Catholics MUST Boycott SVP…
– Catholic leaves estate to fund Catholic Charity
– Charity uses money to fund Homosexual Meeting Spot
– Bishop complains, to no avail
Miss Maureen O’Connell, the late owner of “O’Connell’s Pub” in Galway, Ireland, died in 1998. That is, she did not die 1000 years ago. No, she died in 1998. That means that if she had wanted to bequeath her estate to a homosexual-activist cause, she could have done so freely.
Instead, she decided to put in her will that proceeds coming from her estate (her pub, eventually sold in 2006) would be allocated to the Irish section of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP), the great foundation of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam for assistance to the poorest in society. In Ireland, the SVP is not, in strict legal terms, under the control of the hierarchy. But its self-identification is clear: “The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is an international voluntary Catholic Christian organisation.” And they have no qualms about being a “Catholic” organization when they lobby the Irish government for more funds (see, for instance, here). Or when they ask Irish Catholics for donations for their “charitable” activities.
So what does the SVP do with the proceeds coming from Miss O’Connell’s estate, now the hefty “Maureen O’Connell Fund”? Well, for instance, it chose to make a 45,000-euro (58,000-dollar) grant to “Amach! LGBT Galway” so it can build its “resource center”, which the group defines in its website as an “alcohol-free venue for social networking” for the homosexuals of Galway (that is, in plain words, a dry homosexual bar).
The Bishop of Galway, the Rev. Dr. Martin Drennan, was rightfully horrified with the use of charitable money given to a foundation that still collects most of its money from Irish Catholics in Irish churches to fund the establishment of a homosexual meeting spot in his diocese.
“On moral grounds we can’t support [the grant],” he told Galway Bay FM’s “The Keith Finnegan Show.” “Homosexual activity is in our eyes morally wrong behavior and we cannot put funds at the service of what we don’t believe is morally correct.”
He told the radio show that he hoped the matter could be resolved in a way that would restore the image of the society: “We want to keep in mind the good work that the St. Vincent de Paul does throughout the country,” he said
What did the SVP say in response to the Bishop? Did they, caught in the act, regret their folly and did they apologize to the Bishop for their outrageous decision?
Quite the contrary – here’s what they said:
The decision was endorsed by the SVP National Management Council as providing support for an excluded and marginalised group in need of support. This is consistent with the SVP mission statement to support people in poverty, both material and emotional, and social justice initiatives. It is also a key element of the SVP Christian ethos to be non-judgmental when its assistance is sought.
The grant does not come in any way from funds collected from the public in the diocese of Galway, at church gates or anywhere else.
Ah, yes, “non-judgmental”… If that were truly the case, they would just throw cash from their office windows onto the street – otherwise, they are always exercising some kind of “judgment”, even if it is a wicked judgment. And of course the excuse that the money comes from the trust and not from collections made in Irish churches can only fool the dimwits the SVP thinks Irish Catholics must be: money given to the homosexual meeting spot is money not given to those Irish in true financial need, so of course, indirectly, it is money collected from Irish Catholics under the name of “charity,” by an organization that calls itself “Catholic” when it wants to, making use of the name when it is in its interest to do so, funding given to promote an activity absolutely antithetical to everything that the Catholic Church has always defended and stood for.
Will this lead Irish bishops to cut all links with this society that has become a promoter of Anti-Catholic values? Quite unlikely… Will the Bishop of Galway at least respond to this unbelievable effrontery to his authority and Catholic moral doctrine represented by the SVP statement? Source
Comment
I will never give another penny to the SVP. Will you?
Comments (77)
That Bishop did well to speak out on radio but now he needs to send out a pastoral letter instructing that all support for the SVP stop in his parishes.
The SVP statement about being “non-judgmental” made me think of Pope Francis’s statement about being “non-judgmental” towards “gays”. We are seeing the fruits of this pope’s errors now, and this SVP funding scandal is one of them.
