Sir, – While Fr Joseph Okere appears to have incurred the wrath of his bishop, he finds himself in good company ("Bishop apologises for priest's remarks", October 6th). On July 8th, 2010, the Buenos Aires Herald ran an article with the headline "Bergoglio accuses same-sex marriage Bill of being Satan's work to destroy God's plan". The man we now know as Pope Francis said same-sex "marriage" was "a move by the devil, looking to confuse and deceive all children of God".
St Paul tells us that to everyone the truth of the Creator is clearly shown in the creation; that those who deny this are telling a lie, and that this lie leads to idolatry of creatures, to sexual perversion and all manner of evil. This is what is happening in the world today. Is the church to oppose it and be hated or to condone it and be popular? Sadly, many in Ireland do not believe in Christ. The bishop therefore has a choice, he can either surrender and become a servant of the world or he can follow Christ and the martyrs and fight. There is no middle way. The deafer the world becomes the louder the church has to shout.
Ever since Humanae Vitae in 1968 repeated the teaching against contraception, a spirit of rebellion and subversion, "the smoke of Satan", has been poisoning the life of the church. When the church allows her members to dissent from her teaching, she no longer teaches the truth with authority but only as opinion – and the voice of God is no longer heard in the world in the way He has chosen. No betrayal could be greater than such an abdication. The bishop should reflect then, rather than betray a faithful priest to the world he might find the courage to support him. – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY MURPHY,
Lumen Fidei Institute,
St Michael’s House,
Castlemitchell South,
Athy, Co Kildare.
Sir, – I am surprised at Bishop Francis Duffy’s apology for Fr Joseph Okere calling the marriage referendum result “evidence the devil was at work in Ireland”. Is Fr Okere not preaching Catholic teaching? Surely the marriage referendum must seem exactly the devil’s work to a church that still says – Pope Francis’s winning smile and PR spin aside – that gay people are “intrinsically disordered”? – Yours, etc,
DONAL O’KEEFFE,
Fermoy,
Co Cork.