‘Preposterous’ move to ‘cancel’ chaplain
PRIEST QUESTIONS UNIVERSITY’S IDEA OF DIVERSITY
A CATHOLIC chaplain has spoken out about a Nottingham university’s “preposterous” decision to “cancel” him.
Father David Palmer was supposed to take over from former chaplain Father Jonathan Rose as a mentor for Catholic students.
But the University of Nottingham decided not to recognise the priest as an official chaplain due to his tweets about abortion and euthanasia.
On his Twitter account he said that assisted dying was “killing the vulnerable.”
University bosses say they have no issue with his views, only the manner in which he has expressed them.
Father Palmer and other Catholic figures are questioning the university’s decision to cancel his appointment for sharing beliefs in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Father Palmer has been invited to be a guest speaker for Sunday Mass but most of his duties will take now place off campus.
Father David said: “Basically, Nottingham University has a chaplaincy team and it has had a Catholic chaplain for about 90 years.
“So I was appointed as chaplain and they asked to meet me and that all seemed to go fine.
“They then got back in touch after a couple of weeks to say that they had concerns so they called another meeting to say that they were concerned about some tweets that had been brought to their attention on my Twitter.
“The two that they brought up was about Joe Biden’s abortion views and one on assisted dying.
“The Joe Biden tweet was to do with, in America, Joe Biden is the Catholic president. He says that he is personally against abortion but his administration has very much been promoting the extension of abortion provisions.
“As a Catholic to be advocating for abortion is contrary to Catholic teaching.
“And so I said well it is actually a scandal that a Catholic politician is promoting the slaughter of unborn children.
“The Catholic Church does actually believe that it’s killing a human life.”
Former chaplains have come to the his defence on social media, saying they hold similar beliefs but were not rejected by the university.
Father Palmer has been a priest for 11 years, nine of them with the Diocese of Nottingham after he worked as a prison chaplain.
He added: “They said we have no problem with you holding these beliefs, but it’s the way you express them, but what I expressed is the views I held, which is also the belief of the Catholic Church.
“If you’re employing a Catholic chaplain in your university then you can’t then insist they don’t believe what the Catholic Church believes.
“The university talks about diversity and inclusion but diversity means different beliefs – saying we want diversity and therefore you can’t have those beliefs is actually completely contrary to what diversity means.
“We now have this ridiculous situation where I can go in, say Mass, preach in front of students on the campus but I’m not recognised as a chaplain to go in and hear confessions. The whole thing is just preposterous, really.
“Either be honest and say we don’t want Catholic chaplains or say we do want Catholic chaplains and therefore we recognise that they’re going to have Catholic beliefs.”
The university says that it welcomes the views and values of Nottingham’s chaplains. It says it hopes to continue its 90-year tradition of providing Catholic chaplaincy.
A spokesperson said: “The University of Nottingham values Catholic chaplaincy very highly as part of our multi-faith approach where dedicated chaplains provide invaluable support to staff and students of each faith.
“A university should be a place for the robust exchange of views and debate over ideas, and we have no issue with the expression of faith in robust terms – indeed, we would expect any chaplain to hold their faith as primary.
“Our concern was not in relation to Father David’s views themselves, or the tenets of the Catholic faith which we fully respect, but the manner in which these views have been expressed in the context of our diverse community of people of many faiths.
“We are therefore grateful to the Bishop of Nottingham for his solution that the current chaplain remains the recognised chaplain and that Father David will attend the university campus each week to celebrate Sunday Mass for staff and students.” They added: “We are continuing a constructive dialogue with the diocese to ensure that staff and students of Catholic faith are fully supported under this arrangement.
“The university remains totally committed to continuing our 90-year tradition of providing Catholic chaplaincy.”
What I expressed is the views I held, which is also the belief of the Catholic Church
Father David
Palmer