Father George Rutler in New York hasn’t minced his words about the state of the Catholic Church.
Leo Varadkar was “elected while publicly living in perverse contempt of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony” and “Druids returned and defiantly danced in the streets when abortion was legalised”, according to Father George Rutler, a priest in New York.
In a message posted on ChurchMilitant.com, the pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Church in the archdiocese of New York warned the United States that if they were not careful, they could go the way of Ireland, “because such is what happens when religion is only a political and ethnic sentiment”.
In a particularly timely attack, meanwhile, Rutler also had a go at Irish people for the way in which we worship St. Patrick. He said: “The largest number of people who claim Patrick for their patron are Nigerians, converted by heroic Irish missionaries,” and that we just dress up as leprechauns to celebrate the day.
Among many complaints that Father Rutler had, one that has gained the most attention has been his thoughts on the Irish reaction to repealing the eighth amendment, in contrast to our response to the Papal Visit in 2018.
“Last year, Pope Francis offered Holy Mass in the same place, and fewer than 130,000 showed up. Four months later, the Druids returned and defiantly danced in the streets when abortion was legalised.”
Ireland’s state broadcaster revealed that 535,000 people tuned in to see the Papal mass in the Phoenix Park — a figure that would not be enough to break into the Top 20 most watched programmes on RTÉ for 2018.
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