A well-known former Garda Sergeant has slammed the Catholic Church in Donegal for using the pulpit to encourage a No vote in the forthcoming referendum on the abolition of the Eight Amendment.
In a strongly-worded letter, former Garda Christy Galligan hit out strongly at the Catholic Church and its priests for relaying such a message.
Mr Galligan said it amazes him that we have an institution like the Church that “pretends that it is all inclusive but alienates big sections of Society.”
He said at the end of a mass he attended last Sunday the priest asked people to attend a rally for life in Donegal and that free buses would be provided.
Mr Galligan replied that this is the same Church who buried thousands of babies in unconsecrated ground.
He added that we also have some priests and bishops who denied the very existence of their own children.
“I didn’t see any rallies or buses provided in support of these women and children,” he wrote.
Below is the full letter submitted by Mr Galligan.
Dear Editor,
On Sunday I attended my local Catholic Church. In prayers for the faithful, the reader prayed for the unborn child in the womb. I found this rather strange given that the unborn is a foetus and not a child per se. At the end the Mass the priest asked people to attend a rally for Life in the south west of the county and that buses would be provided.
This is the same Church that covered up serious sexual and physical abuse of children. This is the same Church, with the connivance of the state, buried thousands of babies in unmarked unconsecrated graves all over our Country. Then we have some Priests and Bishops who denied the very existence of their own children. I didn’t see any rallies or buses provided in support of these women and children.
Then there are the churches conservative followers who refuse to listen to any argument lest they suffer the wrath and ignominy of the soldiers of God. The same followers who forget conveniently, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.
It amazes me that we have an institution like the Church that pretends that it is all inclusive but alienates big sections of Society. It doesn’t allow for women priests, it doesn’t allow for divorcees, like me, to receive absolution in confession or to receive holy communion. It pretends to support LGBT groups yet we have seen that there are those in Rome and other places who will not accept these groups.
Whilst I acknowledge the great works done by the Church I believe that it needs to modernise and catch up with the rest of modern Society before it loses more of its brethren.
Archbishop Martin recently admitted that misogyny was present in the Catholic Church and that he would like the World Meeting of Families to be inclusive.
How can you ask for inclusiveness when you shut the door firmly on large sections of Society. How can you be the moral arbiter for the unborn when you don’t even mention the woman whose womb carries and feeds it. Without the woman, there would be no foetus, no unborn and therefore no argument.
Regards,
Christy Galligan. (Retd)
Letterkenny,
Co. Donegal.
