Cleric who said Mass during Level 5 hailed as 'true priest'

A Mount Temple priest, who hosted Sunday Mass despite a ban on public gatherings during the height of the pandemic, has been described as “a very honourable man and a true priest, who has honoured his vocation”.

The comments were made by James Ryan (66) from Donamon in Roscommon, who, alongside his wife Ann (60), was convicted for attending Fr PJ Hughes’ service in Mullahoran in Cavan on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021.

Each was fined €300 by Judge Raymond Finnegan at Cavan District Court recently but they are set to appeal their convictions.

“Fr P.J. Hughes, a very honourable man and a true priest, who has honoured his vocation,” said Mr Ryan outside Cavan Courthouse to the Anglo Celt newspaper.

“The judge said in there that that wasn’t our local church. It was our local church because it was the nearest church to us that was open. All the rest of them were closed and in defiance of the constitution,” he added.

During the court proceedings, the Ryans pleaded not guilty and contested the case against them.

Earlier, Garda Barry Mulligan gave evidence that, at 11.10am on March 28, 2021, he stopped the couple’s vehicle at a checkpoint on a road near Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

He spoke to the husband and wife who gave their address as The Railway Station House, Donamon and, following that, advised the Ryans he was issuing a Fixed Charge Penalty Notice (FCPN) for being 5km from their home. He told the couple that, if the fine went unpaid, a summons would be issued.

The Ryans chose to represent themselves.

Numerous garda checkpoints were mounted on the approach roads to Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Mullahoran on the morning in question. Gardaí were on high alert in Holy Week amid concerns anti-lockdown protestors would demonstrate at the church in support of the local parish priest who continued to say Mass with parishioners present.

Fr Hughes leapt to national prominence after he articulated what he said was his right to continue celebrating Masses despite repeated warnings from gardaí and the advice of his then Bishop.

The cleric spoke to the Anglo Celt newspaper, based in Cavan, shortly after he was slapped with a €500 fine for allowing parishioners to attend Mass in breach of public health regulations. Around 40 people had attended on March 7, after which Fr Hughes received the fine notice by post on March 18, the day after St Patrick’s Day.

The outspoken Fr Hughes expressed frustration at the prohibition on public Masses during level five restrictions, and was particularly aggrieved by the continued restrictions during Holy Week and with Easter approaching.

“I think it’s crazy because we have a situation where the Government and NPHET are now playing God. I mean, they’ve abandoned God!” said Fr Hughes at the time.

A native of Mount Temple in Westmeath, Fr Hughes previously served as a missionary priest in Ecuador, before arriving in Mullahoran in August 2019.

During the Ryans court case recently in Cavan, under cross-examination by Mr Ryan, Gda Mulligan informed proceedings that, around an hour earlier, he had stopped the defendants on approach to Mullahoran church. Despite being told there was a garda “operation” in place in the area, they told the officer they were going to the “graveyard” and continued with their journey. It was put to the garda that the checkpoint at which the Ryans were stopped wasn’t the only one in the area at that time.

“That’s the one I was at,” Gda Mulligan responded, adding that Mr Ryan asked “five or six times” if he [the garda] was “acting under oath?”

Put to him that he had told the Ryans “not to go to Mass”, Gda Mulligan said he was “unaware” the defendants had attended the Sunday service until he read an official report later that day.

Mr Ryan took the witness stand, refusing to take the oath, and instead opting to affirm after quoting St Matthew’s gospel 5:34-35.

Mr Ryan claimed that Gda Mulligan had told him and his wife to “keep away” and that there was a “problem” at the church. He said that the checkpoint, manned by Gda Mulligan, was the second through which the couple had travelled. The witness said that, when cautioning the couple, the officer quoted the 1947 Mental Health Act.

“I was done for going to Mass,” Mr Ryan told the judge, further stating that he was “entitled” under Article 44 of the Constitution to practise his religion “in public”.

Mr Ryan was asked three times if he was aware of the emergency health laws in place at the time limiting the movement of persons. In the end, he stated he was “not aware” of the ban on persons travelling 5km outside their home address.

He went on to say that, under Article 15 of the constitution, the Oireachtas have no right to enact any law that is repugnant to the constitution, and it was his right to practise his religion uninhibited.

Mr Ryan accepted that Mullahoran church was more than 70k from the couple’s home address.

“I don’t take Mullahoran as your local church,” remarked Judge Finnegan, to which Mrs Ryan, speaking from the body of the court, said she had overcome severe illness only weeks prior. She considered it important therefore to “stand before God” and thank him.

Mrs Ryan then exclaimed: “Catholic lives matter!”

While Judge Finnegan said he “wholeheartedly” agreed with the sentiment of what Mrs Ryan was saying but it did not absolve the couple from the fact they had broken the law.

Neither had any previous convictions at the time, and Judge Finnegan fined them both €300 with three months to pay.

Fixing recognisances in the event of appeal, the judge advised the couple to consider getting legal representation.

“You are not a judge,” decried Mr Ryan stepping down from the witness stand. “This is a total farce.”

As he walked to his wife, Mr Ryan turned and said to Judge Finnegan: “Jesus would be ashamed of you!”

After the court, the couple said Palm Sunday 2021 was the second Easter the Ryans claimed they had been “stopped” from attending Mass due to churches being closed by Covid restrictions.

“It was Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus went into Jerusalem, knowing his fate, knowing the torture he was facing, the death he was going to face on the cross. He could have got on that colt and turned and gone the other way. Are we not right then to go to Mass for that day?” Mr Ryan asked.

“Under Article 44 of the Constitution we are entitled to practise our religion in public, and under Article 15 of the Constitution the Oireachtas have no right to enact any law that is repugnant to the Constitution,” contended Mr Ryan, holding a copy of the Constitution in his hand and repeating what he told the judge from the witness box earlier in the day. “If they do, the law is invalid. This is the case we brought up.”