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GAA under fire for putting play before Sunday Mass 
THE PATRON of the GAA has led criticism of sporting groups for undermining
Catholic Masses by holding children’s matches on Sunday mornings.
Archbishop Dermot Clifford was speaking on behalf of the Irish Bishops’
Conference and said underage fixture schedules were compromising religious
practice.
He said: “A huge amount of training and games go on for young people
and Sunday mornings has become what Sunday afternoons used to be.
“Now there is a concentration of games and training — so much
so that a lot of young people don’t have an opportunity to attend
Sunday Mass.”
His comments came after the bishops’ conference called for Mass-time
on Sunday to be kept sacrosanct.
“We wish to draw the attention of all parents and guardians to the
conflict of interests this scheduling can cause for children and teenagers,”
said the bishops’ conference.
As archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dr Clifford holds the honorary patronage
of the GAA — which by tradition is granted to the diocese.
But GAA spokesman Danny Lynch said that despite the bishops’ views
it had little choice but to make use of Sunday mornings.
He said as the country’s largest sporting organisation it had to
get through a large volume of underage matches.
“We have over 20,000 teams in the GAA,” he said.
“We have games and training sessions right through the week.
“We have them on Saturday mornings and Saturday evenings. We have
them on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings.
“When you have over 300,000 kids to take care of with training sessions
and games they have to be facilitated on a limited number of pitches and
facilities.
“But we have noted the bishops’ comments.”
But the bishops insisted the special status of Sunday mornings had to
be protected.
“Dedicated young sports people can be afraid to miss a training
session or a game for fear they will lose their place on the team,”
said their statement.
And they said it was unreasonable of coaches to assume families could
take in a vigil Mass on a Saturday instead.
“For any number of practical reasons this may not always be possible
on any given weekend,” the bishops’ conference said. |
