{"id":252279,"date":"2021-09-01T12:45:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T17:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=252279"},"modified":"2021-08-31T23:32:06","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T04:32:06","slug":"university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A Catholic priest in the UK is under fire for calling abortion <\/span>the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying that a bill that would result in assisted death would allow the NHS to \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d Father David Palmer\u2019s comments posted to Twitter have landed him in a heap of controversy, despite the fact that they are not out of line with Catholic teachings.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Times UK reports<\/span><\/a> that after <\/span>Father David Palmer made these comments, \u201c[i]n response, the University of Nottingham has said that it will not recognise him as an official chaplain but will allow him to conduct Mass as a guest priest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A university spokesperson <\/span>told the Catholic News Agency<\/span><\/a> (CNA): \u201cOur concern was not in relation to Fr. David\u2019s views themselves, but the manner in which these views have been expressed in the context of our diverse community of people of many faiths.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Initially, Fr. Palmer\u2019s controversy began with his comments on an assisted suicide bill in the UK Parliament. He told CNA:<\/span><\/p>\n

They referenced a tweet where I had referred to the proposed “assisted dying” bill [introduced in Britain\u2019s Parliament in May] as a bill to allow the NHS “to kill the vulnerable.” I was told it was fine for me to have this opinion, but they were concerned with how I expressed it. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

When I asked how they would suggest I express it, quite remarkably, they suggested I should call it “end of life care,” which is a completely unacceptable policing of religious belief.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The controversy over Fr. Palmer\u2019s rhetoric grew when <\/span>he tweeted<\/a>\u00a0a series of statements in defense of his<\/span>\u00a0Catholic beliefs, in which he also noted that his comment referring to abortion as the “slaughter of babies” was in reference to the debate over U.S. President Joe Biden receiving Holy Communion:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The story in the Times UK ran with the headline, \u201cAnti-Abortion Priest \u2018Cancelled\u2019 by University,\u201d and posted it on <\/span>its Facebook page<\/span><\/a>, which was met with much divide. One commenter noted, \u201cHe has the freedom of thought and speech. The university must have the choice to select someone in their own perceived image,\u201d but others pushed back in support of the university’s actions. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Good. Misogynistic oppressive ignorant interfering nonsense shouldn\u2019t be given a platform of any kind,” read one comment. \u201cQuite right , he is a man\/And cant possibly understand,” read another. A third woman wrote, “A priest is literally the last person on earth that should be saying anything about abortions – it has nothing to do with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Catholic priest among those arrested at Ohio abortion businesses<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But one commenter offered a more blunt comment on the Catholic pro-life view, writing,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe truth is Abortion is the intentional killing of a baby in the womb and that is a statement of fact. If someone expresses that view they are simply telling the truth and it seems to me those that promote Abortion are in denial of this truth!!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the school’s apparent censuring of the priest, a spokesperson for the\u00a0<\/span>University of Nottingham said<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the University values the contributions of Catholic priests\u2019 to its campus. \u201cThe university values highly Catholic chaplaincy as part of our multi-faith approach where dedicated chaplains provide invaluable support to staff and students of each faith,’ the spokesperson said. “We have no issue with the expression of faith in robust terms, indeed we would expect any chaplain to hold their faith as primary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The spokesperson did not elucidate what \u201crobust terms\u201d meant in this case, or how that was delineated from the specifics of the Catholic pro-life ethic, but <\/span>told CNA<\/span>,\u00a0\u201cThe University of Nottingham remains committed to supporting staff and students of Catholic faith and continuing our 90-year tradition of providing Catholic chaplaincy for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fr. Palmer <\/span>noted on Twitter<\/span><\/a> that the University doesn\u2019t \u201cpay for the chaplains at all!\u201d And he added that this is something that \u201cmakes the whole thing more ridiculous.\u201d The priest did say that, \u201cThey have agreed that I can say the Sunday Mass as a \u2018guest\u2019 priest on Campus. Most of the other work with students will take place at our \u2018Newman House\u2019 or at St Paul\u2019s [a parish led by Palmer that includes the university within its boundaries, <\/span>according to CNA<\/span>].<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Catholic priest in the UK is under fire for calling abortion the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying that a bill that would result in assisted death would allow the NHS to \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d Father David Palmer\u2019s comments posted to Twitter have landed him in a heap of controversy, despite the fact that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":827,"featured_media":252301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7,5,3473],"tags":[12396,1303,12394,386,314,12398,498,10158,913,1323,4881,12397,12395],"yoast_head":"\nUK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Catholic priest is under fire for calling abortion the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying an assisted death bill would let NHS \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Catholic priest is under fire for calling abortion the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying an assisted death bill would let NHS \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-01T17:45:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-01T04:32:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/fr.-david-palmer-youtube.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"604\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c\"},\"headline\":\"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-01T17:45:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-01T04:32:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abortion views\",\"assisted suicide\",\"canceled\",\"Catholic\",\"Catholic Church\",\"Catholic News Agency\",\"euthanasia\",\"Holy Communion\",\"Joe Biden\",\"NHS\",\"priest\",\"slaughter of babies\",\"University of Nottingham\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Human Rights\",\"International\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/\",\"name\":\"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-01T17:45:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-01T04:32:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"A Catholic priest is under fire for calling abortion the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying an assisted death bill would let NHS \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c\",\"name\":\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\"},\"description\":\"Catherine Livingston holds a PhD in education from a major U.S. university, and is a researcher and writer who has been a teacher and speaker in the pro-life movement since 2008. Born as the result of rape, she was placed for adoption and is passionate about issues of life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/catherine-livingston\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide","description":"A Catholic priest is under fire for calling abortion the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying an assisted death bill would let NHS \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide","og_description":"A Catholic priest is under fire for calling abortion the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying an assisted death bill would let NHS \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2021-09-01T17:45:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-01T04:32:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":604,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/fr.-david-palmer-youtube.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/"},"author":{"name":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c"},"headline":"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide","datePublished":"2021-09-01T17:45:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-01T04:32:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/"},"wordCount":743,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["abortion views","assisted suicide","canceled","Catholic","Catholic Church","Catholic News Agency","euthanasia","Holy Communion","Joe Biden","NHS","priest","slaughter of babies","University of Nottingham"],"articleSection":["Human Rights","International","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/","name":"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-01T17:45:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-01T04:32:06+00:00","description":"A Catholic priest is under fire for calling abortion the \u201cslaughter of babies\u201d and for saying an assisted death bill would let NHS \u201ckill the vulnerable.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/university-catholic-priest-chaplain-abortion-suicide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UK university refuses Catholic priest as chaplain for condemning abortion and assisted suicide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c","name":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Catherine Livingston, PhD"},"description":"Catherine Livingston holds a PhD in education from a major U.S. university, and is a researcher and writer who has been a teacher and speaker in the pro-life movement since 2008. Born as the result of rape, she was placed for adoption and is passionate about issues of life.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/catherine-livingston\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252279"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252282,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252279\/revisions\/252282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}