The growing practice of selling pre-signed Mass cards raises interesting questions, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
The Bishop of Kerry, Most Rev Bill Murphy, recently warned against pre-signed Mass cards being sold in shops. "Anything that gives the impression of trafficking in the sale of Masses or anything that appears to cheapen or commercialise the Eucharist must be avoided," he said. There were "alarming reports that the Mass has been used as an organised profit-making business", he continued, and advised people who wished to make a Mass offering to "do so on a person-to-person basis and to a priest known to them".
Bishop Colm O'Reilly, of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, made similar comments in a controversy over the supply of such cards by a Longford company, Celtic Religious Cards, to outlets around Ireland. The cards were pre-signed by African priests.
Mr John McNally of Celtic Religious Cards told The Irish Times he knew the African priests through a family connection and they were sent donations by him every month. He did not wish to name the priests publicly, to avoid pressure being put on them by Church authorities.
He was "making a living" from the cards. There was "nothing immoral, illegal or underhand about it". He was "helping very worthy priests" but had been subject to phone calls from other priests all over Ireland who complained about his cards.
Some had criticised him publicly, he said. His cards retailed at €3 and €4 each, he said, whereas a priest would expect "anything between €10 and €20 each".
Both Bishops Murphy and O'Reilly - and Mr McNally - would most likely be interested in how Mass cards are made available at St Teresa's church on Dublin's Clarendon Street. Three staff are employed there full-time by the Carmelite order, in a dedicated office.
There are "individual" Masses (where a Mass is said for a named deceased only) at €8 each, and "shared" Masses (where the deceased is one name among others) at €4 each. A deceased named on a shared card will be remembered at two Masses every week for a year in St Teresa's, the card says.
In both instances the Mass celebrant is named as "Fr Prior OCD", as pre-printed on shared cards, and rubber-stamped on individual cards by staff in front of the petitioner/buyer.
But this is not so. Father James Noonan, prior at St Teresa's, told The Irish Times that shared Masses are offered by Carmelite missionaries in Africa, who receive regular donations for doing so. Some were offered by Carmelites in Rome, he said.
It was also the case that all individual Masses were not said by him either - as printed on the individual cards. There were 11 members in the community at Clarendon Street, he said.
Individual cards were allotted among them all for remembrance in Masses offered by them. None of the monies offered by people for Masses was used in paying staff at the office, he said.
Their wages were paid by the order. All income from the cards went "to the missions".
Mass cards are also available at St Teresa's for dead babies, new babies, the bereaved, the sick, those doing exams, new homes, various anniversaries/jubilees, weddings and ordinations.
Interesting theological and "value-for-money" questions arise when it is realised that while an "offering" of €8 is required for an individual Mass, just €4 is required for shared Masses at Clarendon Street, though these latter may be said in perpetuity.
It seems no amount of shared Masses can equal one individual Mass in terms of spiritual benefit.
And the authenticity of names offered for remembrance at such Masses is not checked at St Teresa's. The receipt supplied to this reporter for an individual Mass named the deceased as '"Patrick McGarry. RIP." - my own name, as given. No questions were asked.