I will definitely never give any money to the SVP again. It was the only charity I ever gave to, as well, so I am bitterly disappointed to read about this scandal.
I agree – the bishop should send out a pastoral letter right away. This is an abuse of funds by a Catholic charity. No Catholic can support them now.
I stumbled across this awful blog on the subject just now and just couldn’t resist posting a few comments in answer to the vile homosexual vitriol against the Church (which will probably be deleted the minute my back’s turned, in the authentic “liberal” spirit of “free speech no way”.) Times like this I’m glad I can type fast! It’ll take the blog owner a while to catch up with me!
I really don’t recommend that anyone else contribute to that blog – it’s really nasty, but posting this just to underline the disgraceful scandal of the SVP supporting this unnatural and immoral behaviour. I really will never EVER give them a penny ever again.
You are quite right. This is an awful blog. I read parts of it. The language is disgusting and the hatred appalling.
The only decent comments were yours. Thank you for flying the flag of basic decency.
What a horrible bunch of cowardly, demented, sad, anti-Catholic bigots. Well done Ed for standing up to them. If you had got them one at a time they would have slipped away quietly. They conveniently forget about the paedophilia which is more rampant in non-Catholic organisations.
I just wonder how many paedos there would be in the Boys Brigade or the Scout movement if there were two billion of them. In fact, I wonder how many there would be if there were only two of them. Probably 90% of them. Try and work that one out.
It is times like this when you start having doubts as to whether abortion is as bad as it is painted when you see the ones that slipped through the net.
I just wish I had this mob below me on a scaffold full of bricks on a building site.
Oops, sorry boys, I really didn`t mean to miss you.
If this is atheism then they are more than welcome to it.
I just wonder how many paedos there would be in the Boys Brigade or the Scout movement if there were two billion of them. In fact, I wonder how many there would be if there were only two of them. Probably 90% of them. Try and work that one out.
Frankier,
if you have evidence or reasonable suspicion of paedophilia in the BB or the Scouts, I trust you will report them to the appropriate authorities without delay.
If you are simply making unfounded scurrilous allegations, I suggest you should desist.
EA
I am referring to past court cases.
Do you live in a cave or a convent?
EA
And by the way, I DO NOT make unfounded or scurrilous accusations such as you are now doing.
Eileenanne,
Pots & Kettles springs to mind…
Did not YOU have clear evidence of a national celebration of homosexuality when you attended the dress rehearsal of the (disgraceful) Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, and chose to remain silent instead of doing your duty as a Confirmed Soldier of Christ, by voicing your (strong) objections to the organisers?
What makes you think I remained silent?
Charles & Frankier,
Thank you for your support. I returned to my computer just now to a string of vile comments (Disquis sends email alerts) from a blogger called “I’ve been outa work too long” when the fact is, its’ not work he’s been outa for too long, but his mind. I’ve no intention of replying to his filthy, disgusting comments. It’s laughable that the blog author describes himself as “a friendly atheist”. Well, his bloggers are anything but friendly. So, it’s goodbye, folks, from moi. We’re not perfect here, but we’re a heck of a lot more perfect than they are over there. Thank you, Lord, for not making us like that lot over at Patheos… 😀
Ed
These slimy people wouldn`t have the guts to knock on your door to voice their psychosexual opinions.
As for outaworktoolong, tell him they are looking for reptiles at Edinburgh Zoo.
He probably couldn`t even work in a convulsion though.
Well done, Editor, for defending the dignity and honour of the Holy Catholic Faith and Bishop Drennan. God bless you for it. At last, an Irish Bishop who has got the courage and intestinal fortitude to stand up to the evils of homosexuality, I wonder what the Archbishop of Dublin would have done in a similar situation? At least there seems to be Bishops of the old school in Ireland. I’d be interested to see seminarian statistics for respective dioceses, because the more conservative the Bishop, the more vocations. I’ve long been an admirer of Cardinal Connell.
