A NEW law will finally put an end to the "bogus Mass card" scam which has duped thousands of well-meaning mourners.Until now, there was nothing to prevent commercial companies from selling signed Catholic Mass cards in shops or petrol stations which promised to say offerings for the dead.
But the priests who were supposed to say the Remembrance Masses were often either dead or untraceable.
The new Charities Bill, which is due to be passed by the Dail and Seanad this month, will make it an offence to sell such bogus Mass cards.
Fine Gael TD Michael Ring said retailers and distributors had been getting most of the profits while "little or none" went to Catholic missionaries working with the poor abroad.
"This blatant hoodwinking of the public, who believed they were making a genuine contribution, could not be allowed to continue," he said.
The Bishop of Meath Michael Smith recently highlighted one set of Mass cards which contained the signature of an Italian priest based in Ecuador -- who died two years ago.
"To give such cards to those mourning the death of a loved one is not only a meaningless act, it is an insult to the memory of the deceased and to those who grieve over their passing," he said.
Companies involved in pre-signed Mass cards would have to produce official confirmation from a Catholic bishop or the head of a missionary group that any such "arrangement" is genuine.
This permission will not be given, because the Catholic Church bans the selling of Mass cards in commercial outlets.
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