Forging a mass card. Have I crossed the line?

Aced_Up

Great sense of humour in the eyes of an imaginative being ðŸ™

Fr_Dougal

I'm disgusted with you, OP. I would have signed it for a fiver.

Slutmonkey57b

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

This statement will make a lot more sense when the angelus isn't broadcast before the news.

What makes you think broadcasting of the Angelus will stop? Not going to happen.

Splendour

JustAThought wrote: »

I suppose it shows to your wife that you are prepared to cheat & lie to a family in their time of terrible distress & don't see that this is an issue.

It would make me wonder what kind of a man you really were & if you could do something like this & not see it as an issue, what else would you be prepared to do & lie about because " it didn't really matter". Moral values &how you treat people. Even if they don't know, you still did it to them. And don't have an issue with the lie & doing it .

And broadcasting it on the internet to boot...

Dicky Pride

No word of a lie, I was once in a line behind a woman who wanted to exchange a get well soon card for a Mass card.

kylith

Aren't mass cards usually signed when they're sold? If this one wasn't signed then it's probably an oversight on the parish's part and all you've done is correct their mistake. Nothing to feel guilty about, imo.

jester77

What a funny tradition

Don't know why your wife is getting worked up that the lad that died won't get a mass said for him, don't most people get a funeral these days. Does that not count as a mass? And anyway the lad is dead, don't think he will be too worried at this stage, didn't the church get rid of purgatory a few years ago, so he's either made it to the pearly gates or is sitting at a roast fire by now.

donegal__road

one time when I was an altar boy, I took a large swig of altar wine back-stage after mass. It kind of became a habit then, whenever I got a chance I would finish off the left over wine while pretending to put back in the bottle.. my bad?

camphor

I'd say it is the signing with your left hand that is the cause of the problem o/p. That makes it the work of the devil!

donegal__road

donegal__road wrote: »

one time when I was an altar boy, I took a large swig of altar wine back-stage after mass. It kind of became a habit then, whenever I got a chance I would finish off the left over wine while pretending to put back in the bottle.. my bad?

OH MY GOD, you stole the blood of Christ????


:pac:

Femme_Fatale

3rdDegree wrote: »

the wife said I should bring a mass card. I said, "Do people still actually believe in all that crap?"

Obviously you know that they do.

I don't get all the high-fiving to the OP - it's pretty teenage. He hardly did anything that groundbreaking. Being an atheist is nothing nowadays - it's not a huge rebellion. You just stop believing in god, that's that.
It's not the forging of the signature that I have an issue with (although it is a bit cheap) but the backslapping over being an atheist and the pretending not to realise other people, especially older people, are religious.

I don't believe either, but I'm buying a mass-card for my friend's mother who is a believer and who'll be burying her grandchild in a few days - what difference does it make that I don't believe? She does, and she is grieving. My atheism should have no bearing on that. This is about her and her family, not me.
Surely the anti religion stuff can be put aside temporarily in relation to a funeral.

whiteandlight

donegal__road wrote: »

one time when I was an altar boy, I took a large swig of altar wine back-stage after mass. It kind of became a habit then, whenever I got a chance I would finish off the left over wine while pretending to put back in the bottle.. my bad?

Procedure is to finish off the blood of Christ? Usually the priest will after communion. At least when I worked on lough derg at the pilgrimage centre it was. Never forget the morning we had a new lad doing sacristan and he way over filled the cup. After mass there was three of us (organist, cantor and sacristan) trying to swallow the stuff coz you weren't allowed to throw it away

Final Approach

Disgraceful thing to do. There is only one thing you can do to fix all of this OP, and that is to become a priest. At least then the signature will be legitimised, and we can all sleep soundly, including Mrs. OP.

Cienciano

Redhenrun wrote: »

I am assuming, when you signed the card, you signed on behalf of your wife also? In which case she is probably also as mad as all hell for having her name drawn in to your deceit.

Because,at the heart of the matter, regardless of any of our beliefs, lies deceit.

You set out to deceive the family of the deceased person.

In this case google is not your friend, for, should the family already know you, they might suspect that this is exactly the kind of stunt you might pull and wonder who Fr Tom is and why on earth you`d be up in his neck of the woods.

