Enoch Burke has accused the Primate of All Ireland, John McDowell, of remaining "silent" while he spent more than 700 days in prison during a dispute with his former employer, Wilson’s Hospital School.
In a tense confrontation outside St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, Burke challenged Archbishop McDowell on why he had not intervened in his case and accused him of being 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.
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.
During their exchange, Burke said: “I have languished in a prison cell for upholding the Church of Ireland ethos, and for refusing to forsake Scriptural truth. What do you have to say about that, Archbishop?"
He accused the Archbishop of failing to defend Christian teaching on there being two genders, male and female, saying: “You are silent, your lips are sealed ... Why are you silent?”
In video footage of the exchange, Archbishop McDowell can be heard saying he would call the police.
The Archbishop subsequently entered his residence, accompanied by the cathedral’s dean, without answering Burke’s questions.
After this, Burke called him "disgraceful" and continued to speak to the camera: “Behind these doors, an Archbishop, the Primate of All Ireland, the one who appoints the Board of Management [of the school], and he is running away. He will not give an answer.
"He is a traitor to Church of Ireland doctrine, to that Christian belief, man and woman. It is not ambiguous, thank God. He made them male and female but this man is running away. He won’t get away with that. I say today: God will judge him. This cannot be allowed.”
The dispute began in 2022 after Burke objected on religious grounds to the school’s 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, but he continued coming to the school grounds, saying he was there to do his job. This prompted legal proceedings against him.
He has since been imprisoned numerous times for breaching court orders not to trespass on Wilson's Hospital School grounds. In an X post in October, Burke said he had spent a total of 728 days in prison.
Comedy writer and gender-critical campaigner Graham Linehan expressed sympathy with Burke in a post on X.
“You may not like these tactics, and I fear that Enoch is going to do something to land him in prison again, but you also have to understand how rage-inducing it is when grown men in positions of power and authority refuse to engage you on the issue that put you in f***ing jail, especially when you know they agree with you,” he wrote.
Linehan, the co-creator of Father Ted, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September 2025 on suspicion of inciting violence in posts on X relating to transgenderism. He later received an apology and settlement from the Met.
Burke’s approach has divided opinion, though.
Nick Park, executive director of Evangelical Alliance Ireland, has previously defended the rights of Christians to express biblical beliefs about sexuality, but objected to Burke’s conduct.
“Sometimes you can be the one who is in the right in a dispute, but then you put yourself in the wrong by your behaviour,” Park said, according to Christian Daily International.
In another development in the long-running dispute, the High Court on Thursday amended an order for Burke’s arrest and imprisonment so that it applies only if he appears at or within 100 metres of Wilson’s Hospital School.
During the hearing, which Burke did not attend, the court heard he owed €238,268.18 in outstanding fines following further breaches of the injunction. He was ordered to provide details of his income, expenditure and assets within 21 days, RTÉ reports.
The Church of Ireland and the Diocese of Armagh have been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: "Police are investigating a report of an assault on a member of the clergy at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh this afternoon. Police enquiries are ongoing."
