Enoch Burke Accuses Archbishop McDowell of Silence in Armagh Confrontation Over School Dispute

Enoch Burke has accused the Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop John McDowell, of remaining “silent” while Burke spent more than 700 days in prison during a dispute with his former employer, Wilson’s Hospital School. The accusation came during a tense confrontation outside St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, where Burke challenged the Archbishop about why he had not intervened in the case and called him a “traitor” who was “betraying Church of Ireland truth.”

Police said they were investigating a report of an assault on a member of the clergy at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh. The Church of Ireland confirmed that the Police Service of Northern Ireland had been contacted following the confrontation.

In video footage of the exchange, Archbishop McDowell can be heard saying he would call the police. He then entered his residence, See House, accompanied by the cathedral’s dean, without answering Burke’s questions. Burke described the Archbishop as “disgraceful” and continued speaking to the camera, saying the Archbishop was “running away” and would not give an answer. Burke said that he had languished in prison “for upholding the Church of Ireland ethos” and for refusing to forsake Scriptural truth, and he accused the Archbishop of failing to defend Christian teaching that there are two genders, male and female. These are Burke’s own assertions.

Archbishop McDowell is among the patrons of the Church of Ireland school in Co Westmeath. The school’s website says its patrons are responsible in law for providing its statement of ethos.

The dispute began in 2022, when Burke objected on religious grounds to a school request that staff address a transgender student by a new name and use “they/them” pronouns. Burke, who had taught history and German at the school, was suspended following a confrontation with the principal at a religious service. He continued coming to the school grounds, saying he was there to do his job, and legal proceedings followed. He has since been imprisoned numerous times for breaching court orders not to trespass on the school grounds. In an X post in October, Burke said he had spent a total of 728 days in prison.

A spokesperson for the Church of Ireland said that Archbishop McDowell, along with the family, colleagues and friends of a late rector, had gathered at St Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh the previous day for the funeral service of “a dear and much respected pastor.” The spokesperson said it was “a matter of deep concern and sadness” that the Burke family considered the occasion appropriate to confront the Archbishop “in a particularly hostile and aggressive manner,” adding that “no respect was shown for the occasion or the sanctity of the cathedral grounds.” Honest, peaceable conduct in a tense moment is the lesson at stake here (Romans 12:18).

The spokesperson also raised a further concern: “Entry onto the See House property, which is a private residence, is a further concern.”

Source: Read the original report