If you don`t believe in Mass cards, don`t send one. They are not required for attendance at Catholic funerals.

LOL! Parts of that post seem serious, and the rest looks like it's taking the piss! I hope it's all serious, makes it funnier

canadianwoman

What is a mass card?

bnt

Caonima wrote: »

Mass cards...

:rolleyes:

Yeah - only physics types talk about "mass", the rest of us just call it "weight". But AFAIK, if you were to go up to the International Space Station, you'd have no weight but you'd still have mass, or is it the other way around?

Agricola

canadianwoman wrote: »

What is a mass card?

Like a voodoo doll, but for Catholics.

OP should really have gone with a name from Fr. Ted. Probably Fr. Jessup!

Denis322

My grandad used to do that all the time. He also used to bring empty bottles of holy water home from Lourdes and fill them with the kitchen tap, then he'd give them as gifts to suppliers and other people and tell them that he brought it all the way home for them. Complete chancer.

mfceiling

Women tend to worry about these things more than men.

Most men would have done the same as you OP - you might as well run around the house in the nip at 4 in the morning for all the difference it will make.

We are born, we live, we die - and that is it....all the mumbo jumbo about god, jesus, allah, buddah or the devil is purely fictional and therefore irrelevant.

canadianwoman

Agricola wrote: »

Like a voodoo doll, but for Catholics.

OP should really have gone with a name from Fr. Ted. Probably Fr. Jessup!

I would think Fr. Ted O'Flanagan would have been better.

nlgbbbblth

Meangadh wrote: »

II find it odd though that some people here are saying they never heard of mass cards.

They're probably hipsters.

Maire2009

Apparently if you get them from the church the priests have them signed en masse and sometimes they write the name down and say mass for "eveyone on the list" or sometimes they don't bother. It's all a money making racket - which is the nature of religion anyway.

stoneill

You forged a signature on a card that is part of a global 2 thousand year old scam?
Big deal.

Paddy Cow

CruelCoin wrote: »

Giving a mass card when you don't believe in it is akin to the bored looking customer service rep saying "sorry, sorry sorry" all day while not really giving a crap. It's hollow and meaningless.

I actually believe it to be disrespectful if you give a card and you don't care about it, as i appreciate genuine emotion.

OP, more respectful in my mind would have been to give nothing, rather than something fake.

I disagree. My mother loves cards and will spend ages (and a small fortune) picking out individual cards for people. I am not fussed about them and it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if I never received any but I always make sure to buy her a special one and write something nice on it as it is important to her. I think it would be more disrespectful to my mother if I refused to accept or buy her a card just because I don't care about them.

Bog Standard User

3rdDegree wrote: »

Edit: That's a bit long!
Summary: I forged a fictional priest's signature on a mass card and my wife thinks I'm evil. Is she right?

did you write "ps i'll babysit your kids while your at the funeral" in the your forged priest's handwriting???? if no then it wont be convincing

_Whimsical_

I think you should have got the real McCoy tbh. If you're going to offer someone in real pain or sadness something it should be genuine. Otherwise don't do it at all. Just doing a kind of "hey, I didn't want to look bad so I'm pretending I went to some effort for you to make myself feel better" in this situation is just crass.

At the end of the day it's not about you, its about the fact that it might bring a bit of comfort to the persons relations that there is a real mass said for them. While religion can seem irrelevant for a lot of people for some it's at times of loss when they find it a help or an ease. To some people feeling that a mass was offered would matter to them.

D1stant

Overheard at the Catholic Marketing Symposium 324 A.D.

"It'll never work"
"It fcukin will"
"What will you call it?"
"Here's the beauty. A Mass Card"
"A Mass Card?"
"Yep Tenner a signature. Sweet as a nut"
"A come on, a tenner for some paedo-dipso signing a piece of cardboard?"
"You forget these are the same muppets that bought adam & eve"
"Hmm. True"

VONSHIRACH

Its ok if you don't believe in the religion or Mass card thing, some people do and some people don't. If a person does believe, thats ok too. You could have bought a Sympathy card. Its fairly straightforward, you just toddle down to the shop and make your selection. Many people give and receive cards for different occasions, birthdays, christenings, anniversaries, new job, retirement, wedding etc

I think what you did was pretty low, pretending to a bereaved family that you have arranged for a priest to pray for a deceased person at Mass. You should have left/sent a Sympathy card instead.

