Ballyfermot Assumption Parish Church in Dublin erected both an Irish Tricolour and an LGBT+ Pride flag last week.

The flags were flown last week by decision of the parish pastoral council and parish priest Fr Adrian Egan to show that everyone is welcome in their church.

On 17 June, a spokesperson for the church shared a photograph of the flags along with a message which read:

"Just an effort by a parish pastoral council to say to our gay brothers and sisters, ‘God loves you, your parish loves you, and you are welcome here'.

"Applies to all of you too! That's all it is folks, but conspiracy theories abound these days!"

But, within days, the church was ordered by the Dublin diocese to remove the flag.

The diocese claimed the church could not fly any flag on the grounds apart from national or Papal flags on appropriate occasions.

The church received many messages of support following the initial photo and announcement.

One man wrote that he "never thought I would see" an LGBT flag flying on Church property, writing: "As a religious person and a person who is gay, this is a lovely sight."

But, Ballyfermot also received others fuming that the message was 'anti-Catholic'. One person wrote that the church was "not following Christ's teaching."

"This is not truth. It is not love. This is false teaching and causing huge suffering," they wrote.

Fr Egan told the congregation on Sunday Mass that the Church had "received a lot of messages in various forms. Many were aggressive, hostile, nasty, loud, accusatory and condemnatory. They were also claiming we were up to all kinds of things."

"Because I'm the parish priest, some of it came directed at me. I was the anti-Christ, the heathen, I should be ashamed, I should be removed, I should be dismissed."

"Somebody said to me, ‘enjoy the next time it snows because you won't see it where you're going to'. It did get to me, I will admit," he said.

The Ballyfermot Anti-Racism Network and the Ballyfermot Youth Service have organised a vigil at the roundabout near the church. They want to show they are "in solidarity with all the Pride community and young people in Ballyfermot".

People Before Profit Councillor Hazel de Nortúin said that the hateful responses about the Catholic church flying a Pride flag sent by some were "not a true reflection of the people of Ballyfermot."

The local community will come together "to show we will not be tolerating that sort of behaviour" and to support "those in the area who would have been affected by this."

Sources

Irish Post

Irish Times

Each diocese in Ireland has been directed to have guidelines governing the filming and photography of children while they are on church grounds.

The move derives from standards issued by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCC) in 2008.

"It's to avoid a situation whereby photos get into the wrong hands of potential abusers," said Ger Kenny, spokesman for the NBSCCC.

"The risk issue is people will be taking pictures of kids who are not related to them, and for inappropriate reasons."

Annette O'Donnell, spokeswoman for the Dublin archdiocese, said there is a ban on taking photographs during any religious ceremony in the archdiocese.

These include Confirmations, Baptisms and weddings.

"The guidance issued to all churches is that no photography is allowed during Mass," she said.

"Parents are not allowed take pictures during Mass.

"Our child protection officers tell our parishes not to allow photography without parental consent."

But parental consent is impossible to give while the Mass is ongoing, she explained.

Ms O'Donnell said the guidelines have a twofold objective.

"One is for child protection reasons, the other is that it would be a huge distraction for the religious ceremony taking place."

She said the photo ban is "best practice" for anyone dealing with groups of children, whether they are in "churches, schools or sports clubs".

Church officials in Northern Ireland said the photo ban will not be extended there.

A spokesperson for Clogher Diocese said: "Our safeguards are always under review and at this moment a blanket ban is perhaps at one extreme."

"We discourage photography during the service," the Clogher spokesperson said.

"However, we work with parents and schools and we come to some arrangement which safeguards the children, which is fundamental."

Sources

• Global Pulse
• Irish Independent
• Belfast Telegraph
• Image: Tripadvisor

The cartoon by Martyn Turner showed three priests, with one holding a paper stating "Children First Bill" and "Mandatory Reporting".

The three priests were singing "I'd do anything for children (but I won't do that)".

To the side of the cartoon was the statement: "But there is little else you can do for them [children] except stay away from them, of course."

The context was Ireland's Children First Bill, which authorities say will make it mandatory for some professions to report incidents of harm and risk of harm to children.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said many priests felt hurt about the Turner cartoon.

Speaking on Holy Thursday, Archbishop Martin said he is a strong believer in freedom of speech and of the vital role of satire in social criticism.

But he objected to "anything that would unjustly tarnish all good priests with the unpardonable actions of some".

The Irish Times took the cartoon down from its website and apologised for the offence and hurt caused.

Several days later, Dr Martin said that he is open to the idea of married priests.

But he said ordaining women to make up for the shortage of priests was "not on the table at the moment".

There are now only 250 active diocesan priests in Dublin archdiocese to cover 199 parishes.

Dr Martin said he would "wait and see" what Pope Francis decides about married men as priests.

"I'll wait and see, certainly in missionary countries it must be very important," he said.

Bishop Erwin Krautler from Brazil has said that Pope Francis is open to suggestions from bishops' conferences across the world on ordaining viri probati (married men of proven character).

Dr Martin said more focus must also be put on the deacons and discovering where "priests and lay people can take part in a more collaborative way in our parishes".

Sources

• Yahoo News UK
• Irish Times
• Politics ie
• Irish Independent
• The Tablet
• Image: RTE

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has issued a statement about the alleged prophetess, who is believed to live in his archdiocese.

He declared that these "messages and alleged visions have no ecclesiastical approval and many of the texts are in contradiction with Catholic theology".

"These messages should not be promoted or made use of within Catholic Church associations," he added.

Since 2010, Maria Divine Mercy, who will not reveal her true name, claims to have had about 2000 messages from Christ.

Most of these have been published in print, e-book and on a website and have circulated widely in Catholic dioceses throughout the world.

A growing number of bishops have forbidden their dissemination in their dioceses.

Last year, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart wrote to this parish priests warning about these messages.

He noted that Maria Divine Mercy had "claimed that she had predicted that Pope Benedict would be forced to resign and that Pope Francis is an impostor".

Archbishop Hart declared that the alleged messages not be spread in his diocese, and any leaflets be disposed of.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane also issued a statement on this topic.

He wrote that he had examined some of the messages "and found them to be patently fraudulent and corrosive of the true Christian faith as the Catholic Church teaches it".

"The messages contain certain theological and historical errors some of which fall within the category of bogus millenarianism, and they are more likely to provoke fear rather than the peace of the Spirit," Archbishop Coleridge wrote.

"They play on elements of the Catholic faith only to undermine it at its core.

"Moreover, they are outrageous in their claims against Pope Francis.

"Therefore, the messages of Maria Divine Mercy are not to be taken seriously, discussed or distributed within the Archdiocese of Brisbane."

Sources

• Te-Deum
• Dublin Archdiocese
• Maria Divine Mercy True or False
• Archbishop Hart statement
• Archbishop Coleridge statement
• The Warning Second Coming
• Image: Maria Divine Mercy True or False