A Roman Catholic priest in Grenada has been suspended immediately and indefinitely from all ministry following what has been described as contentious remarks he made about the war between Israel and Hamas and his criticism of the church.
The suspension of Father Gerard Paul took effect on April 4, 2024 and came after a dramatic and very public showdown between him and the Bishop of the Diocese of St George’s in Grenada, Clyde Harvey.
“The Church has rules, clear expectations, and protections for the People of God, enshrined in the Code of Canon Law and the ordinary teaching of Popes and bishops,” Bishop Harvey said in a statement on Sunday concerning the suspension. “When Fr. Paul said, ‘I have no regrets and I will do it again’, he put himself beyond review and fraternal correction.”
The controversy exploded following events on March 27, 2024 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and subsequent statements made by Father Paul on various media platforms in which he accused the church in Grenada for not condemning the situation in Gaza. He said at a recent clergy retreat, the situation was not even mentioned or addressed.
“I call upon the Church today to get its freedom and to get its voice and speak up for justice,” he stated while calling the Gaza War a ‘wholesale slaughter’ of Palestinians and Muslims. “We cannot rightly ever preach the Gospel if we do not stand for justice. It’s time the Catholic Church stands for justice. It’s time we hear the voices of the pastors of the church, we hear the voices of the priests of the church, we hear the voices of the bishops, we hear the voices of the archbishops, we hear the voice of the pope standing for justice. When you stand in silence, when you sit in silence, you are part of these injustice in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Bishop Harvey struck back at a Chrism Mass in St George’s.
“I was inclined to say nothing because the Eucharist is not a place to divide us,” he said. “We all stand up for justice. How we stand up for justice depends on our insights, how we see things. It is not true to say that the clergy of this diocese went on a retreat and did not think about Gaza.
That is just not true and I want that to be made clear. I don’t hold Father Jerry accountable for what he does not know. He was not there every day, every hour, every Mass at the retreat as far as I remember.”
In a statement on Thursday, Bishop Harvey continued on the matter saying many people were offended, even scared by Father Paul’s actions and words.
“What was done, deliberately choreographed, seems to be an act of self promotion more than a cry for justice,” he said. “The former is unworthy of Father Paul as a priest of Jesus Christ.”
The statement from the Diocese of George’s on Sunday acknowledged that many shared Father Paul’s view on the situation in Gaza, but the diocese condemned his persistent attack of the Catholic Church and its leadership as “erroneous and divisive.”
It said his suspension was not based solely on his remarks on March 27 but from a “persistent pattern of behavior” characterized by attacks on the Church and misleading claims.
It stated that Father Paul was called upon to stop such behavior but he showed no intention in doing so with Bishop Harvey saying that such attitudes undermine the authority of the Church and is misleading to all.
The statement from Bishop Harvey said the decision was necessary to address the harm caused to the faithful and the diocese in general.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas, a Palestinian militant group which has been deemed a terrorist organization by many western countries and which has vowed to totally destroy Israel, launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 3, 2023. Some 1,200 people were killed, and more than 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages, according to the Israeli government.
In response, Israel has launched an all out war in Gaza and has vowed to destroy Hamas. Since then, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Hamas and large swathes on the Gaza Strip have been reduced to rubble.
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church has constantly spoken against the war.
On February 13, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, spoke to reporters in Rome about the matter.
“Israel’s right of self-defense, which has been invoked to justify this operation, must be proportional, and with thirty thousand dead, it certainly isn’t,” he said.
This prompted that Israel’s embassy at The Vatican to issue a statement saying Parolin’s response was “unfortunate.”
The day after the Hamas attack, Pope Francis spoke on the issue saying, “Let the attacks and weapons cease, please, because it must be understood that terrorism and war do not lead to any resolutions, but only to the death and suffering of many innocent people.”
During Sunday prayer service on October 29th, 2023, Francis called for a ceasefire in Gaza saying, “Stop, brothers and sisters: war is always a defeat—always, always!”
In October last year, The Washington Post reported that, during a phone call, Francis told Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, that it is “forbidden to respond to terror with terror.”
In his Easter message, Pope Francis once again called for an immediate cease fire in Gaza and the release of all hostages.
“I appeal once again that access to humanitarian aid be ensured to Gaza, and call once more for the prompt release of the hostages seized on last October 7 and for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip,” he said while addressing some 60,000 Catholics in Vatican Square on Easter Sunday. “How much suffering we see in the eyes of children, the children have forgotten to smile in those war zones. With their eyes, children ask us: Why? Why all this death? Why all this destruction? War is always an absurdity and a defeat.”
