Tag Archives: St Vincent de Paul

svp

The St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) has stood down a Galway fund committee that last year allocated €45,000 to a resource centre for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Galway.

The move follows a disagreement over governance arrangements between the SVP at national and local level.

Catholic Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan last year objected to the allocation, saying that homosexual activity was “morally wrong behaviour” and funding could not be put at the service of what was believed to be morally incorrect.

Last year, an SVP spokesman said the organisation had no formal association with the Catholic church or bishops but that “relationships at a local level were very strong”.

Good times.

SVP stands down committee after LGBT centre allocation (Irish Times)

00090942Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan

The Bishop of Galway appears to have rowed back on his strong stance on the St Vincent de Paul (SVP) donation towards a gay resource centre, telling a member of the public that he “got it badly wrong”.

There have been calls for Dr Martin Drennan to resign in the wake of his comments on Galway Bay FM last week about the €45,000 allocation to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community support group Amach.

He described gay culture as “morally wrong” and said he had a problem with the “moral judgment” involved with making the decision by the SVP.

Salthill resident Cormac Ryan wrote an email to the Bishop after hearing the interview, describing his remarks as “deeply offensive, uncharitable and unchristian”.

A reply the following day from the Diocesan email address, which was also sent to the Bishop’s Diocesan secretary, thanked him for the letter.

“My humble apologies for the hurt caused. I got it badly wrong,” it said.

Vice chairperson of Amach, Nuala Ward, invited the Bishop to sit down and talk with the organisation to discuss their work, which involved collaborating with bodies such as the Health Service Executive, the Gardaí and suicide prevention groups.

Meanwhile..

BxRFWdYIIAAdbtJ

Tackling poverty is what the SVP does best. But Galway LGBT Amach! is a campaigning organisation. It even helped promote a pro-abortion march in Galway last year. That’s the opposite of reaching out to the poor and marginalised.

And it’s not as though left-wing, liberal causes are stuck for money these days. When it comes to friends in the media and funds from millionaires, gay rights projects are top dogs, not underdogs.

Did SVP Galway ask Amach! whether it would be campaigning for the redefinition of marriage next year? Might its resource centre and facilities be used in that referendum?

It’s a strange thing, but heaven help you if you dare to regret using the poor box to fund a campaigning gay rights organisation.

Update:

nuala

 

Enda Cunningham [of the Connacht Tribune] writes:

Purely in the interest of balance, there is actually a third piece [above] in the Tribune today – it’s from Nuala Ward, Vice Chair of Amach LGBT.

Bishop of Galway says he got it ‘badly wrong’ (Denise McNamara, Galway City Tribune)

Previously: How Dare They?

Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland