GRADE 2 children at Southern Cross Catholic School were told to thank their mums for not aborting them at a controversial Mother’s Day liturgy this week.

Father Joshy John delivered the liturgy in front of three classes of six and seven-year-old students, and more than 50 of their mothers and grandmothers, at the Annandale school on Wednesday morning.

Shocked parents complained to both the principal and the Catholic Diocese, with one mother threatening to pull her son out of the school.

The school issued a formal apology on behalf of a “mortified” Fr John to parents the day after.

The Catholic Diocese said Fr John would remain the school’s priest as he had been spoken to about the issue and was extremely repentant for any upset he had caused.

One mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said the liturgy started beautifully with the students performing a song and dance for the mothers.

Once the sermon began, she at first thought she had misheard the priest until he went on to mention abortion on multiple occasions.

She has started putting in applications for her son at other schools.

“The sermon went on and on about how you need to be thankful to your mother for not aborting you as there are hundreds and thousands of children who are aborted each year,” she said.

“Then, at the end he said, ‘if you don’t understand what abortion is, go home and discuss with your parents’.

“They don’t even know where babies come from at that age.

“There was one mum who was actually shaking she was so angry. But I said, ‘it’s for the kids’ so we were ready to leave, but we stayed.

“You send your child to a private school to get taught morals and respect and that’s not what I saw there that day.”

Townsville Catholic Diocese director of learning, teaching and education Ernie Christie said a “handful” of complaints had been received in the hours following the liturgy and principal Paul Cosgriff immediately sat down with Fr John to sort through the issue.

“Fr Joshy is mortified that he said this,” he said.

“He wishes he wouldn’t have said it and apologises for the upset he has caused. What he was trying to say is, ‘your parents love you’ but it didn’t come out like that.

“This topic is certainly not in our religious education program. We don’t deal with it in primary schools at all.”

Mr Christie said Fr John had only recently moved to Australia from India.

“I think he has learned a lot from this,” he said.

“He’s a nice guy, he’s just said the wrong thing. He didn’t do it with any malice.”