Even if someone doesn't leave a card, a hug, handshake, consoling kind words of sympathy, practical help etc is of huge consolation to bereaved family and friends.

MurdyWurdy

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

They're probably hipsters.

Or maybe just not Catholic? Some people in the world aren't. Shocking, I know.

wobbles

Ah it could be worse OP. You could have photoshoped and printed your card. At least the card was real.

canadianwoman

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

Or maybe just not Catholic? Some people in the world aren't. Shocking, I know.

Or like me.....was supposedly baptised in the Roman Catholic faith yet never was taken to church as a child after the initial baptising...... found out 40 years later that your mother forged your name and other details on your father's old baptismal certificate after she erased his information on it.

The only thing that survives from my baptismal are 2 old black and white photographs (dated 1961..my birth year) of my older sister and some guy holding a baby inside a church at the baptismal font.

Unfortunately anyone who knew anything is deceased now and no one told me anything about it. Never knew about it until I found the forged certificate and the photos in my deceased mother's belongings and with my mother's lifelong bad habit of lying I'm looking for a needle in a haystack to find out where I was baptised.

Guffy

Tell her to grow up but if it makes her happy you'll go to confession.

cursai

Its fairly disrespectful to be honest. You mightn't have any belief in it but you've just gone and mocked the dead persons beliefs. (presuming they're religious).

You shouldn't have given a forged mass card. Its doesn't matter if YOU thought it meant the same if the local milkman signed it.

Reeks of childishness and disrespect.

Were you down at the back of the church having a sneaky fag and sniggering as well.

Bet you purposely didn't bless yourself out of spite as well. OR take communion. GASP

shruikan2553

I just thought of something, I'm like nearly every other person whos parents lied to the priest saying they'll raise me catholic but never bothered so have no clue over these litle things like mass cards but dont they seem a bit like indulgences? I thought they got rid of those or was it only the Protestants?

Dont know why people are giving out, its not like a vast majority of Catholics in this country dont lie to people who believe. Yeah sure, we'll raise them Catholic, and then never go to mass again. Or parents complaining about having to go to mass when their children are doing Communion. Maybe when the "catholics" should respect to the church and those who believe then the rest of us will join you.

Denis322 wrote: »

My grandad used to do that all the time. He also used to bring empty bottles of holy water home from Lourdes and fill them with the kitchen tap, then he'd give them to suppliers and other people and tell them that he brought it all the way home for them. Complete chancer.

Bet there must of been a lot of car crashes in that area without the holy water to protect them.



If you want to feel better about forging the card try this: http://dudeism.com/ordination/
Then you'll be ordained and can sign them yourself.

cursai

shruikan2553 wrote: »

I just thought of something, I'm like nearly every other person whos parents lied to the priest saying they'll raise me catholic but never bothered so have no clue over these litle things like mass cards but dont they seem a bit like indulgences? I thought they got rid of those or was it only the Protestants?

Dont know why people are giving out, its not like a vast majority of Catholics in this country dont lie to people who believe. Yeah sure, we'll raise them Catholic, and then never go to mass again. Or parents complaining about having to go to mass when their children are doing Communion. Maybe when the "catholics" should respect to the church and those who believe then the rest of us will join you.

Showing respect is an individuals own decision. If i don't believe in something and think that someone else who does isn't living up to their own standards, i don't have the automatic right to belittle them over their dead body and among their family who are grieving.

Don't go into the mosque if you don't want to take your shoes off.

Why bother going to a funeral if you aren't going to respect the event itself.

By the way mass cards aren't compulsory so wouldn't be considered 'indulgences'.

aujopimur

I know a guy who's a priests brother and they both look very alike, the priest would be back in the home place most weekends and never wore the blacks. People would call to the house to have a masscard signed, yer man would do the job and stick the money in his pocket for drink.

qwerty93

Perhaps you should have used a more common name like Windy Shepard Henderson, wouldn't look as suspicous then.

shruikan2553

shruikan2553 wrote: »

I just thought of something, I'm like nearly every other person whos parents lied to the priest saying they'll raise me catholic but never bothered so have no clue over these litle things like Mass cards

Like nearly every other person? Where are you getting that idea from this certainly isn't the case with people I know or grew up with. Everyone was brought to mass and parents wanted to go themselves and bring their children.

