Hundreds of Facebook users have made donations to Pieta House following an appeal on a joke Sunday morning mass event. Almost 180,000 Facebook users have confirmed attendance for "Mass" on RTE's facebook page for Sunday morning Mass and the prank event has attracted thousands of posts poking fun at the Catholic Church and Irish culture.
Donall Burke, a factory worker from Galway, encouraged those attending the event to make a donation to Pieta House in reaction to increased criticism towards the “blasphemous” nature of posts on the page. He said: “I saw a couple of people post in the mass event that were giving out about people making a mockery of mass and Jesus and all that. They were saying why don’t you do something useful with your time. That’s what made me think, they have a point”.
Mr Burke asked users to donate €2 to the suicide and self harm charity through their text line and the post has amassed over five thousand likes. Nearly five hundred people have commented underneath the post with many users uploading screenshots of their donations. Mr Burke explained that he chose Pieta House because mental health is such a big issue in Ireland. He added: “I think it’s a great charity. Everyone gets affected by suicide and depression so they really need our help”.
He revealed that he had experienced “dark times” in the past and urged those affected to talk to friends and family. A spokesman for Pieta House confirmed that donations to the text number had increased in the last couple of days with over €5,000 being donated to the charity.
He added: “We are over the moon with all donations to the charity and these funds will help someone access one of our centres. When someone comes to Pieta House, the service is completely free and that is all down to the generosity of the public”.
For more information or to donate to Pieta House, log on to www.pieta.ie.
