ATHY town councillor Aoife Breslin has been called on to resign her
position on the board of management of a local school by an Athy
resident who represents a right wing Catholic group called Catholics
United for the Faith.Mr Anthony Murphy, who along with this wife Kim, publish The Catholic Voice newspaper, said Cllr Breslin, who is a member of the Board of Management at Scoil Phadraig Naofa, should “consider her position and conclude that the only honourable thing to do is to step down from her position”.
He claimed her expressed views that gay people should be allowed to marry were “in conflict with the ethos of the school”.
The issue was raised by Mr Murphy in the wake of the meeting of Athy Town Council last Wednesday night when a motion calling for the council to support marriage equality was on the agenda.
The motion was not actually discussed at the meeting as the council opted instead to pass a motion in support of the consitutional review.
In fact it was Cllr Breslin’s abstaining on a vote that resulted in the original motion not being discussed.
Challenging Cllr Breslin Mr Murphy said: “The ideas Cllr Breslin has about changing the definition of marriage go against the teachings of the Catholic Church and the ethos of the school. Cllr Breslin should recant her views on the definition of marriage or else she will remain in conflict with Catholic teaching. Anyone who promotes a redefinition of marriage and puts himself or herself in conflict with the Catholic Church would have to think seriously if they call themselves Catholic.”
Mr Murphy said he had asked the parish priest, Fr Gerard Tanham, to speak with Cllr Breslin on the issue and he claimed that he had been assured that this conversation had taken place.
He said if Cllr Breslin failed to remove herself from the school board he and those he represents “would have to consider what other remedies were available”.
He refused to be drawn on what these ‘remedies’ might be.
Cllr Breslin was reluctant to give any credence to Mr Murphy’s comments.
“Given the commitment that I have made to the position and given the fact that I was asked to stay on in my role as a member of the Board of Management by Archbishop’s House in Dublin these ridiculous comments don’t merit any response from me,” she said.
Cllr Aoife Breslin declined to comment on whether she had any conversations with the Fr Tanham on this issue. She went on to add that in any event any conversations she may have had in the past or will have in the future were a private matter between her and the parish priest.
Fr Tanham was also reluctant to be drawn into the controversy and said “no comment” when contacted by the Kildare Nationalist on the issue.
Cllr Richard Daly, who is a minister of the Word in his local Catholic church, claimed this week that pressure was put on him by Mr Murphy to take a particular stand at the meeting last Wednesday night.
“I received representations from people who were self appointed to speak on behalf of the Catholic Church trying to strong arm me into taking a particular stand. I was told that my role in the church required me to take a particular stand. These kinds of representations didn’t and won’t influence what I do. I make up my own mind based on what I believe to be for the civic good.”
The accusation of using strong arm tactics was denied by Mr Murphy.
“It’s rather bizarre if someone feels that someone explaining the teachings of the Catholic Church was strongarming them. Surely any reasonable person would see that anyone representing the church in an official or unofficial capacity should follow the teaching of the church. It’s bizarre that anyone should find that a strange position to take.”
Commenting on the outcome of the meeting Mr Murphy said; “I suppose it was a fairly irrelevant bit of theatre and it’s a bit early for pantomime season. With the hysteria generated on various websites we were led to believe that this call for so-called marriage equality was a campaign embraced by all. The attendance of .. people at the meeting from a town of approximately ..,… was a poor show and it proved that this is a minority issue with only a very small number of people advocating it.”
Athy parish is in the Dublin Archdiocese.
Diocesan spokesperson Annette O’Donnell told the Kildare Nationalist that the archdiocese would not respond to questions regarding individuals.
She did however point out that Catholics United for the Faith is not an organisation of the Archdiocese of Dublin.
She said that the Bishops Conference had no record of any application from the organisation to be set up as an organistation of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
Regarding appointments to a school board of management Ms O’Donnell said that the criteria for such appointments are set out in law under the Education Act and the criteria for appointments to school boards are the same for all schools in the country.