Fr. D’Arcy’s Perfect 21st Century Response To Bishop Who Said Yes Voters Sinned And Needed Confession

The Bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran, hit headlines on Monday morning after he said those who voted yes in the recent referendum on the Eighth Amendment had sinned and needed to go to confession. 

Speaking in an interview with RTÉ’s Sean O’Rourke, he stated that any Catholic that “voted yes, knowing and intending that abortion would be the outcome, then you should consider coming to confession, where you would be received with the same compassion that is shown to any other penitent.”

When asked if he thought it was a sin to have voted yes, he said that: “If they knew and intended abortion as the outcome, yes I believe so.”

His comments were met with some hostile replies by those who had voted in favour of repealing the eighth on Friday but it seems like they have someone from the church on their side. 

Fr Brian D’Arcy – who was against adding the eighth amendment to the constitution in ’83, told Sarah McInerney of RTE Radio One’s Drivetime programme that people had to follow their conscience on the matter and said it was unfair to call what yes voters did, a sin. 

“I wouldn’t like to attribute sin in this matter, at all. It’s the wrong language for this because this isn’t an issue about Church law at all.

“This is an issue about how the State is attempting to treat all its people in an emerging way, in an emerging republic in an emerging world.”

“Each of us is having to struggle to find a way of accepting what is right for yourself, while also allowing what you couldn’t allow for yourself to be allowed for others who might view life and its ethics and morality in a different way.

“That’s very important to accept and encourage, and certainly not condemn.

The language of sin is not one I would use in this, at all.”

You can find his full interview here. 

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