The couple will be singing at mass in St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Athy on Saturday evening.
A gay couple have decided to return to their church choir in Athy having stepped down earlier this week after receiving abuse described as “hateful” by a local parishioner.
Jacinta O’Donnell and Geraldine Flanagan, who were married in July, took the decision to step down from the church choir and other music activities earlier this week after receiving abuse from local church activist Anthony Murphy, who is opposed to gay people being involved in leadership roles in the Catholic Church.
Jacinta O’Donnell told KFM that the couple had taken the decision to step down after Jacinta received a “very personal text message” from Murphy and after seeing “hateful stuff” on his Facebook page.
After receiving support from the local community in Athy, including from the parish priest Canon Frank McEvoy, from solicitor Frank Taaffe and local Athy Community College Principal, Richard Daly, O’Donnell and Flanagan have decided to reverse their decision.
They will return to the church choir for mass on Saturday evening at 6pm, a mass to mark the retirement of local priest Fr. Tim Hannon.
Speaking exclusively to KFM’s Kildare Focus programme on Friday afternoon, an emotional Jacinta O’Donnell said: “Geraldine and I will never be able to sufficiently thank you, the people of our congregation, our community, our town Athy, for your love, your support and your prayers.
“Buoyed by all of this support, we, as a choir, will be returning to sing at 6pm mass in Athy tomorrow evening.”
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
