A prominent cleric said he had been left “speechless’’ over the Bishop of Kerry’s attacks on remarks delivered in a recent sermon in Listowel.

Fr Paddy McCafferty, parish priest at Corpus Christi, in Ballymurphy, West Belfast, said his clerical colleague, Fr Sean Sheehy, was “only saying what the Church teaches.”

Referring to Bishop Ray Brown’s subsequent statement, he said “It is utter nonsense”, adding, “shock horror priest teaches what the church stands for.”

In footage shared on social media Fr Sheehy (80) told the congregation: “You rarely hear about sin, but it’s rampant, it’s rampant. We see it for example, in legislation.

“We see it in the promotion of abortion, we see it and in the example of this lunatic approach of transgenderism and in the promotion of sex between two men and two women.

His remarks prompted dozens of members of the congregation to get up and leave and resulted in Bishop Browne’s apology.

He said Fr Sheehy’s remarks “do not represent the Christian position.”