Abortion debate - Divisions in Church

Today’s report that a priest in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, allowed a woman to stand up in church last Sunday and recount her experience of having an abortion is certain to reawaken divisions in advance of expected government legislation on abortion.

It is appalling that she was permitted to address the congregation, including around 100 young children, telling them of her special needs child born some years later, which she regarded as punishment by God.

The disgraceful decision to provide a platform for extreme pro-life views coincided with the issuing of a pastoral letter against abortion by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland. Archbishop Dermot Clifford, the apostolic administrator of the diocese, said he was “unhappy this speech took place”. It would be more appropriate had he publicly expressed the “disgust” felt by many parishioners, several of whom were parents and relatives of children with special needs. No church should be used in this outrageous manner.