Boy (10) among 13 rescued from Croagh Patrick climb in Mayo

Mayo Mountain Rescue has had to assist 13 people, including a 10-year-old boy, climbing Croagh Patrick following heavy rain and strong winds on Sunday.

The boy suffered head and wrist injuries and was taken to Mayo University Hospital.

Thousands are understood to have attempted to climb Croagh Patrick for Reek Sunday despite the wet and windy conditions. Mayo Mountain Rescue is working in conjunction with the Air Corps and Coast Guard.

A man, aged in his 70s, suffered a heart attack while climbing and was resuscitated and airlifted by Coast Guard helicopter 118 to Galway University Hospital.

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A 46-year-old man sustained serious upper body injuries, including a dislocated shoulder and facial injuries. He was evacuated by Air Corps to Mayo University Hospital.

A 70-year-old man and woman also sustained head injuries while a 68-year-old man suffered a broken wrist. A 14-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl suffered minor injuries and were treated at the medical tent.

Thousands of people attempt to complete the Reek Sunday pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick every year on the last Sunday of July.

Numbers scaling the ‘Holy Mountain’ are reportedly steady despite the counter attraction of two All-Ireland football quarter finals in Croke Park in which three Connacht counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon are involved.

One of the first to take to the slopes was the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary. He began the slippery ascent at 7 am accompanied by Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop of Killaloe, and Gearóid Dullea, executive secretary of the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference.

Archbishop Neary celebrated Mass in the mountaintop oratory at 11 am. In a homily to mark ‘Reek Sunday 2017’, which this year focuses on families as part of preparations for World Meeting of Families 2018, Dr Neary criticised the consumerist nature of the society in which we live.

He said consumerism is “diluting our moral standards”. “We are living at a time when there seems to be no limit to individual choice and human progress.

“We are part of a vast sea of change over which we have very little control. Many feel disorientated, threatened and traumatised. It is easy to become cynical.”

Dr Neary spoke of the pressures facing families nationwide nowadays with busy schedules, dual-career marriages and after school activities.

“Families are relatively time poor compared to previous generations,” he continued. “Prayer for many is confined to Church attendance and to socially required ceremonies such as baptisms, communions, confirmations, weddings and funerals.”

In a change to the usual format, masses in the mountaintop oratory are being celebrated hourly rather than a half hourly basis as was traditional.