Some priests are openly at odds with Church teaching

Dear Editor, Over the last month several Irish Catholic clergy have expressed in public opinions on abortion that are clearly at odds with the teaching of the Church. Last month Fr Brian D’Arcy of the Passionist order was reported as saying that in counselling women on the subject of pregnancy he always took the view that whatever course of action they took was the right one – whether or not, that is, they decided to abort their unborn children (Belfast Telegraph, September 15).  

In the Sunday Independent on September 18 Fr Joe McDonald, a priest of the diocese of Dublin, stated that he regarded abortion as being permissible in certain circumstances. In the Irish Times for October 11 Fr Eoin De Bhaldraithe, a Cistercian of Bolton Abbey, published an article which recommended the introduction into Ireland of abortion legislation on the lines followed in France; what he did not state in his piece was that the annual abortion rate in France runs at over 200,000. 

To date there have been no reports that any of these priests has been censured or disciplined in any way. All three are clearly at odds with the Church’s teaching on this as well as on other topics. Surely action must be taken soon. 

Yours etc.,

C.D.C. Armstrong

Belfast, Co. Antrim.