Bishop of Galway says he got it ‘badly wrong’

The Bishop of Galway appears to have rowed back on his strong stance on the St Vincent de Paul (SVP) donation towards a gay resource centre, telling a member of the public that he “got it badly wrong”.

There have been calls for Dr Martin Drennan to resign in the wake of his comments on Galway Bay FM last week about the €45,000 allocation to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community support group Amach.

He described gay culture as “morally wrong” and said he had a problem with the “moral judgment” involved with making the decision by the SVP.

The funding would hurt the poor of Galway, he claimed, as supporters were contacting his office questioning whether they should continue to support the charity.
Salthill resident Cormac Ryan wrote an email to the Bishop after hearing the interview, describing his remarks as “deeply offensive, uncharitable and unchristian”.

“Pope Francis in October of last year said: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person? We must always consider the person,” he wrote.

A reply the following day from the Diocesan email address, which was also sent to the Bishop’s Diocesan secretary, thanked him for the letter.

“My humble apologies for the hurt caused. I got it badly wrong,” it said.

A newly-appointed communications officer for the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, Dr Diarmuid Hogan, parish priest of Oranmore, said the Bishop would not be issuing any further statements until a reply was received from the SVP.

City councillor Mike Cubbard (Ind) called on Dr Drennan to resign and issue an immediate apology to the gay community.

Vice chairperson of Amach, Nuala Ward, invited the Bishop to sit down and talk with the organisation to discuss their work, which involved collaborating with bodies such as the Health Service Executive, the Gardaí and suicide prevention groups.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.