I don't think I know any Irish person who wouldn't know what a Mass card is or what it is for.

cursai

cursai wrote: »

Its fairly disrespectful to be honest. You mightn't have any belief in it but you've just gone and mocked the dead persons beliefs. (presuming they're religious).

You shouldn't have given a forged mass card. Its doesn't matter if YOU thought it meant the same if the local milkman signed it.

Reeks of childishness and disrespect.

Were you down at the back of the church having a sneaky fag and sniggering as well.

Bet you purposely didn't bless yourself out of spite as well. OR take communion. GASP

How has he mocked the dead persons belief?

No logic in that whatsoever

shruikan2553

Regina Most Reptile wrote: »

Like nearly every other person? Where are you getting that idea from this certainly isn't the case with people I know or grew up with. Everyone was brought to mass and parents wanted to go themselves and bring their children.

I don't think I know any Irish person who wouldn't know what a Mass card is or what it is for.

Im in my early 20s, only a small amount of people I knew went to mass regularly. I only found out mass cards existed in my late teens.

Choochtown

I think in all the pro or anti sentiments towards the OP something important is being overlooked.

The OP gave a card which may bring some small comfort to the family of the deceased if they believe in that sort of thing.

What's the problem? Some people would rather he'd have done nothing at all!
It makes no difference if the signature is genuine or not.

jack7

i think it was a bad idea, why didnt u just go without a card. My father died recently and I still receive mass cards for him, it means a lot that people care.

Jamsiek

shruikan2553 wrote: »

Im in my early 20s, only a small amount of people I knew went to mass regularly. I only found out mass cards existed in my late teens.

Same as that, I'm in my 30s and originally from a small community and very few people I knew went regularly.

shruikan2553

shruikan2553 wrote: »

Im in my early 20s, only a small amount of people I knew went to mass regularly. I only found out mass cards existed in my late teens.

I'm 28 so not much older and would have a range of friends cover mid 20's to early 30's and anyone I know apart from an odd family who passed through the area etc would have gone to mass regularly, I'd see all my friends and neighbours at mass every week (rural area).

Still I know plenty of people my age who have continued to go, less than went when we were younger but a lot more than you would be lead to believe reading threads in after hours.

nlgbbbblth

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

Or maybe just not Catholic? Some people in the world aren't. Shocking, I know.

My other half's family are protestants and all of them know what a mass card is.

MurdyWurdy

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

My other half's family are protestants and all of them know what a mass card is.

Well, I did not know what a Mass card was before reading this thread. I'm still not sure what they are to be honest, why does the priest get money for signing a card?

mfceiling

cursai wrote: »

Its fairly disrespectful to be honest. You mightn't have any belief in it but you've just gone and mocked the dead persons beliefs. (presuming they're religious).

You shouldn't have given a forged mass card. Its doesn't matter if YOU thought it meant the same if the local milkman signed it.

Reeks of childishness and disrespect.

Were you down at the back of the church having a sneaky fag and sniggering as well.

Bet you purposely didn't bless yourself out of spite as well. OR take communion. GASP

And what difference will it make. The person received the mass card - "ah look, "OP" gave us a mass card, isn't that nice"

Not "hmmm, the signature on this mass card from "OP" looks like a forgery...what will we do about this?"

Ask yourself what difference will it make? Ask yourself again. And again.

People getting wound up over a make believe god and all the shenanigans that go with it.

Cushie Butterfield

It's not the signature that really matters. It's the fact that a mass is going to be said. If it will make your wife feel better just get a mass said for the deceased by going into your local parish office, put their name on the list & pay the fee. People do it all the time.

canadianwoman

TIL what a Mass card is.

Every day is a school day.

Choochtown

Cushie Butterfield wrote: »

It's not the signature that really matters. It's the fact that a mass is going to be said. If it will make your wife feel better just get a mass said for the deceased by going into your local parish office, put their name on the list & pay the fee. People do it all the time.

How on earth would giving the Catholic Church some money make any bit of a difference?

They have the card and the comfort that goes with it.

No offence intended but OP 's wife needs to cop on a bit.