Earlier today.
Kildare FM reported that a gay couple, Jacinta O’Donnell and Geraldine Flanagan, have stepped down from the church choir at the Catholic parish church, St Michael’s, in Athy, Co. Kildare (top).
The station reported:
Jacinta O’Donnell and Geraldine Flanagan, who married in July, have stepped down from the church choir and other church music activities, due to what they say is the level of pressure placed upon them and the church by a local church activist Anthony Murphy [of newspaper Catholic Voice].
Mr Murphy is strongly opposed to gay people being active in the Catholic church in what he calls leadership roles.
Mr Murphy has also conveyed his views to parish priest Canon Frank McEvoy, whom the couple says has been supportive of them.
Kildare FM also reported that, a few days after Ms O’Donnell and Ms Flanagan got married, Mr Murphy sent Ms O’Donnell the following text:
Jacinta, I hope you will now have the decency to resign from the church choir and as a eucharistic minister, following the events of last Wednesday [their wedding day].
Further to this, in an interview with Shane Beatty, on Kildare FM, Jacinta O’Donnell told Mr Beatty:
“Well, we’ve been mulling over [the decision to leave] it all summer. When we were made aware of Anthony Murphy’s feelings and when we saw some of the very negative and, I suppose, hateful stuff really that was on his Facebook page, etc, and then when I got the personal text message from him.”
“Geraldine and I, you know, we, the only thing we’ve ever tried to do is provide a music ministry and the whole idea behind that was to enhance the eucharist and we felt that, bringing this trouble to the church door would be really futile and negate anything that we were trying to do.”
“So we thought about it long and hard and it was, and still is, a very difficult decision that we came to. We’re both very upset by it.”
“…we understood that there were going to be protests or some form of demonstrations, you know, to basically encourage us to leave, shall I say. And we felt that the ordinary people, that were just going along to their weekly mass, you know, didn’t need to be subjected to this.”
“And it was going to defeat the entire purpose of our whole reason to be there in the first place and I think we felt we had more respect for the house of God then to have that brought to its door or because of us and we felt that the easier thing to do would be just to walk away.”
Meanwhile, Mr Murphy told Mr Beatty:
“This is not about personalities. Well clearly, you know, the way the choir operates in Athy, Jacinta and Geraldine are positioned on the altar, in the sanctuary, you know, on a stage almost, sharing the stage with the parish priest.”
“You can not have a contradiction where the church teaches one thing and people who are right next to the tabernacle, the blessed sacrament, contradict all of that teaching.”
AUDIO: Controversy In Athy As Gay Couple Step Down From Church Music Activities (Kildare FM)
Pic: Flickr
UPDATE: EXCLUSIVE: Athy Couple At Centre Of Choir Controversy Make Their Return Tomorrow Saturday (KFM)
Anthony should fupp off
Plenty others willing to replace them
So no loss.
It is imo horrible, ‘unchristian’ behaviour from Murphy.
On the other hand, the official Church does clearly have a fundamental issue with ‘active’ homosexuality (ugh, sorry to use that term) whether they express it softly (Francis & his appeals to be understanding/considerate) or more stridently.
Actual non-bigoted Catholics should really set up a new Church.
Generation Snowflake again and the suppression of speech.
Are identified gay members of a church choir any less gay than the rest of the choir.
Hmm. I find myself thinking Mr Murphy has; well, a kernel of sense. However the vehicle of delivery and much of his message is questionable. But. Catholics being hypocritical? noooo.
Has Mr Murphy been informed about Grindr Coll…sorry Maynooth College
what to do … what to do?
on one hand you must support de gays to be consecrated by your peer group, yet the disdain you hold whether real or imagined for all thingys religiony is conflicting…
just swipe right & forget ye ever saw this thread……
Yeah, gay people and folks who don’t have any problem with them are about as bad as religious fascists who have a history of protecting paedophiles. It really is a tough decision; which side to demean. At least it’s not as tough as giving a shyte about the actual issue though.
love them both, moyest. love them both.
