GRENADA-Priest suspended indefinitely in war of words over Gaza.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Bishop Clive Harvey has announced the “immediate and indefinite” suspension of a Roman Catholic priest after he failed to stop making contentious remarks regarding the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group as well as criticism of the Church.

Bishop Harvey said that Father Gerard Paul’s suspension took effect on April 4, 2024, following a very public showdown between him and the priest.

“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,” said

In a statement, the Bishop of the Diocese of St George’s added, “When Fr. Paul said, ‘I have no regrets, and I will do it again,’ he put himself beyond review and fraternal correction.”

The controversy began on March 27, 2024, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Father Paul made subsequent statements on various media platforms in which he accused the Church of not condemning the situation in Gaza.

Father Paul said at a recent clergy retreat that 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,” the priest said while calling the Gaza War a ‘wholesale slaughter’ of Palestinians and Muslims.

“We cannot rightly 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 Church’s pastors, the voices of the Church’s priests, the voices of the bishops, the voices of the archbishops, the voices of the pope standing for justice. When you stand in silence and sit in silence, you are part of this injustice in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,’ the Grenadian-born Father Paul said.

However, the Trinidadian-born Bishop Harvey later told a church service that he was inclined to say nothing because the “Eucharist is not a place to divide us.

“We all stand up for justice. How we stand up for justice depends on our insights and 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 not true, and I want that to be made clear. I don’t hold Father Gerry 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 before the priest’s suspension was announced, Bishop Harvey said 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. The former is unworthy of Father Paul as a priest of Jesus Christ.”

The Diocese of George’s statement on Sunday acknowledged that many shared Father Paul’s view on the situation in Gaza. Still, the diocese condemned his persistent attack on 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 noted that Father Paul was called upon to stop such behavior but showed no intention of doing so. Bishop Harvey said that such attitudes undermine the authority of the Church and are misleading to all.

Bishop Harvey’s statement 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, which has vowed to eradicate Israel, launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. An estimated 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. Hamas said that since then, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed.

“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,” the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said in February when he spoke to reporters.

Pope Francis, speaking a day after the Hamas attack, said, “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.”