BishopAccountability.org
	Limerick Priest Says His Mother's Mass Boycott Call Is "Her Gig Not Mine" By Donal O'Regan Limerick Leader August 19 2010 http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/Limerick-priest-says-his-mothers.6482431.jp GLENSTAL Abbey's Fr Simon Sleeman, the son of Jennifer Sleeman, who has called for a one-day boycott of Mass, says he too has been inundated with phone calls and emails about the proposal. Mrs Sleeman, 80, last week called for the one-day protest on September 26 to show her anger at the Catholic Church's treatment of women. Since she went public, Mrs Sleeman from Clonakilty, Cork, has received countless messages of support and the story has been reported in newspapers, on television and radio in Britain, America, Italy, Germany and France. "It's incredible. I'm being inundated with phone calls, some giving out but many more praising her stance," said Fr Sleeman. "Of course I support my mother. Who wouldn't support their mother, but I'm staying out of the whole controversy about Mass or no Mass. I'm staying out of it as this is my mother's gig not mine. It's her crusade," explained Fr Sleeman, who is chairman of Murroe Community Council. Originally, Mrs Sleeman thought that her one-day Mass protest on September 26 would be kept to Clonakilty, but now her call could turn into a mass protest in Ireland. Mrs Sleeman urged Irish people to support the one-day protest because of what she said was the Church's unfair treatment of women. She told the Sunday Independent that the Church had effectively been treating women as second-class citizens for decades and that Church officials urgently needed to appreciate the true scale of anger on this issue. "I am not like the Catholic Church in that this isn't an order. It is merely a suggestion to stay away from Mass for one day to show the depth of anger that is out there. I think this might give people who perhaps feel voiceless in the Church a voice. There are lots of women who feel very strongly about being able to do more within the Church, but are simply not being allowed to do so," she said. The Catholic Church responded within 24 hours to Mrs Sleeman, who converted from Scottish Presbyterianism to Catholicism, going public with her plans. "The Mass is a community sacramental celebration of the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus. We would encourage people not to absent themselves from the Eucharist, where we re-enact the Last Supper and the Paschal mystery, following the command of Jesus: 'Do this is memory of me'. The celebration of the Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation is essential to the practice of the Catholic faith," said the spokesperson.
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