Ireland: Bishop files complaint after Christian charity awards grant to LGBT centre
A Catholic Bishop has filed a complaint on “moral grounds” after a religious charity awarded a grant to an LGBT community centre.
The Bishop of Galway, Martin Drennan, is objecting to the €45,000 (£36,187) in funding provided to LGBT Galway by the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP), a Christian charity which works to tackle poverty in Ireland.
The Bishop claims that “on moral grounds we can’t support” LGBT groups, because homosexual activity is “in our eyes morally wrong behaviour and we cannot put funds at the service of what we don’t believe is morally incorrect”.
He also claimed that the charity’s reputation “has been put in question by this grant” because of the “moral judgement” involved.
However, a spokesperson for SVP defended the donations, which were spread over three years and helped fund a resource centre for the LGBT community.
The spokesperson told the Irish Catholic the donations were helping “an excluded and marginalised group in need of support”, and were “consistent with the SVP mission statement to support social justice initiatives”.
He added: “It is also a key element of the SVP Christian ethos to be non-judgemental when its assistance is sought.
“The decision was made purely on the basis of need in the Galway area, in the same way as all requests for support are assessed. It does not signify any other motive.
“The SVP objective is the relief of poverty, both material and emotional, in Ireland and abroad without differentiation on the grounds of race, colour, creed, ideology or gender.”
The Bishop has previously rejected calls to resign following a sex abuse scandal in his diocese.
