HE WENT THERE

Parishioners Report Priest for Saying Jesus Died With Erection

Father Thomas McHale was reprimanded but not removed.

A Catholic priest in England was reported by his parishioners after he allegedly told them Jesus died with an erection. The Times of London reports that the diocese of Hexham & Newcastle investigated the complaint against Father Thomas McHale—an American assigned to Our Blessed Lady Immaculate in Blackhill for a decade—and it was “upheld.” While McHale was reprimanded, he has not lost his position as a result of the Good Friday sermon that some of his flock deemed vulgar. McHale is said to have told those in the pews that when Jesus was crucified, blood would have rushed to his lower body. “He told people Jesus died with an erection,” one church-goer told the Times. “The church was shocked. There were young families there.” McHale is hardly the first to discuss the possibility that Jesus’ asphyxiation could have caused an erection, and the possibility has even been suggested in art through the years.