Equality Act does not apply to dispensing of sacraments – ruling

31st August 2020

WRC

The Workplace Relations Commission has ruled that it has no legal authority to adjudicate claims of discrimination in attending Mass or the dispensing of Catholic sacraments.

A Traveller family claimed Traveller women were excluded from the Mass based on a dress code, even though other women, similarly dressed, were not treated the same way, they said. The family said they were turned away due to the length of their dresses and skirts and their necklines.
Bishop Drennan, who retired as bishop of Galway in July 2016, rejected all allegations that he had discriminated against them on grounds of gender, race and their membership of the Traveller community under Section 21 of the Equal Status Act 2000.

The WRC agreed with a preliminary legal argument raised by representatives for Bishop Drennan that the Holy Communion Mass provided by the Catholic Church as a religious service did not constitute a service within the meaning of the legislation.

The WRC said if religious services or sacraments had come within the ambit of the legislation, it would be unlawful for churches to refuse the sacrament of matrimony to persons who were divorced or of the same sex, or similarly to only ordain men as priests.

“There seems to be no reason in law or logic to differentiate between these types of religious services and a Holy Communion Mass,” said Ms Boyle.

She added: “If the Oireachtas had intended to apply the principle of equal status, enshrined in the Act, to all of these situations, it would have said so in express terms.”