The Deacon's Bench
The parish is saying it was a hoax.
Irish church officials have been left red-faced after announcing plans for an Osama bin Laden memorial Mass.
Howth parish in Dublin yesterday hastily withdrew an online newsletter advertising plans to dedicate a Mass to the man credited with masterminding the 9/11 attacks on New York’s twin towers.
The newsletter had stated the Mass would be held at 10am this Thursday in the Church of the Assumption in memory of “Osama bin Laden (recently deceased)”.
Church officials removed the online notice after being alerted by the public.
A spokeswoman for the Catholic press office confirmed there will not be a Mass in honour of the former al-Qa’ida leader.
“It is not really clear what happened,” she said, adding the incident may have been the result of “a mistake or a hoax or a prank”.
Requests to have a Mass said in memory of a deceased relative or friend are made to parish offices every day and it is possible a prank request was made and somehow included in the parish newsletter, she added.
The Telegraph has more details about what happened:
A spokeswoman for the Dublin archdiocese expressed surprise that such a Mass would be scheduled. She subsequently confirmed that it was a hoax.
She said someone had telephoned the church last week asking that two services to be dedicated to the infamous al-Qaeda leader’s memory.
His name had been taken without question by a church official and included on the list for upcoming prayers without the sanction of parish priest Msgr Brendan Houlihan.
Monsignor Houlihan was said to be very upset at bin Laden’s inclusion on the Mass list and insisted that under no circumstances would a memorial service be held in the church for the deceased terrorist.
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