Staff Reporter
A priest who celebrated a Mass at which a gay flag was draped across the altar has refused to speak about the event.
Jesuit Fr Fergus O’Donoghue presided at the liturgy in Dublin’s Avila Carmelite Centre at the weekend. The Mass included a delegation from the United States led by Sr Jeannine Gramick, who was criticised in 2014 after she signed a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to push for wider access to abortion globally. Her views on homosexuality have also been judged out of line with Church teaching.
When contacted by The Irish Catholic this week Fr O’Donoghue, a former editor of the Jesuit journal Studies, confirmed that he had presided at the Mass, but refused to be drawn further on it or to answer any other questions.
Known as an ‘All Are Welcome Mass’, the liturgy is celebrated in Dublin on a monthly basis and organisers style it as having “a particular welcome for lgbt (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered) people, their parents, family members, and friends”.
Organisers say “our liturgy is Roman Catholic and is followed by chat over tea and coffee”.
Reflections
However, one congregant who spoke to The Irish Catholic after the event claimed that there were several elements of the Mass that were at odds with Church rules. This massgoer claimed that the Gospel was read by someone who was not a deacon or priest, something which is forbidden under Church law. It is also alleged that rather than a homily, several members of the congregation delivered reflections. A Dublin-based canon lawyer, who asked not to be named, told The Irish Catholic that Church law provides that a priest celebrant can entrust the responsibility for preaching “to a concelebrating priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a deacon, but never to a layperson”. He also described the flag on the altar as a “liturgical abuse”. The rainbow flag has become a potent symbol in recent years for those campaigning for same-sex marriage.
Sr Gramick (73) first fell foul of Church leaders in the 1980s after she was accused of not properly presenting the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. In 1999, the Vatican described her views as “doctrinally unacceptable” and her religious order – the School Sisters of Notre Dame – banned her from speaking publicly about homosexuality. However, she left the order and became a member of the Sisters of Loretto. She was sharply criticised by pro-life activists in 2014 when she called for the provision of abortion to be made a key plank of US foreign policy.
She has been leading a pilgrimage to Ireland aimed at gay visitors and the group also celebrated Mass at the Redemptorist-run Esker Retreat Centre in Co. Galway and visited other Christian sites of interest.