Mass boycott call gathers pace

JENNIFER SLEEMAN (80) from Clonakilty in Cork is “absolutely astonished” by reaction to her call on women to take part in a one-day boycott of Sunday Mass next month in protest at the Catholic Church’s treatment of women and its response to abuse scandals.

“There is no doubt it has taken the lid off something,” she said last night.

The great majority of those who contacted her were positive, “with the odd nasty one”. Media interest was such that, surfing the net this past few days, her granddaughter had said: “You’re taking it [the internet] over, Grandma.”

Mrs Sleeman wants “to let the Vatican and the Irish church know that women are tired of being treated as second-class citizens”.

She has called on the Catholic women of Ireland to “join your sisters on Sunday, September 26th. On that one day, boycott Mass. Stay at home and pray for change. We are the majority. We may have been protesting individually but unremarked on, but together we have strength and our absence, the empty pews, will be noticed.”

Men are also welcome to participate in the boycott, she said. “It’s not just about Mná na hÉireann. But it’s for them, because they are frustrated.”

While there had been some discussion about organising gatherings to promote the boycott, she was happy enough to just get the message out there. “I’m not going to tell people what to do. That’s what the church does. People can do what they want,” she said.

As of now, she doesn’t know how her parish clergy in Clonakilty are reacting to all of this. “I haven’t spoken to them and they haven’t spoken to me,” she said.

Responding to Mrs Sleeman’s call, a spokesman for the Catholic Communications Office said “the Mass is a community sacramental celebration of the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus.

“We would encourage people not to absent themselves from the Eucharist, where we re-enact the Last Supper and the Paschal mystery, following the command of Jesus, ‘Do this is memory of me’.

“The celebration of the Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation is essential to the practice of the Catholic faith, as the Sunday Eucharist is a pivotal aspect of the spiritual lives of Catholics.”