IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
Gerry O Connor
Mon, May 25, 2015
The Same-sex Marriage Referendum was “an unmitigated disaster” for the Catholic Church in Ireland, Fr Brendan Hoban, co-founder of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), has said.
“It was clear from the beginning that the bishops’ decision in policy terms to campaign for a blunt No vote was alienating even the most conservative of Irish Catholics,” he said.
The referendum result illustrated “the gap between the church and a significant number of its people… It is so out of tune with the needs of the people,” he said.
It was “another significant body-blow to the position of the Catholic Church in Ireland” and “a watershed in Irish history”.
Another ACP co-founder, Fr Tony Flannery, said “the day of doctrinaire Catholicism is over in this country. The people are no longer willing to listen to speeches and sermons on morality from the church.”
What was “ particularly sad was to see the bishops in total opposition to a mass movement of the younger generation”.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.