Madam, – Catholic women in Ireland are being urged to give public disparagement to the holy sacrifice of the Mass on September 26th. They have been asked to boycott the celebration of the parish Mass. This perverse exercise bears the weight of triple insult.
First and most importantly, it insults the living presence of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ on the sacrificial altar. Second, it insults all Irish Catholics, men and women, who honour this central ceremony of Catholic worship.
To urge Irish women to boycott the holy Mass betrays a deeply insensitive arrogance. Third, it insults the memory of the dead generations in Ireland who held fast to the Mass with courageous tenacity.
The Mass in Ireland survived oppression. It survived the persecution of priests even to the point of death. It survived the hunger, the isolation and the abandonment of the poor and proud people who demurred from the soup and the shilling.
It is a malignant historical irony that now in a free Ireland the ancient celebration of the Mass is seen not as a sacrifice of the blood of Christ but rather as a triviality well suited to be a target of some women’s mockery – a frigid and studied mockery by means of a planned absence from and total boycott of the Mass in all Catholic churches of Ireland on Sunday September 26th. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Catherine Sweeney (August 17th) suggested that a more effective way of showing the anger which women feel about the way they are treated by (she calls it the Christian Church but Catholic Church would be more correct) would be to boycott church cleaning.
I think an even more effective way would be for women to cease contributing to the two Sunday collections, to the annual collection for Peter’s Pence, and to Christmas dues, as from the proposed boycott date to end of 2010. A letter of explanation to each parish priest, and a copy to the Pope, before the boycott date stating the reason for these steps would hit the institution where it hurts. It would be troublesome to organise but does not interfere with the sacred aspect of Mass.
In these troubled times for the institution, it is important to remember that all is not lost. I believe that what is happening now is an evolution in the history of the church. I believe that, although it was founded by Jesus Christ, all too frail human beings with harrowing effects on many down through the centuries.
We can only hope that at this point in its history a more enlightened membership, that has a more compassionate view of human existence, will see to it that love will win out. If only we all could live as the prophet Micah suggested: Act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly before God. – Yours, etc,