Mags Gargan
The section of the Charities Act which protects against the sale of bogus Mass cards can now be enforced following the withdrawal of an appeal to the Supreme Court by a Mass card trader.
The Irish Catholic first raised concerns about so-called trafficking in Masses in 2008 when it emerged that many pre-signed Mass cards available in retail outlets contained indistinguishable signatures or the signature of a deceased priest, overseas priests received only a few cent for celebrating the Mass or intentions were being included in shared Masses.
Section 99 of the Charities Act 2009, spearheaded by Minister of State at the time, John Curran, created an offence of selling Mass cards which are not the subject of “an arrangement” made with a Catholic bishop or religious provincial. However, enforcement of this law was immediately blocked by a Constitutional challenge in the High Court taken by Thomas McNally of MCC distributors in Longford. He lost the case, but appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
Mr McNally was jailed in 2011 after being found guilty on two counts of possession of images of child abuse. He was granted bail on compassionate grounds in 2012 and his conviction was quashed in 2014. He withdrew his Supreme Court appeal last week, opening the way for the enforcement of the Mass card legislation.
Milestone
John Curran TD told The Irish Catholic he was “very pleased” that the appeal was withdrawn and the legislation was an “important milestone”. “This issue came to light during the discussion of the Charities Bill. It was brought to my attention in both the Dáil and the Seanad and a section was drafted to protect the public from bogus Mass cards where there was no clear understanding that a Mass was being offered for their intentions, because there were several reports of bogus cards and it was not possible to prove that any Mass was being said.”
Fr Edward Grimes, former head of World Missions Ireland and the chief witness for the State in the Constitutional challenge said “people are entitled to be protected against misleading products” and it would be his hope “that the alleged practice of Mass card producers taking approximately 40%, Mass card retailers taking 50% and 10% or less of the offering given to a priest from a young church will now see cease”.
Fr Eamon Aylward, who was head of the Irish Missionary Union at the time of the legislation, said he welcomed the news and hoped “that the Church will act on this abuse of what is truly the most sacred part of our Faith”.