‘Far Worse Than Rape’

at

Bishop of Ossory, Dr Dermot Farrell

Jack Quann, of Newstalk, reports:

The Bishop of Ossory, Dr Dermot Farrell, has suggested abortion is sometimes far worse than rape.

Bishop Farrell has claimed that once introduced, abortion would be extremely difficult to restrict.

His warning came in a letter which was available in the diocese.

But Bishop Farrell told Pat Kenny that while it was available at every mass, it may not have been read at every mass.

“It was available in the church… some priests may have read excerpts of it, others may have published part of it.”

“It’s unlikely any of them would have read the entire thing in its completeness”.

Bishop of Ossory suggests ‘abortion can be far worse than rape’ (Newstalk)

Catholic Ireland

Sponsored Link

91 thoughts on “‘Far Worse Than Rape’

  1. filly buster

    straight on to pat kenny. fupp sake, every crack pot lunatic on the no side has had a pop at being on mainstream media. and then they moan about not getting fair coverage. it’s literally only them getting coverage. like imagine asking a full on lunatic like john mcguirk what he thinks? as if he offeres some kind of balance. hes mental.

  2. Daisy Chainsaw

    A man involved in an industry steeped in rape culture thinks taking a pill at 9 weeks gestation to shed something the size of a grape is much worse than having a penis shoved into any orifice his buddies felt like putting it.

    1. Andrew

      I’m disgusted by the bishop’s comments, however I’m curious, what do you mean by ‘steeped in rape culture’? I suppose I mean what is ‘culture’ in this instance?
      Certainly individual priests raped children and their hierarchy covered it up but then so did fathers and wives covered that up.

      Apart from that; this bishop’s comments should hopefully focus minds and be a plus for the repeal campaign

        1. Andrew

          I know how to use google thanks Starina. What do you think it means?
          Some people think all western societies have a ‘rape culture’ among its males.

          1. Scundered

            Dav, do you think men can’t be victims and rape is a word owned by women or what?

            Victims are victims.

      1. Joe

        they had a culture of covering up for rapists and allowing rape to continue by moving said rapists to new locations, if that ain’t rape supporting culture then what is.

        1. Andrew

          By that definition then there is a ‘rape culture’ throughout society as here have been many instances of families covering up of sexual abuse by members of said families.
          Would you therefore ascribe the term ‘rape culture’ to society in general?

          1. Brother Barnabas

            perhaps it has to go beyond a certain critical mass to be considered a culture

            within wider society? probably no

            within the church? probably yes

          2. Daisy Chainsaw

            Did the families send the rapist to another relative’s house to rape other family members the way the church did?

    2. realPolithicks

      It’s remarkable that the Catholic church has so many men in positions of power who appear to hate women, its hard to take anything else from a disgusting comment like this.

  3. dav

    good to see that those priests who raped children in their care are in a better place, on the owld “get into heaven list”, than women who under go a medical procedure,

    1. Daisy Chainsaw

      I suppose they have to justify their existence somehow. I’m sure the rapist priests made a good confession between rapes so they were forgiven their trespasses again… and again… and again…

    1. theo kretschmar schuldorff

      6:01. The country has to be led in prayers by the virginal geriatrics before any news can be transmitted.

    1. Bob

      You can disagree but I’m surprised people don’t understand where this comes from. When your starting point is to compare abortion to murder there is not much thatbis worse than murder.

      It’s a crass and unhelpful comparison that does nothing to address the difficult cases, but it shouldn’t come as any surprise.

      1. Nigel

        I expect women who have been raped and who subsequently undergo an abortion would be thrilled to be labeled as murderers by the likes of the bishop. Except even a bishop has the cop-on not to say such a thing publicly. I hope.

  4. Shayna

    I’m going to go ahead and say it, The Irish Times, The Irish News, The Belfast Telegraph, The Irish Indo weren’t that great in their reportage in a certain rape trial.

    1. Cian

      Out of curiosity – how so?
      Was it different to their normal reportage of other types of trials?

        1. wellness

          Shayna, do you think certain journalists were using the case to build their own media profile and hence went with “populist” opinion?

          1. Shayna

            I’m not a journalist, merely a purveyor of words is all – I’m a mere autocue operator. The words offered to camera aren’t my words.
            Also, sure!

          2. wellness

            Shayna, based on the evidence presented at the trial , are you of the honest opinion that the IT reportage of the case was both untruthful in terms of omisison of facts and unfair ?

          1. wellness

            @ Rotide. I am merely asking Shayna a question. It does not qualify as a statement of fact nor is there any intention to make any point.

          2. Shayna

            The point is that I’m a nobody, it could happen to you scenario. The Bishop’s comments were at best, ill-advised. I don’t have the luxury of having staff.

          3. rotide

            Still not getting it Shayna.

            You questioning the reportage of a trial you were involved in has precisely zero to do with a Bishop making an inflammatory claim.

            Where’s the connection?

