH (PA)
Post-Gazette
August 24, 2018
By Peter Smith
Dublin – Roisin Galvin was 12 years old the last time a pope came to say Mass at Dublin’s vast public space, Phoenix Park.
The year was 1979, and the pontiff was a still-vigorous John Paul II, greeted enthusiastically by an overwhelmingly Catholic population.
Back then, all of Ms. Galvin’s friends went to Mass regularly, but now she finds it difficult to raise her five children Catholic in a culture in which many Irish have left the faith or keep it in name only.
“There is only one Mass where I live on a Sunday, and all the priests are very elderly, ” said Ms. Galvin, who lives in a village in County Dublin. “I’m wondering what’s going to happen. Most of them are octogenarians.”
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