DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Leaders of the Catholic Church said Thursday they will ask worshippers this month to pass on information about the secret graves of several people killed by the Irish Republican Army.

"The families of the disappeared ask for nothing more than the return of the bodies of their loved ones so that they can bury them with dignity," said Archbishop Sean Brady, leader of Ireland's 4 million Catholics.

The outlawed IRA, which is rooted in the Catholic minority of the British territory of Northern Ireland, admitted in 1999 that it killed and buried nine people in unmarked graves from 1972 to 1981.

In 1999, the British and Irish governments formed a joint panel, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, to work with the IRA in locating the graves.

Starting Saturday night during Mass, priests at selected services across Ireland will begin asking worshippers to pass on tips to the commission.