*nods blankly*
it must be so wearisome having to act the unbearable smartarsh ALL the time
Shame on Mr Murphy
Cue predictable witchhunt
Shame on those wimmins as well for giving in to his bullying
Cue new and highly profitable career in doing music for LGBTQ weddings
what wud jaysus do?
sure his mother was a virgin
he’d probably be in SPUC
Are you for real? He wrote a whole book about how he proper stuck it to persons like this. New Testament I think it’s called.
ah now he didn’t write it himself
herself
no, Jesus was definitely a he
You can’t say. Hir ghostwriters never asked hir pronouns.
Naaah. It took a few hundred more years for it to be properly embellished and edited
Embellished, edited, doesn’t matter. The message is the same. Jesus clocks someone doing something that everyone else thinks is perfectly fine but he decides right there and then is bang out of order. He challenges the establishment, there’s a bit of a barney, Jesus drops a few “M-F” bombs (my Father). Needless to say, he has the last laugh. And we all learn a little something along the way.
OK, maybe not the very last laugh.
(Or does he…?)
as an avowed atheist I am confident there is no god but when I hear of people like mr murphy I sometimes think there MUST be a hell .
+1
And hell would be too good for him
Bit harsh. He’s clearly a bottom hole but he’s not murdering anyone or such.
The bible is pretty straight forward.
Why would you want to join a club with such a mental rule book?
Odd.
Sometimes it’s more about the joy of the music played and sang, rather than a religious worship. I know someone in a church choir who’s athiest. I asked her why she bothers and she said “I can live without a god, can’t live without music.”
The bible isn’t really straightforward at all. Plus you have catholic doctrine and social teaching on top of it.
In fairness, a gay couple operating in an arena where the official line is that they’re disordered and inherently evil was never going to work.You can’t say you only believe in SOME bigotry and assorted bullsh1t. The sooner people realise that claiming to be a Catholic means you have to officially be anti gay, anti abortion, anti women, anti modernity, pro eating Jesus’ body, pro generally believing in nonsense the better.
yea damn those gays for wanting to be participative and inclusive in society
Participative and inclusive in society? Are we still talking about the Catholic Church here? The group of sexually repressed, bigoted, likely fairly bloody evil men in frocks?
How many black klansmen do you know?
If the church wants to be horrible bast@rds let them, it’s their right to only include their kind, but you can’t whinge when it affects you if you’re willing to turn a blind eye when it doesn’t.
you seem kind of angry
who’s whingeing? it just being reported as a news story
@Yea, Ok
+2016
Yea, Ok – amongst the many falsehoods you’re peddling there is that the church views gay people as inherently evil. That is absolutely untrue. You should investigate what the church actually says.
They’re grand as long as they don’t act on it?
They are not intrinsically evil and the catholic church does not suggest that they are. The catholic church says that no one is intrinsically evil. Yea,OK is just wrong.
I dunno if you’re on the ball here Justin
Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html
They’re married, so it’s safe to assume they partake in a little bit of scissoring occasionally (I’m not au fait with the ways of the lesbians). So yes, Catholicism sez they’re bad folk.
Not like those nice god-friendly gays who only have platonic friendships.
Catholicism foes not say that they are “bad folk”. You’re wrong.
Why the big fight against them having the same rights as everyone else so?
One would almost think the church sees them as lesser beings than ‘normal’ people… Funny that.
I’ve put some pertinent capitals below. Enjoy :)
“…MEN COMMITTING SHAMELESS ACTS WITH MEN and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. . . . Though they know God’s decree that THOSE WHO DO SUCH THINGS DESERVE TO DIE, they not only do them but approve those who practice them” (Rom. 1:26–28, 32).
“Do you not know that THE WICKED WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor HOMOSEXUAL OFFENDERS nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9–10, NIV).
There’s more, I’m sure of it. Night loveen :) x
Read the cathicism of the RCC Yea,OK.
