What is more important, appeasing the atheist Catholic-haters on twitter or saving souls? It seems that for the Bishop of Kerry, Ray Browne, it is the appeasing of atheists. The Bishop has abandoned his priest Fr Sean Sheehy who last weekend in St Mary’s Church in Listowel Co. Kerry, Ireland had the temerity to give a homily warning about sinful behaviour.
Fr Sean Sheehy condemned such sinful acts as abortion and sexual acts outside marriage, both same sex and promiscuity, as well as transgenderism. Fr Sheehy said, “What is so sad today is you rarely hear about sin, but it’s rampant. And we see it, for example, in the legislation of our government. We see it in the promotion of abortion. We see it in this lunatic approach of transgenderism. We see it, for example, in the promotion of sex between two men or two women. That is sinful. That is mortal sin. And people don’t seem to realise it. But it’s a fact. And we need to listen to God about it, because if we don’t, then there’s no hope for those people.”
The homily prompted walk-outs at the church and was posted to twitter so the usual pile-on began. The Irish mainstream media, which has been branding the Catholic Church as evil for the last two decades, gave its own incorrect version of events, which was that the priest was condemning homosexual and transgender people, as people. The priest very clearly condemns the acts and the ideology, not the people themselves. In fact, what Father Sheehy condemned is sin itself.
Prophetically, Father Sheehy said, “Now there are people who won’t like to hear what I’m saying.” Well, he got that right, but I doubt he thought those people would include his own Bishop. The Bishop, in an act of outright cowardice, posted the following apology: “I am aware of the deep upset and hurt caused by the contents of the homilies in question delivered over the weekend. I apologize to all who were offended. The views expressed do not represent the Christian position.” (My emphasis.)
If you want to read something scary, there it is in black and white. A Bishop saying the condemnation of sinful behaviour is “not the Christian position”. Is the Bishop Ray Browne now saying sex outside marriage does not risk your soul? Is he saying there is no problem with abortion, the actual intentional killing of an unborn child? Is he saying that Father Sheehy was wrong, when he said, “sin is destructive, sin is detrimental, and sin will lead you to hell.”
Father Sheehy also said: “but how will people know that God wants to forgive them if we don’t tell them? How will people who are lost be found if we, as God’s people, don’t call them and say “Look! God loves you! He has come to call sinners! And he wants you to have life, and have it to the full. That’s what he wants. He wants you to have life, and live it to the fullest.” If there has been a big change to Catholic teaching, I would like some clarification.
Do not be under any doubt as to the seriousness of what the Bishop has done here. It is one thing to be condemned by the Irish Times, or RTE or the folks on twitter, but for a priest to be cancelled by his own Bishop for warning his flock about sinful behaviour is a disaster. It has been reported that the offending priest, is to be “taken off Masses”. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/priest-to-be-taken-off-masses-after-kerry-bishops-rebuke-of-offending-homily-42112054.html
What this means, is that other priests have been put on notice that they are not to condemn sin. They are not to call out behaviour that risks your soul. The Bishop is happy to just leave the faithful to it, risking even more souls. What the Bishop has done is abandon his flock, stopping other priests from guiding their parishioners and thereby risking their salvation. This is the question of whether you go to heaven or hell. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
It does not surprise me that there were walk-outs from the Mass itself. This is what the church in Ireland has come to. The priest is permitted to baptise the children, marry them and bury them. They are expected to give the big day out in the form of First Holy Communions and Confirmations. But please God, don’t say anything that makes your congregation feel uncomfortable. Instead, make the parishioners feel good, maybe talk about climate change or something. Certainly do not talk about sin, and especially now sexual sin. That is the very worst possible thing a priest could do. The editorial board of the Irish Times will get upset, and we can’t have that.
A word of advice to the Catholic hierarchy – if the mainstream media are praising you, you are probably doing it wrong. In fact, it doesn’t matter what you do, they will hate you anyway so you should really desist from issuing grovelling apologies when a priest simply reiterates some basic truths about sin, heaven and hell, forgiveness and God’s love.
Not only is this cowardice, which is sinful, not only are you risking your own soul, but more importantly, by not telling these truths you are risking the souls of your parishioners. Some people actually believe all that stuff about salvation, what gets you there and what doesn’t. Maybe do a catch-up course if necessary.
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