Parents’ outrage at speaker’s homophobic ‘gender bender’ rant at primary school Mass

A SHOCKED mother has described the moment a man launched a tirade of anti-transgender and homophobic remarks from the altar during a Mass for primary school children.

A special Mass was being held for pupils of Gaelscoil Uí Riada in Bishopstown, Cork, when the man was invited up to speak by the parish priest.

It had been arranged to celebrate inter-generational faith, and grandparents of the pupils had been invited to join the children at the celebration.

It is understood the man was due to talk about the importance of sharing faith between generations but instead ‘went on a rant’, and also hit out at Ireland sending non-binary artist Bambie Thug to the Eurovision Song Contest, according to one mother who witnessed the incident.

She also described how the man used outdated terms such as ‘gender bender’ while speaking from the altar about gender identity politics and the collapse of the Catholic Church.

School principal Breanndán Ó Gréilligh has already apologised to parents in a letter, the Irish Examiner reported.

The letter read: ‘As you are aware, a person not associated with the school was given the opportunity to address the congregation during the Mass.

‘This happened without our prior knowledge, and we deeply and sincerely regret that this happened and the upset caused.’

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, the mother – who did not want to be named – described what happened. ‘It was a normal Mass and then the priest asked a man to come up and address everyone. We all thought it was going to be about how it’s important to share your faith with other people in your family but it wasn’t that. He just started going on and on about how Ireland has changed and that divorce ruined the country, nobody is going to Mass,’ she said.

‘At the start we were all just looking at each other going: “What?” Then he started going on about Eurovision and Bambie Thug getting chosen to represent Ireland and how this was a bad thing. He then used the term “gender bender” and that’s when people started kind of murmuring.

‘I just sat there with my mouth open. I couldn’t move. I thought: “Is this really happening?” Some parents got up and walked out and were shouting out but I honestly can’t remember what they were saying. I was just glued to my seat with shock.

‘You could see the poor priest was just mortified. He didn’t know what to do, the poor man. I know the priest well and he’s a very tolerant and decent man so it looked like it was a big shock to him as well, to be fair to him.’

The mother added that a lot of people were angry after the Mass and that the priest repeatedly apologised to parishioners and tried to explain that he knew nothing of what the man was going to say and that he disagreed with what he had said.

She said: ‘This whole thing was surreal, really. I don’t understand how he was let up there.

‘He might have lied about what he was going to say.

‘It was supposed to be a really nice event but you had people angry, upset or confused.’

She continued: ‘He was just rabbiting on about how nobody goes to Mass any more and that there are more gay people now or something like that.

‘Honestly, I had zoned out after the gender bender comments and was just so shocked by it all. I had invited my father to come down as I thought it was going to be a nice Mass and a nice thing to do.

‘The priest was dealing with the aftermath of it and was just a deer in the headlights. The whole thing was chaos.

‘I know a lot of the parents spoke with the principal directly after and gave him an earful but it wasn’t his fault either.

‘I think they were more annoyed that the man was able to stand up for the guts of 20 minutes and go on and on and on and not be stopped at all.’

As a result of the incident, Bishop of Cork and Ross Fintan Gavin has arranged a meeting with the school’s board of management to discuss what happened at the Mass and how and why it was allowed to happen.

The school, the parish parochial house and the office of the bishop were all contacted for comment.

‘This whole thing was surreal’