This Sunday in Ireland, Providence seems to have blown stronger than the pride of men. An LGBT event planned for the holy mountain of Croagh Patrick, a place of penance associated with our great Saint Patrick, was ultimately canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions. The irony of fate: it was precisely at the scheduled departure time that strong winds began to rise, forcing the organizers to abandon their sacrilege.
Dubbed the "Big Gay Hike," this trek was part of festivities organized by "Mayo Pride." It was scheduled for Monday, June 2nd at noon on the summit that Saint Patrick himself sanctified through forty days of fasting and prayer. With the typical levity of LGBT events, participants were advised to wear hiking boots but not to forget glitter, although "optional." But Heaven, evidently, did not allow itself to be mocked.
The controversy had already erupted well before the planned ascent. The organizers had circulated an image of the "Child of Prague" – a traditional statue of the Child Jesus deeply beloved by the Irish people – repainted in the colors of the transgender flag, adorned with makeup, and renamed for the occasion "Child of Drag." Faced with the outcry caused by this desecration, the image was removed. Too late: the wound inflicted on the faithful is not so easily erased.
As if that were not enough, the event was initially presented as a "penitence" for sins committed... during the "Pride" celebrations. A clearly mocking way of distorting the Catholic tradition of penitential pilgrimage, as every year many Catholics ascend Croagh Patrick barefoot, in prayer and suffering, in reparation for their sins. Faced with anger, the term was removed. But the contempt had already been laid bare.
In contrast to this aborted masquerade, a genuine Catholic response emerged. The day before the "hike," at 4 PM, a group of faithful gathered in prayer at the foot of the mountain, near the statue of Saint Patrick in Westport, County Mayo. Organized by Ireland Needs Fatima, this public Rosary gathering was driven by a single watchword: reparation. As one of the organizers, Damien Murphy, said:
"Public sins call for public reparation. Faithful Catholics cannot remain silent."
This affair has also highlighted the shameful supporters of this event: the Irish Rail company, the Mayo County Council, and even the AbbVie laboratory – sadly notorious for producing puberty blockers. That these entities would collaborate in an insult to the Catholic faith reveals the moral state of modern Ireland, once so fervent.
But the Church does not change. It teaches that the desecration of sacred things and blasphemies are not merely offenses against Catholics, but direct outrages against God Himself. Saint Thomas Aquinas even affirmed that blasphemy is, in itself, more grave than murder, because it targets God in person.
Pope Pius XI, in this same vein, called on the faithful to do penance and offer public acts of reparation. He reminded us that if God was willing to spare Sodom for ten righteous people, He would be much more easily moved by the prayers of a faithful community, united with Christ, in humility.
Thus, in the face of provocations, outrages, and mockery, the response must not be hatred, nor abandonment, but fervent prayer, public reparation, and fidelity to Christ and His Church. May the winds of Croagh Patrick remind us: God does not sleep.