Fury as woman outlines abortion at Mass

A priest has sparked controversy after he arranged for a woman to give a graphic account of her abortion at a children’s Mass and outline how she believed her special needs child was a punishment from God.

The speech was made in front of up to 100 children at the Church of Our Lady Conceived Without Sin in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. It coincided with the issuing of a pastoral letter by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland on abortion.

Parish priest Fr Michael Fitzgerald did not seek permission from the apostolic administrator of the diocese, Archbishop Dermot Clifford, to allow the woman to take to the pulpit.