INCIDENT AT MASS:A WOMAN interrupted the 12.30pm Mass in a northside Dublin church yesterday to denounce the Catholic Church in the wake of the Dublin diocesan report.
The woman, who did not identify herself, shouted from the congregation before taking to the altar directly after parish priest Msgr Dermot Clarke delivered his sermon at the church in Aughrim Street.
Speaking from the altar steps, she called for the church to “take your paedophiles and go back to Rome”, and told a hushed congregation that they had no further reason to attend Mass in a Catholic Church.
The woman spoke for several minutes, uninterrupted by either Msgr Clarke, who had read a letter from Archbishop Diarmuid Martin apologising for the church’s wrongdoing before giving his own sermon, or Fr Martin Ryan, who celebrated the Mass.
In measured tones, the woman decried the church and told the congregation God resided in the hearts of people, and not inside a church building. She then sang a verse of the hymn Amazing Grace, before making her way out of the church to applause from one member of the congregation.
Speaking after the incident, Msgr Clarke, who has been at the parish for over 15 years, said it was the first time such an incident had occurred during his time with the church. “She’s got some hurt in herself, and she had to let it out,” he said. “It didn’t just come out of nowhere.”