-- PRESS RELEASE --

Date: 16/01/20

Precious Life welcome Cancellation of Sinn Fein Meeting in Coalisland

Precious Life have welcomed the cancellation of a Sinn Fein meeting which was set to take place in St. Patrick's Parish Hall in Coalisland, Co. Tyrone this evening. Bernadette Smyth, founder and Director of Precious Life responded to news of the event this morning, sending out an urgent action alert from Precious Life to ask local pro-life people to stand up against Sinn Fein's abortion agenda and ask that this meeting be stopped from taking place in Church property.

Coalisland Parish were inundated with emails and calls following the alert. As a result of pressure from pro-lifers, the meeting was cancelled from taking place by Parish Priest Fr. Eugene O'Neill, who had the meeting cancelled immediately.

Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life said today, "We welcome the cancellation of this meeting tonight. We stand in solidarity with Fr. Eugene O'Neill and thank him for having courage in his convictions and taking swift action to ensure this meeting did not go ahead in Church property.  Fr. O'Neill, Parish Priest, has assured us that this meeting was never endorsed by Coalisland Parish in the first place, and was organised by Sinn Fein, without the permission of the Church. This meeting is no longer taking place in Church property, was not sanctioned by Parish Personnel and does not have the support of Church figures."

Bernadette Smyth continued, "The statement released by the Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland on October 22nd 2019 makes the Church's position on abortion unequivocal. As the Bishops state, "Abortion is a brutal violation of the precious gift of life. The right to life is not given to us by any law or government.  Any human law that removes the right to life is an unjust law and must be resisted by every person, every voter, every political representative. For Catholic politicians this is not only a matter of protecting the human right to life but also a fundamental matter of Catholic faith."

Bernadette Smyth added, "Fr. Eugene O'Neill has stood up for the faithful and strongly reaffirmed Church teaching. He has informed us he was not aware of this meeting, but that he contacted Sinn Fein, who have a radical pro-abortion position, to cancel this meeting as soon as people responded to our action alert. Because of the role Sinn Fein played in bringing abortion up to 28 weeks (7 months) into Northern Ireland and their long-running position on abortion, Fr. O'Neill has assured us that he would not entertain the use of Church property for such a meeting. He also asserted that, as a Charity, the Parish is not legally permitted to use Church property for any political activity whatsoever."

Bernadette Smyth concluded, "We would like to thank Fr. Eugene O'Neill and Coalisland Parish for their firm pro-life stance and to thank everyone who raised initial concerns. Fr. Eugene must be commended for taking a strong stand for life, and standing up against Sinn Fein's radical and cruel abortion agenda."

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