Detroit-area Catholic priest compares Black Lives Matter, Antifa protesters to 9/11 terrorists

A Roman Catholic church outside Detroit apologized after a priest used his homily to equate Black Lives Matter and Antifa demonstrators to the same people who carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"I am so sorry that a homily given by Fr. Paul Graney at the 4:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday has brought forth division, anger, confusion and chaos," the Rev. Bob McCabe, pastor at Church of the Divine Child in Dearborn, Mich., said in a statement on Facebook, according to Detroit Free Press. "I first spoke with a couple individuals shortly after his homily. I could sense their anger and their hurt."

"As your pastor, I want to assure you that at Divine Child we love and respect all persons. Every person is sacred in the eyes of God regardless of their race, religion or sexuality,” McCabe continued. “At different times we need to focus in on different groups and their particular needs. Right now, the murder of countless persons of color demands a clear response. The entire human family needs to unite in confronting these injustices. We must protect the lives of persons of color and be the voice for people who do not have one."

It was unclear what if any disciplinary action Fr. Graney would receive from the church or the archdiocese.

His Mass was live-streamed on the church’s Facebook page but was removed hours later. A 12-minute clip from the Mass was reposted by Mary Kay Kubicek, a Dearborn resident.

“If you’ve clicked on any news source online the past three or four months or so you’ve seen maybe some of the ugliest times in our nation’s history,” Graney begins telling his congregation in the video shared by Kubicek. “People have been out in our streets doing incredibly violent things in the name of justice. Cars have been torched, property has been destroyed, business looted and burned and police officers and other people have been intimidated, assaulted and even murdered.”

Graney then said the country a day earlier witnessed the 19th anniversary of 9/11, when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes, flying two into the World Trade Center in New York City, the third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and the fourth crashing into an open field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in what was the worst terror attack in modern history. At the ... (Read more)

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