Why dismiss a Catholic priest for being Catholic?
by Mary Wakefield, Spectator:
[…] Far more concerning than the Kipling episode, but less noticed, was the strange removal last week of a Catholic priest called Father Mark Morris from his post as chaplain to Glasgow Caledonian University. By most accounts Fr Mark was as popular with his students as he was with his parishioners at the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Balornock. He said nothing that wasn’t in line with Catholic teaching, yet the GCU principal, Pamela Gillies, booted him out.
Here’s his sin: last week, after Glasgow held its annual Gay Pride march through the city, Fr Mark, in response to requests from his parishioners, led his parish in a post-Pride prayer, a rosary of reparation for ‘the gross offence to God’. It shouldn’t be surprising that Fr Mark’s parishioners felt uncomfortable about Pride. The Immaculate Heart is a traditional church with an elderly and conservative congregation. More to the point, the prayer was off-campus.
Nonetheless, ‘following due consultation, Fr Mark Morris will not return to his chaplaincy role at the university in September’, said Gillies. Due consultation? With whom? Was this really a move to protect the students? It’s not at all clear how many complaints from LGBT students GCU even received. Perhaps they see the oddity of booting out a Catholic priest for being a Catholic. The Catholic students, feeling understandably unsafe, have begged Gillies to bring back Fr Mark.
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