Sir, – I was surprised to read that Dr Ray Browne, the Catholic Bishop of Kerry, insists that the views expressed by Fr Seán Sheehy at a mass in Listowel last Sunday “do not represent the Christian position”. Whatever about a general Christian position, I heard nothing in a video I saw of Fr Sheehy’s sermon or subsequent radio interviews that is not explicit in current Catholic teaching.
Fr Sheehy states the orthodox Catholic position “love the sinner, hate the sin”. He is perhaps unusually blunt in his views, but he is not unorthodox in his statement of Catholic teaching and law.
Rather than mining the Bible for quotations, there is an extant and widely-available body of Catholic doctrinal literature which sets out Catholic teaching and law on many subjects including sexuality, reproductive healthcare, marriage and education.
I heard Fr Sheehy differentiate (RTÉ News at One), between what is legal and what is moral in the view of the church. An example of this is that every procedure done in Catholic hospitals is legal (of course) but not all legal procedures are performed.
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Thus elective abortion and IVF are legal in Ireland, but Catholic hospitals in Ireland and globally will not and do not perform them. Divorce is legal in Ireland, but it is against Catholic teaching. Same-sex marriage is legal in Ireland but a marriage ceremony will not be performed in a Catholic Church.
Members of religious orders may no longer be present in classrooms or on hospital wards, but given the strength and extent of Catholic education and healthcare in Ireland today, it is timely that people are reminded of Catholic orthodoxy. Catholicism is not just cultural, it has real outworkings in institutions owned and controlled by the church.
– Yours, etc,
JANE MAHONY,
Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Sir, – Well, Holy God!
If the original Fr Sheehy in The Riordans TV series which ran from 1965-1979, itself well capable of poking the bear of Irish sensibilities, had commented similarly, there would have been disgruntled calls to Gaybo, maybe even riots in Montrose, because he hadn’t gone far enough.
Fifty years on, there’s uproar because Fr Seán Sheehy has apparently gone too far. The times they are a-changing.
– Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KEEGAN,
Booterstown,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – In recent weeks we have seen two priests of the Roman Catholic tradition come into the headlines.
Fr John Joe Duffy, in Creeslough, Donegal, responded to the trauma of the sudden explosion in the midst of that community with pastoral care, compassion, and the ability to lead people through tragedy with the comfort of the love of God in Christ.
In Listowel, Kerry, Fr Seán Sheehy chose the context of a celebration of the Eucharist to launch a tirade against those whom he branded “sinners” in our society. I know in which of these two contexts I can see God’s hand at work!
– Yours, etc,
Rev PETER RUTHERFORD
The Rectory,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.’