Whatever else you can level at the RCC, it is not fundamentalist when it comes to the bible. 2 millenia of thinking and practice has separated the wheat from the chaff.
Right here we go; select phrases from the actual catechism of the actual catholic church, ok?
“2357…Basing itself on sacred scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity… homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law…Under no circumstances can they be approved.”
“2358… This inclination, which is objectively disordered…”
THIS IS THE OFFICAL STANCE OF THE CHURCH
Just to make it clear:
Depravity
noun: depravity; plural noun: depravities
moral corruption; wickedness
I will grant you that it also says that “They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
So while you, as a catholic, have to believe they’re bad, you’re technically not allowed to tell them. Maybe someone remind Anto over in Athy.
So where does it say that gay people are intrinsically evil, as you claimed?
Depravity
noun: depravity; plural noun: depravities
moral corruption; wickedness
Wicked
adjective: wicked; comparative adjective: wickeder; superlative adjective: wickedest
evil or morally wrong.
Unless we’re going to get bogged down in semantics or you want to go into some other linguistic gymnastics here I think I’ve proven my point.
In 200 words or less, what are YOUR feelings on the gays, and why?
So the RCC doesn’t say that gay people are intrinsically evil at all. I see.
Wut?
Haha, what a deflection. I bet you never actually ‘lose’ debates because you resort to flat out ignoring what’s put to you. Cheerio.
If you want to dislike the RCC, that’s fine. But don’t go posting rambling initial posts claiming things like “the church says gay people are intrinsically evil” and then try to maintain its a fact when you’re told that it’s incorrect. The fact is that the RCC does not believe gay people (or any person for that matter) are inherently evil.
You are, quite simply, wrong on this one.
You “told” me it’s incorrect, but no more than I can “tell” you the sun is made of custard.
Back up what you’re saying. I have.
What, in your opinion, does the church think of homosexuals AND their lifestyle? Provide evidence. I have.
It’s not enough to say the church loves everyone if it’s qualified with an exception for those who actually practice homosexuality.
You claimed that:
” (the RCC”s) official line is that they’re…….inherently evil”
But you can’t tell me where the RCC says that gay people are inherently evil. Therefore you’re wrong. I can’t quote you anything that proves that something was not said. It’s like proving a negative.
The semantics is strong in this one…..
Depraved. Wicked. Evil.
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/depraved
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/wicked
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/evil
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/synonym
http://www.rosettastone.com/learn-english/
Bye now.
My own two and four pence for what it’s worth:
“Something which is against natural laws seems to me rather out of the question because it would be a depressive idea about God. It would make God smaller than he must be assumed. When he stated that these laws hold, then they hold, and he wouldn’t make exceptions. This is too human an idea. Humans do such things, but not God.”
–Nobel Prize winning physicist Max Born.
My point being that a Christian and a Catholic are two different things and the lines between the two have become blurred. This lady felt she had to step down for the sake of how it affected other parishioners. That’s pretty noble* in my opinion.
*Cambridge Dictionary: Noble (adjective) meaning: moral in an honest, brave and kind way.
That could be almost classed as Christian like.
Ye, you make a valid point.
Even when good aul’ Agnes died she admitted she didn’t have any faith because the world was so obviously cruel and harsh. Teresa the champion of non-women’s rights and cult leader of suffering as she was also known, didn’t believe in the eucharist either but still asked to be prayed for. The reason was for trying to believe but failing and not being able to be a true good catholic.
It can only be described as an extreme case of mental illness and the worst part was it wasn’t a genetic disease, although she was unusually cruel, sadistic and sociopathic. The justification and idealogy behind it was all taught to her and coerced her mind into a certain way of thinking and encouraged by fellow human beings in the parent cult, who like wearing pointy hats and dressing up in robes..
:-J
Gay people and the Catholic Church, I don’t know who’s the more petulant these days. Probably both.