That is horrifying news. I wonder if the family of the deceased could do anything?
I have voted in the poll and I definitely will not be contributing to the SVP collections again.
Thank you for sharing this good news. I am delighted to hear of this action by the SVP.
Claire Flourish,
Only a person without scruples could declare delight at the news that a Catholic organisation, whose sole remit is to alleviate the suffering of the poor, has betrayed the spirit of a deceased benefactor by re-routing money intended for the poor to such a “gravely disordered” enterprise. There are atheists out there with more integrity!
No, mi duck, a Christian, without an insane hatred for gay people.
Claire Flourish,
Hatred for gay people, eh? Now you’re being patently dishonest.
I don’t really think you truly understand the correct definition of the word “hatred”. If you did, you couldn’t make so silly a statement. And as it happens, you’ll find a lot more in the way of hatred on the part of homosexuals towards Christians than the other way around.
Now, ‘hate sin not the sinner’. This is the truly Christian way, the supernatural way. If you don’t hate immoral sins, of any type, then I’m afraid you’re really a false Christian.
Well, let’s see.
At the end of 2012, SVP in Ireland had €73,129,000 in net funds. Of this, they made a €45,000 grant.
One commenter here wants the humiliation of the national management council: all Catholics ought now to make no further donations to the SVP until:
1. the grant to Amach is revoked
2. an apology is issued to the SVPs supporters for this scandalous misuse of funds
3. the Irish National Management Council is replaced by people with a functioning moral compass.
Gay people don’t hate Christians, we dislike homophobes. Many of us are Christians.
Well, let’s see.
Clare thinks someone who objects to two men or two women engaging their bodies in unnatural sexual activity to be “homophobes” . The Catholic Church is roundly criticised for condemning that behaviour and labelled “homophobic” and “hypocritical” when it comes to light that some of her own members, including clergy, have engaged in homosexual activity.
However, when people with a quite different aberrant appetite engage in sexual activity with children, that’s to be condemned all round as “paedophilia” and the Church is to be roundly condemned for “allowing” that behaviour. Suddenly she’s evil, wicked, the Vatican should be sold off blah blah.
You just gotta love the (lack of) logic, folks.
PS Clare: if you refuse to keep to the natural law, and condemn all unnatural use of the human body, then you are not, I repeat, (by definition) NOT, a Christian.
Ooh, let’s see. What is the most important part of the definition? “Not gay”? Tell that to the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Clare,
What you are inferring is scurrilous. But typical of pro-sodomite propagandists. Everything is about homosexual activity. There is no other kind of love but that highly disordered “love”, more commonly and correctly known as “lust”.
Please do not post any more such blasphemous comments on this blog. I seldom place any visitors or regular bloggers here into moderation but – as Groucho Marx said when he told a woman that he never forgets a face – in your case, I’ll be happy to make an exception.
Claire Flourish,
“The disciple whom Jesus loved” was St. John, famed for his purity and chastity, the complete opposite of what the filth mongers have come to believe in their infested minds.
Clare Flourish
The amount of the grant is irrelevant. The problem is that it has been given to a cause which is not consistent with Catholic teaching. A single penny directed to such a cause is too much.
Nor am I interested in the ‘humiliation of the national management council’. The fact is that if these people cannot be relied upon to administer the funds entrusted to their care according to correct moral principles then they need to be replaced – as a matter of urgency – by people who will do so.
Claire Flourish,
Please do not even attempt here to perpetuate the myth that gay activists do not hate Christianity, and please spare us the insult that active homosexuals are Christians in good standing. One cannot claim to love God and at the same time live as though His Commandments and moral laws don’t apply.
I’m sorry but any Christian who lives in perpetual immorality is simply a false Christian unworthy of the name. The dead or dying conscience may gain some emotional comfort from a superficial use of the Christian name, but it’s illusory. God is not mocked!
