Listowel priest has the right to preach the harmful beliefs of the Catholic Church

Atheist Ireland strongly disagrees with the harmful Catholic beliefs expressed by Fr Sean Sheehy in his homily last week in Listowel. We also support his right to preach such harmful Catholic beliefs to people who attend Catholic Mass.

Bishop Ray Browne of Kerry has apologised for the homily, saying it does not reflect Christian teaching. Bishop Browne has also silenced Fr Sheehy from repeating such a homily by removing him from the parish roster.

But Bishop Browne is wrong to say the homily does not reflect Catholic teaching on abortion, gender theory, and homosexuality. The homily reflects the positions taken on these issues by Pope Francis and the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Pope Francis has compared abortion to hiring a hitman to murder someone:

“Abortion is more than an issue. Abortion is murder.” and “Is it right to hire a hitman in order to solve a problem? One cannot. It is not right to ‘do away with’ a human being, however small, in order to solve a problem. It is like hiring a hitman.”

Pope Francis has compared gender theory to using nuclear arms to sin against God the creator:

“Let’s think of the nuclear arms, of the possibility to annihilate in a few instants a very high number of human beings… Let’s think also of genetic manipulation, of the manipulation of life, or of the gender theory, that does not recognise the order of creation… With this attitude, man commits a new sin, that against God the Creator.”

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently declared:

“It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage, as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex… There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”

Father Sheehy’s problem is not that he is mistaken about Catholic Church teaching. It is that he is too honest about it, and his honesty has upset his Bishop and some of his congregation.