But the gay catholic church is just fabulous
With the gold flecked flowing robes, different colours for different occasions, tricked out hats and jewel encrusted walking sticks and…. wait which one am I describing again? It’s difficult to tell the difference
Given the gay sexual activity of some priests this monogamous couple look positively virtuous by comparison. But rules are rules. I am assuming that Mr Beatty would also object to someone who has been divorced then remarried holding a similar position.
Or is it just de gays he has an issue with?
Beat-he you say? ;) I guess that’s Murphy’s Law?
Yeah yeah, typo. Mr Murphy.
Fair point.
“You can not have a contradiction where the church teaches one thing and people who are right next to the tabernacle, the blessed sacrament, contradict all of that teaching.”
And…. let’s hear it for the Ferns Report once again.
If all the priests who have ever bent, broken or otherwise discarded an ecclesiastical rule could kindly move AWAY from the tabernacle…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTCDOijmqtg
Anthony doth protest too much I reckon
he’s afraid of the tingly feelings he gets around the gays
Anthony isn’t Irish – he’s from Bradford and a bigot.
We have no mutual friends.
On the other hand I have 8 mutual friends with Will St Leger (The Chain(.
Good for you peter. It’s nice you have mates
Look, I know they probably spoke in thick, midlands, Kildare accents, but that’s no reason for coastal dwellers to have read “then” and “than” being confused in text. Sort it, ta f**k, out, lads.
A little bit of Bible for Anthony: John 8:7
Haha… this story and thread is fun king hilarious… I literally cannot stop laughing….
Truth is far stranger, interesting and more entertaining than any fiction.
No disrespect to Jacinta O’Donnell and Geraldine Flanagan’s dreams of being in the local choir but guess what?… You may not know it right now but you’re better off not being around a group of people with no guts to stand up for you when the bigotry hits the fundamentalist press.
Milk it and the media for all it’s worth and start a new type of choir project that promotes equality and maybe inclusive non-demonitional members. We all love a good bit of singing in unison…
The Catholic Voice and all the clowns who buy and support it are all going to their own made up personal hell anyway, if their not already living there in mind and spirit. Along with the fundamentalist retarded facists in the I don’t even OWN A rational braincell Institute…. we’ll all be better off when they die off… haha.. ( I am literally enjoying saying every bit of this )
I wish Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews were still at it with Dermot and Ardal…
Nobody can prove a god exists or does not exist, a belief in anything without imperical evidence is superstition and faith can only exist when people discard their critical faculties.
Peace and Love… I’m outta here…
THANK GOD FOR MENTAL ILLNESS !!!
haha.. It’s still funny…
:-J
I’m with Joe
Jacinta O’Donnell and Geraldine Flanagan need to grow a pair.
I notice the lack of any opportunity for Mr Murphy to defend himself & his reputation.
Why don’t you post something on his facebook page, I’d love to hear what he has to say…
What reputation would that be?
Fair enough, you can’t join the ping-pong club and then serve up a tennis ball.
Nicely put.
Aww, per his Facebook page, everyone hates HIM now. *snigger
Anyone that coins the term “lesbophobia” are residing up their own colon.
Poor old him. He just likes to harass the gays for their own good and people turn on him. Where’s the justice?
I will make up my mind on this issue when I am informed as to how hot the lesbians are.
Until then, I will keep my counsel.
I am genuinely surprised when I hear of cases like this – why would gay men and women want anything to do with an organisation that holds them in such contempt?
Though I do feel awful for these two ladies, horrible position to be put in :(
The answer is that these women didn’t (I guess) experience, with the exception of this one nosey, finger pointing, unwelcoming, loudmouth, any formal or informal “contempt” from their involvement with their church.
It must have made them happy to attend and be part of the church. Simple as that.
One of the worst things that some people, who claim to be standing up for LGBT rights, can do for LGBT people is to tell them again and again how much the RCC hates them. It isn’t true and prompts people to scratch their heads as to why gay people might go to church. Gay people have the right to be right or wrong about religion the same as straight people!