Of course the same applies to anyone who abuses the Christian name with a carefree life of fornication, regardless of the particular immoral vice they are enslaved to. In fine, all sexual activity outside of a properly blessed marriage between a man and a woman is abhorrent to God and must be repented if the soul is recover grace and merit heaven. Any alternative doctrine to this is not from God but from Satan.
Athanasius
I don`t think she understands the correct definition of the word “gay” either.
Try her with sodomy and the penny might drop.
Re the use of “she” and “her” etc – “Claire” is actually a man who refers to himself as a “transexual” and dresses as a woman.
If someone rejects even the physical reality of their own biology, I don’t think there is much hope for them accepting other parts of reality.
Gabriel Syme,
That’s amazing. No wonder he is so mixed up! This whole “transgender” and “transsexual” stuff comes straight from Hell.
I couldn’t agree more. How disgusting that anyone would undergo operations and dress up to pretend they are the opposite gender, for real. Children do dress up for fun but it is really sick that adults want to be the opposite gender.
As for the SVDP – I can’t emphasise enough that I will never give them a donation ever again. They should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves abusing funds in this way.
Gabriel
I suppose he/she (is he/she from Middlesex?) is to be pitied rather than scorned or laughed at.
Frankier,
The word “gay” was deliberately chosen by homosexual activists. It’s an abbreviation of “good as you,” an out of context propaganda slogan if ever there was one. Not a lot of people know that.
I didn’t know that – I thought they picked “gay” because it was associated with happiness. They wanted to ditch “sodomy” knowing nobody would ever vote to legalise sodomy.
Thanks for that information.
Tell me Clare: do you think the human nose was designed to shove a pencil up or the ears to have six inch nails hammered into them?
What a gay feeling that would be, eh.
Whatever you want to do, Frankier, I don’t mind.
Oddly enough, my mother grew up in Middlesex- Hillingdon, actually, near the Swakeleys tube station.
Ooo, that was daring of you.
In what way, mi duck?
Clare Flourish
I think Benedict Carter means that it was daring of you to post the first sentence of your comment at 9.31.am which I have now removed. I know it will seem strange to you and probably extremely prudish, but we avoid anything approaching even mild crudity. So, please do not name any sexual organs in your responses. With respect, anyway, the point did not make sense. God designed the human bodies of male and female and they self-evidently correspond one to another. Any “same sex relationship” is – in the nature of things – pseudo-sexual. Frankier’s analogy of a pencil/nose was made to underscore that truth.
We’ve come quite a long way from discussing the abuse of funds by the SVP, so howzabout we get back on topic? Please and thank you 😀
It does not seem prudish at all. If you want to feel self-righteous about deleting my comments, I can hardly stop you.
But- that comment about transsexualism coming straight from Hell fits my feelings about your post. If you want to turn SVP upside down, possibly abolish it if it will not turn, because of this grant, that seems to me quite Hellish. So here we are, casting Anathemas at each other. I wonder what Pope Francis would say?
What Pope Francis would say is hardly relevant, but nonetheless for the sake of completion, he would no doubt mutter a few comments about anything other than Catholic teaching.
Clare
It`s not what I want to do, as I certainly wouldn`t put anything in an orifice in my body that it wasn`t designed for, but the reason I asked the question is to find the extent of the perversions people like you would go to with your body.
Personally, I would say that shoving a pencil up the nose or hammering nails into the ears would be a lot more preferable than the tricks you get up. At least there would only be one sinner involved and the sins would be venial.
It came from the depths of your imagination, after all.
Frankier and Clare Flourish,
Would you mind now leaving the matter of transexualism/transgenderism aside now, not to interfere with the topic. We’re at the going round in circles stage now.
Thanks.
