A Catholic priest has been reprimanded after telling his stunned worshipers that Jesus Christ had an erection when he died on the cross.
Father Thomas McHale, priest of Our Blessed Lady Immaculate in Blackhill, Consett, County Durham, took to the pulpit as usual on Good Friday.
However, the 53-year-old man, originally from the United States, reportedly told the congregation, about 100 Catholic residents, that blood would have flowed to the lower part of Jesus’ body as a result of the violent method of execution of the crucifixion.
A parishioner said The times: ‘He told people that Jesus died with an erection. The church was shocked. There were young families there.
It is understood Father McHale did not lose his job despite complaints from parishioners about the “vulgar” Easter weekend sermon.
Father Thomas McHale, 53, from the United States, told worshipers that Christ had an erection when he died on the cross.
Pictured: Church of Our Blessed Lady Immaculate in Blackhill, Consett, County Durham
A spokesman for the diocese of Hexham & Newcastle told the publication: ‘A complaint was received and has been investigated in accordance with our diocesan complaints policy. The investigation has only recently been completed and the complaint is upheld.’
In April, a Catholic ministry rushed to pulled the plug on the world’s first ‘AI priest’ after he suggested baptizing a baby in Gatorade and solemnly advised a woman on how to prepare to marry her brother.
The Californian advocacy group Catholic Answers created Father Justin to “provide users with faithful and educational answers” about Catholicism.
But the bearded avatar quickly went rogue, promising to forgive users their sins, offering them confession and claiming that he had been a Catholic priest for 25 years.
Father Justin has now been defrocked and reappointed as a lay Catholic adviser after a storm of protests from believers outraged by the “creepy” experiment.
Last year, another pastor was also involved in another dispute for outsourcing his Sunday service to Artificial Intelligence.
Jay Cooper of Violet Crown City Church in North Austin decided to see if the transformative technology was up to the task of inspiring his congregation through a full hour-long service.
The Methodist minister asked Chat GPT to propose prayers, a sermon and an original song based on the sermon for the church that promises members “a safe space to explore life’s big questions.”
