Bryan Dobson involved in tense clash with Kerry priest…

Bryan Dobson involved in tense clash with Kerry priest as Government calls for apology for sermon

Bryan Dobson and Father Sean Sheehy were involved in a tense interview on RTE Radio One as the priest claimed that "words were being put in his mouth" and that "the truth hurts".

The clergyman is in the headlines after a bizarre rant during a mass on Sunday where he claimed that Ireland was "rampant" with sin and made a number of hurtful comments about the LGBT community.

He has since doubled down on the remarks, including on national radio on Wednesday afternoon.

He told Bryan on News at One: "I explained to the people - Jesus told us that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind and all our strength -"

At this point, Bryan tried to get Father Sheehy to answer his question about who allowed him the authority to do this before Sheehy angrily attempted to talk over him.

He said: "It wasn't my authority, it was the authority of the scriptures. I did not reject the authority of the bishop, it was based off the teaching of the church, which gives me the authority to preach the Gospel."

The irate priest then claimed that Bryan wasn't listening, noting it was "typical media. You try to swing things the way you want them yourselves.

"I said to the believers in the church, we are all sinners. Jesus came specifically to call sinners. Unless we repent and admit our sinfulness, then we cannot receive the benefit of mercy and forgiveness."

Father Sheehy also said that he had spoken to Bishop Ray Browne after the Bishop had issued an apology for Father Sheehy's rant.

He explained: "I told him myself, you have sacrificed the truth, in order to appease people who do not want to face the reality of sin. It's the fact. Why would people leave when they hear the Gospel? Only because they don't want to hear it. People walked away from Jesus, did they follow him? No.

"People walked away from the same word that Jesus spoke himself. They were walking away from Jesus himself. They need help. If we don't confront our sinfulness, there's no hope for the country.

"When the HSE send out a van to hand out condoms to young people, that's sin, because they're promoting promiscuity, and that's a fact."

Bryan pointed out that this was a perfectly legal thing to do, but Sheehy angrily responded: "What do you mean legal? Legality and morality are not always the same. I saw that in the US back in the 70s when schools handed out condoms to boys.

"Where are you coming from?! The Church teaching does not change, it was the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The scriptures do not change. They think they can change the Church to suit themselves.

"God loves the sinner but he hates the sin. We need to identify what we should be fighting against and what we should hate so we could repent and seek forgiveness."

Sheehy added: "Yesterday, a man in his 30s called me to thank me from the bottom of his heart because he said he needed it to support him in striving to live the Christian life. He had a homosexual attraction himself.

"Why did the people walk out (of the mass)? They didn't want to face their own sinfulness or the members of their family. I'm not judging them. Don't put words in my mouth please. I didn't say I believed they were sinners, I said they didn't want to confront it in themselves or their families.

"We also live in a world today where people can't stand the truth, but the truth hurts, but it does set us free."