I think you are confusing us with another Church, based in Kansas. Hatred is totally alien to the Holy Catholic Religion, as we are commanded to love sinners and hate their sins. It is our duty to convert people and help them to repent and be changed. Instead of opening a gay bar, the SVP should have given them the Gospels. The only public figure to uphold the truth about sodomy in Ireland was the late Rev. Ian Paisley. A bizarre turn of events.
I sincerely trust you’re not a Catholic, Clare. Do you profess to be?
Athanasius & Therese,
I think you’ll find that Clare IS an atheist – click on her name to reach her blog. And don’t miss the section on “gay Christians” – that’s a real hoot. After 2,000 years of condemnation of sodomy by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, Clare declares (!) that “the scholarship’s been done”.
Earth to Clare… Gerragrip.
I do declare,if this is what the SVP have become,they will not flourish.
Utterly shocking!
In my view all Catholics ought now to make no further donations to the SVP until:
1. the grant to Amach is revoked
2. an apology is issued to the SVPs supporters for this scandalous misuse of funds
3. the Irish National Management Council is replaced by people with a functioning
moral compass.
I am not in the least shocked by this latest evidence of the fall of the a Catholic Church. The encouragement from the Vatican is in part responsible.
We can imagine the response from the Papal office…
“The Pope does not comment on private matters of…”
Or
“His Holiness the Pope reminds us that we are all God’s creatures and we must show Mercy…”
Or
“Pope Francis would like us to remember that we should not judge…”
yada yada yada
At least Bishop Drennan had the courage to stand up for the truths of the Faith in this instance. I was rather disappointed when it was reported that some time ago he had attended a Muslim gathering in his Diocese. No “ex Ecclesia, nulla salus” there!
It is disappointing that the SVP has gone down the route that it has; however I feel that their identity, In Ireland at least, has been on a downward slope for a while. By that I mean that they seem less and less inclined to wish to be seen as a Catholic charity, whose aim is to alleviate suffering through the provision of material aid to those who are unable to provide for themselves or their families due to adverse financial circumstances. “Emotional aid” or “social justice initiatives” would not, to my mind, be part of their mission. Of course, it is good to fight for a more just distribution of wealth, but I am unsure that charities should also become lobby groups. As for “Catholic Christian” , are not all Catholics Christian??????!!!! This has become a favourite part of the “mission statement” of Catholic parishes in my part of the world, of late.
SVP rebranded their charity/thrift shops some years ago as “Vincent’s”, Just like any other high street store brand!
In the past I would have bought a trolley load of Christmas Fare to deliver to them for distribution at Christmas and would also give a donation. i don’t think I’ll bother this year. The trouble is though,( and maybe some other Irish bloggers will correct me on this) when it comes to distribution of food aid and other material aid, most of this is done by the SVP and the Lions Club. As the Lions Club have associations with freemasonry I do not usually support them.
The Poor of Ireland will suffer this year if enough Catholics withdraw support from SVP. That is the unfortunate outcome of their lack of prudence in this instance.
Spiritus,
I would sooner hand some cash to a needy family known to me personally, than to give anything, money or goods, to the SVP now.
Perhaps, if you really believe that the poor of Ireland will suffer if support is withdrawn from the SVP, that your new organisation – the Legion of St Joseph – could take on the mantle that once belonged to the SVP and raise funds to distribute to the poor. Or they might set up a sister group to do so. Anything rather than be complicit in supporting and spreading the sin of sodomy.
Editor, I agree with you on both points. I was thinking along the lines of trying to organise food collection through Legion of St. Joseph. Will have to discuss with the faithful of our parish (sspx)
Good Spiritus. And if you would like to write up the story for our November newsletter, please do. We’re keen to promote things under the heading When Irish Eyes ARE smiling (as well as “not”!)
Spiritus,
There’s always the ‘Athanasius Foundation Fund’ with the motto “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine’s my own!” Sounds good to me!
Ath
Could you give me the details required to allow me to make a substantial (or sub-standard) donation?
That is yet another sad bit of news that the SVdeP Society is fake too!
Graeme Taylor,
This is yet another so called Catholic organisation using our money to flout God and His laws. I won’t be giving them another farthing.
Nicky,
I will not give them another penny either.
SVP = Secular Values Please
Absolutely everything that Vatican II touches is rusted and corroded, made rotten, spoiled. Salt without savour Our Lord called it. Fit only to be trodden underfoot.
Marxism has the same wffect. I wonder if they are by any chance related?
Benedict Carter
Are they related?
Surely you don’t think it’s a coincidence that ‘liberation theology’ hails from (roughly) the same period as Vat II. Or that Vat II refused to condemn communism?
CD:
I KNOW they are related – directly related. They come from the same Judeo-Masonic stable.
The last line of my comment was just a paraphrase of the famous ‘Private Eye’ Lookalike section.
Apologies, BC. I’ll replace the batteries in my irony-detector 😀
I’ll use that line again soon …. we Traditionalists can use some humour in these times.
Here’s a little joke …
Little boy says to his dad, “Daddy, what’s a man?” “A man”, says his dad, “is someone who is strong, responsible, works hard and provides for his family”. Little boy thinks and says, “That means that when I am a big boy I need to a man just like mummy”.
😀
Benedict
I was relieved when the little boy didn`t say he wished to be a man like Clare Flourish
Frankier,
I think our posts went up at the same time – I’m asking yourself and Clare Flourish to drop the matter of transgender/transsexuals. It’s a distasteful subject at the best of times but in this case it is taking us completely off topic.
Benedict, please make no response to this latest from oor Frankier…
Thanks.
I agree.
The issue is one of betrayal to the memory and good will of a SVDP benefactor who probably would not in a zillion years leave money to a Catholic organisation, if she knew that the money would be going to support a group whose members practised sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance.
Summa,
Absolutely. And it is also a time for all Catholics – not just those in Ireland – to take stock of the kind of charities using the title “Catholic” – SCIAF, CAFOD spring to mind. About as “Catholic” as an Orange Walk.
We shouldn’t support a charity just because it calls itself “Catholic” and given that the same spirit which has driven the SVP in Ireland to abuse their funds in such a screamingly immoral way, is unlikely to be a one-off, then we cannot risk supporting that same evil spirit elsewhere. All Catholics everywhere, ought to withdraw support from the SVP – an exhortation I offer in all my humility which, take note, is now of “Franciscan” proportions. That is to say, I’ve started having my photograph taken at every opportunity… 😀
One of the CAFOD policy team is not only a Quaker, but also is happy to work and worship with me in my Quaker meeting. That says it all, really: perhaps you should set up your own, truly Catholic, charity.
Claire Flourish,
That truly Catholic charity already exists. As a matter of fact you’re interacting with it here. You see, a truly Catholic charity places Divine Truth and the eternal salvation of immortal souls above all else, even popularity. “Charity” is after all one of the cardinal supernatural virtues. It should not, therefore, be used as a cloak for malice.
As regards CAFOD, etc. The words of Chesterton come to mind – that only dead fish flow with the stream!
By the way, the only healthy and uplifting Quaker’s I know are porridge oats.
Athanasius,
“By the way, the only healthy and uplifting Quaker’s I know are porridge oats.”
That’s hilarious!
Completely agree. My joke was entirely innocent of course (the joke.was against the dad) but apologies if it’s allowed others to linger in the modern way on these hellish ideologies; to do which is not good for the peace of rhe soul.
“However, when people with a quite different aberrant appetite engage in sexual activity with children, that’s to be condemned all round as “paedophilia” and the Church is to be roundly condemned for “allowing” that behaviour. Suddenly she’s evil, wicked, the Vatican should be sold off blah blah.”
This disgustingly offensive comment by the Editor betrays the complete lack of logic and lazy, ignorant thinking that lies behind your beliefs. You are comparing informed, consensual relationships of adults that make them happier individuals and contribute a positive force in society with the force/manipulation of children by unscrupulous and damaged individuals that invariable ruins the rest of the children’s lives. Your views are revolting but your ignorant prejudice is astounding.
Violetwisp,
If you can’t see the point I was making, the contradiction I was highlighting, then that’s too bad. I don’t have time to explain it in more simple terms. Suffice to sum up my meaning for your benefit as follows:
Both homosexual activity and paedophilia are aberrant behaviours. The Church is condemned (by the Godless) for speaking out against the former (that should be allowed) and condemned again for (allegedly) NOT speaking out against paedophilia (that aberrant behaviour should not be allowed, say some of the Godless, not all – read on).
Think about it. You obviously think one aberrant behaviour is OK (just because it’s between “consenting adults” ) but the other one – paedophilia – is not (even though the great guru of the homosexual rights movement, Peter Tatchell campaigns for a lowering of the age of consent to make children available for homosexual activity)…
Reflect.
Perhaps instead of judging behaviour by your arbitrary standard of ‘abherrent’ (for example if you’re not in a sexual relationship your life is abherrent, given that the vast majority of humans have been or are in sexual relationships), you should consider judging behaviour by the effect it has on other people. Harmful/destructive behaviour (e.g. paedophilia) versus harmless/positive behaviour (e.g. homosexual relationships) – there’s no comparison except in the most misled of minds.
With respect, we judge behaviour by objective standards, not by “arbitrary” standards. We use God’s law as our standard not what “society” thinks is acceptable.
Violetwisp,
“…harmless/positive behaviour (e.g. homosexual relationships)…”
Who are you trying to convince, us or yourself? St. Paul answers your silly statement thus:
“Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient…”
It was jaw dropping to read Mgr Loftus’ praise for the Irish SVP abuse of funds, in his column in this week’s Catholic Times (12 September). Here’s what he wrote:
“… So it was very refreshing to read recently of the courageous decision of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Ireland to fund an “alcohol-free venue for social networking”, despite the fact that it is run as a meeting-place for homosexuals. The SVP had identified the need for a ‘dry-bar’ – an essential social requirement in the area. The fact that those seeking help to wean themselves away from alcohol-abuse were homosexuals was irrelevant. The SVP made no moral judgment or condemnation. Like the doctor they left that to ‘us lot’. And we didn’t disappoint.
The local bishop, in Galway, immediately protested that “we cannot put funds at the service of what we don’t believe is morally correct”. Didn’t someone once say: “Who am I to judge?” The SVP, which fortunately does not require episcopal approval for its charitable disbursements, was not cowed; any over-deferential approach to bishops has bitten the dust in Ireland as elsewhere. The SVP, expert in this field, had identified what it defined as “an excluded and marginalised group in need of support”. The decision to help was then endorsed by the SVP National Management Council “as (being)… consistent with the SVP mission statement to support people in poverty, both material and emotional, and social justice initiatives”. Why? Because, as they added: “It is a key element of the SVP Christian ethos to be non-judgmental when its assistance is sought”.
There, in a nutshell we have an up-to-date example of broadmindedness and a non-judgmental approach to others. Perhaps we should give the SVP a wider remit to re-organise the whole Church.” (Mgr Basil Loftus: Are we a Church that is both open-minded and non-judgemental? Catholic Times, 12 September, 2014)
This priest is from the Diocese of Leeds, now retired and living and working (doing supply and writing for the Catholic Times and for the Scottish Catholic Observer) in the Diocese of Aberdeen. I – and others – have given the Bishop (Hugh Gilbert) plenty of evidence of this priest’s dissident through to heretical “views” on a number of topics, only to be ignored. If anyone here can be bothered Googling ‘Diocese of Aberdeen’ and sending an email, good luck to you. Me, I think it’s way past “shaking the dust off” time. The Bishop obviously shares Mgr Loftus’ dissenting through to heretical views. End of.
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