      1. Brother Barnabas

        i think we’ve established that shayna isn’t too troubled by those rules

        1. Shayna

          Shayna isn’t too troubled by those rules which is why she’s buying an Indian Scout – 1133cc Motorcycle. It’ll be Adios, Slan, Au Revoir, Good-bye, me on a bike, in Europe? It’s clearly a one way ticket.

    2. rotide

      I found the Irish Times coverage of the trial to be very good within the bounds of what they were permitted to print.

      Also, what has their coverage of that trial have to do with a Bishops opionon on abortion?

      1. wellness

        It doesn’t, but I am sure Bodger will be thrilled with your new self-appointed role as arbiter of Broadsheet.

  5. Paul

    So this guy considers abortion to be the terminating of a life and he then goes on to say that it could be worse than rape? Sheer lunacy, disregard any logic he uses and froth at the mouth at the prospect of this witchdoctor telling you what to do.

    Oh no wait, killing someone probably is worse than raping them.

    1. ReproBertie (SCU)

      A fair point Paul. Of course the “killing somebody” side of it depends on your point of view and from the Bishop’s point of view it’s a somebody the moment a sperm enters an egg.

      I’d be fairly confident there were less controversial ways for him to make his point though.

      1. Paul

        Does it have to depend on points of view though? Can’t we all just us logic and see if we can’t arrive at a conclusion?

        Here, I’ll start – if life does not begin at conception then where does it begin and why? Keeping in mind hopefully that every other point of reference can be applied to a fully formed human – for example, there are not always brain waves in comatose patients and we don’t kill them etc etc…

        I personally can not find any other point at which the process starts besides conception, and this pains me because the thought that I’m in agreement with those on the pro-life organising side is depressing.

          1. Paul

            Rather than seeking agreement would it not be possible to use logic to get to the root of the issue?

        1. ReproBertie (SCU)

          Life support machines are turned off every day so we absolutely do kill comatose patients without brain waves.

          We’d also need to cover the question of when does “life” begin Vs when does “a life” begin. And if we’re doing that we need to think about when life ends. If I’m brain dead but my heart keeps pumping and my hair and nails keep growing am I alive? Does consciousness define human life?

        2. Cian

          “life” began some 4 billion years ago, and there is an unbroken line of lives from that first one to all of us today.
          Both sperm and egg are ‘alive’ prior to conception.

  6. Junkface

    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing on the radio. Mental thing to say! Especially from Bishop

  7. Frill the 8th

    any sign of the No -Siders stampede to Disassociate themselves from this Rogue Anti Abortionist

  8. gavin

    How these two things are even comparable in anyone’s mind is beyond me. It shows at best a compelte lack of a understanding of both issues and another reason why the church should be removed from anything but its own Sunday Masses

    1. Paul

      I think actually the point of his statement was that they’re not comparable.

      The left is actually eating itself in front of us, the comments section here is a record of that.

      1. ReproBertie (SCU)

        What has the left got to do with anything? Do you think everyone campaigning for a Yes vote or considering voting Yes are “the left”?

  9. Inquistor

    Considering the history of the Catholic Church these guys have no right to be sharing a moral opinion on abortion at all. They should all shut up outside of mass, keep their dogma to themselves and start to get used to Irish society defining itself secularly and not religiously.

    Though I do think his comment ‘Far Worse Than Rape” has been taken slightly out of context. If you listen to the interview he is saying that the abortion after a rape has often been harder to come to terms with than the rape itself for the women so affected. Not sure I believe this for a second but its a different point to saying abortion as an act is worse than rape as an act from a moral point of view.

    Whats worse is at the end he is claiming that in cases of incest where a 12 year old is raped that child needs to bring that child to full term. Mind boggling.

    1. Paul

      It’s really not that mind boggling at all if you consider that he views the foetus as an actual innocent life, you know the whole “2 wrongs don’t make a right” ?

      1. Starina

        well, Paul, just remember that if you ever get pregnant following an assault…oh wait.

      2. Inquistor

        So its perfectly fine to force a 12 year old child who has been raped to carry a baby to term even at the risk of her life and health? Sounds like trying two wrongs to make a right to me alright.

  10. Murtles

    Great bunch of lads are the Church for opposing stuff like Equal Marriage (2015), Civil Partnerships (2010), Divorce (1996), Divorce (1986), Condoms (1985), Mother & Child Healthcare (1950), Tampons (1944). All of these directly affect geriatric men of course.

    1. Janet, I ate my Avatar

      from the mouth of a “saint ”

      “The male sex is more noble than the female, and for this reason he [Jesus] took human nature in the male sex.” (Summa Theologiae III:31:4 ad 1)

      1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

        Jesus was a penis. That’s how I’m reading it. Thomas Aquinas was throwing shade.

  11. nellyb

    Interpol should show him abuse imagery from evidence stock. See if bishop can hold on to his appetite and sleep.

  12. Nigel

    I guess he must have thought the referendum needed a shot of inflammatory rhetorical adrenaline straight to the heart.

  13. blonto

    Bishop justifies the existence and protection of rapists in the church with the old “look, there’s something worse over there!!!” defence.
    Sums up the catholic church.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie