Kerry priest who said gay politicians going to hell should apologise, says Coveney

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said he “profoundly disagrees” with comments by a Kerry priest who said gay politicians are “absolutely” going to hell if they do not attend to their sin and seek forgiveness.

Fr Seán Sheehy last Sunday delivered a homily describing same sex relationships and transgenderism as mortal sins before taken off the roster in Listowel by the Bishop of Kerry Dr Ray Browne. The retired priest was deputising for parish priest Canon Declan O’Connor.

A spokesman for the Tánaiste said he “respects his [Fr Sheehy’s] right to express his religious beliefs freely” but “does not believe that gay people will go to hell for being who they are, nor does he believe that any man or woman can make such a judgment.

“As Pope Francis said, ‘who are we to judge’. As the Bible says, judge not lest you be judged. We are all God’s children.”

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Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that he believed the priest should apologise for the comments.

“I think they’re disgraceful comments, and I think they are a reflection on the person that made those comments rather than anything else and they should be withdrawn and there should be an apology,” he said.

During an interview broadcast this morning on local radio, Fr Sheehy elaborated on his position, which saw some 30 people walk out of Sunday’s 11.30am mass at St Mary’s Church in Listowel.

Sin was “embedded in modern culture and enshrined in legislation”, he said. “People think because there’s no law against it, it’s OK. But that’s not true,” Fr Sheehy told the Radio Kerry Today programme.

Fr Sheehy insisted all he was doing was preaching scripture and Catholic doctrine. “Jesus came not to make us feel good, but to save us,” he said.

“It’s not fundamentalism, it’s the word of God,” he added.

The Pope had said, of same sex marriage, you ‘can’t bless sin’, Fr Sheehy also remarked.

[ Priest at centre of controversial Listowel homily stands over his remarks ]

While people had left the church on Sunday, most remained. And on Tuesday morning he got a standing ovation at the end of mass, he claimed.

When asked if politicians legislating for same sex marriage, and gay politicians, including Tánaiste Leo Varadakar, were going to hell, Fr Sheehy said: “Absolutely, if they don’t attend to their sin and seek forgiveness. Absolutely. Absolutely.”

“What they were doing was first of all against nature and secondly, and most importantly, contrary to the law of God,” Fr Sheehy said.

In the context of his story about condom distribution by the HSE to teenagers in Tralee on nights out, referred to in the controversial Sunday homily, Fr Sheehy referred to his experience in America in the 1970s and the distribution of condoms there. This had “tripled promiscuity”, he claimed.

Sexual health messaging relying on condoms and abortion was “a horrible message” and it took away from any sense of responsibility, he said.

He said that the Bishop of Kerry should have told people “Fr Sheehy is only preaching the truth... The Gospel, the catechism”.

“I know myself what I said cannot be disproven by any honest to God Christian or Catholic teaching.”

Bishop of Kerry Dr Browne on Tuesday moved to apologise for the “deep upset and hurt” caused to parishioners following the homily delivered by Fr Sheehy on Sunday.

The live-streamed Sunday Mass was attended by around 200 people.

The congregation at St Mary’s Church was told how sexual sin was rampant - sex between two men and two women was a sin and transgenderism was described as “lunatic”. The priest also referred to the “promotion of abortion” as sinful.