Anti-Israel protesters disrupt service at cathedral in Northern Ireland

Father Barry Matthews: ‘Let us not use the church for a place of political statement.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A few dozen anti-Israel protesters disrupted Sunday mass at a northern Ireland cathedral on Sunday.

Thirty protesters carrying placards and pictures of Gazan civilians marched down the aisle during the communion service in an attempt to “highlight the silence from the Catholic church on genocide in Palestine.”

Some of the placards said, “Silence is violence” and “Jesus was a Palestinian.”

Following the service, the priest was critical of the protesters using mass as an opportunity for a “photo opportunity.”

Father Barry Mathews said the church is “not a political organization, rather we are an organization who trusts in God’s plan and trusts God is present.”

He pointed out that the church had made donations for the children of Gaza, but “We don’t use Mass as an opportunity for a quick snapshot,” he said.

“Let us not use the church for a place of political statement,” he added.

The priest’s remarks were greeted with a round of applause from the congregants.

One of the protesters, Deirdre Murphy Linder, said she and the other demonstrators want “to know why the church, the Christian churches are silent.”

“They were very vocal when Russia invaded Ukraine, and rightly so, their condemnation was extremely strong,” she added.

Linder said that the church service needed to be disrupted because “We are waiting 14 months, looking at horrific images and a genocide.”

Israel insists its actions are taken in self-defense, its actions are implemented to minimize the number of casualties, and that it is not committing genocide, as some allege.

An Armagh Archdiocese spokesperson said Monday that the organization was sympathetic to the plight of the Gazans, but “Disrupting the sacred liturgy in any way is upsetting and an inappropriate form of protest.”

However, Murphy Linder insisted that interrupting the service was appropriate and said her group was a “cross-community Christians” who held a “silent a dignified procession at the end of communion.”