A 63-YEAR-OLD grandmother has thrown down the gauntlet to the recent call by 80-year-old Jennifer Sleeman for a boycott of Sunday Mass on September 26th next. The non-attendance is in protest at the Catholic Church’s treatment of women and the scandal of clerical child sex abuse.
Catherine Wiley, a grandmother of 10 and founder of the Catholic Grandparents’ Association, has said that boycotting Mass “is exactly what Catholics shouldn’t do, because to turn your back on Mass it to turn your back on God.”
Instead she has called for people to turn out in their tens of thousands at the Catholic grandparents pilgrimage to Knock on Sunday, September 12th next.
“I am calling on grandparents and their families to rally around the church right now. The faith is being tested in Ireland today, but Catholics who value their faith should now make public statements supporting it, not calling for an abandonment of the church,” she said.
She hopes as many as 12,000 pilgrims will attend Sunday Mass at Knock on the day.
Referring to Mrs Sleeman’s “well-publicised call to boycott Mass” Mrs Wiley said “reform is needed in so many areas of the church, but we must lead this reform from within, not without.”
She said that “Mass is central to our faith, and at this most difficult time in our country, Catholics should turn to prayer and to Mass to find the strength to get through.”
She respected “Mrs Sleeman’s right to protest, and appreciate her deeply-held views”. She was adamant however that “now is not the time for people of faith to abandon the Church”.
Tyrone's Chloe Coyle, winner of this year's RTÉ television's Ireland's Got Talentprogramme, will sing at the Knock pilgrimage, while her mentor on the programme, former Eurovision winner Dana, will also perform.
Chief celebrant of Mass on the day will be the Bishop of Dromore John McAreavey while Irish Times columnist Breda O’Brien will be keynote speaker.