Occurred? The 1960s were the ‘Swinging Sixties’ in contrast to the depressed fifties. People were better off in Ireland in the 1960s. There were many changes in the way people lived. The first shopping centres were built. These encouraged weekly rather than daily shopping, and they undermined the local grocery shop. More tourists came to the country, and more Irish people holidayed abroad, and these changes opened up the country to the wider world. The Catholic Church brought in many reforms after Vatican II, the major church council (see p. 381). The Latin Mass was changed to the vernacular (English or Irish), the priest faced the people, there was greater lay participation in church services, folk masses were introduced and there were better relations with other religions (ecumenism).
2Debate the importance of social changes in Ireland in the 1960s
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The changes to the Mass in the Catholic Church – old rites (right) and new rites (left)
