Saturday 26 September 2015

BISHOP WALSH - RESPONSE TO RECONCILIATION

BISHOP WALSH - RESPONSE TO RECONCILIATION
Paddy Walsh

Yesterday I published my 15 page document that was sent to the Bishop of Down and Connor in 1992.

I need to make the following points:

1. I did not approach Bishop Walsh to begin this process - he approached me through the diocesan chancellor Canon Raymund Fitzpatrick.

2. Of course I responded, as a Christian should, by exploring the possibility of reconciliation. 

3. As can be seen from the document I gave Bishop Walsh ALL he wanted - and more.

4. Bishop Walsh was delighted with my document - see below:



He seemed especially happy with my suggestion that our differences might be resolved by using the New Testament and the Parable of the Prodigal Son - rather than the harsh and blunt sword of Canon Law.

But then he changed his mind. Did he do that of his own accord or was he put under pressure. Did the little man - Cahal Daly - who have been promoted to Armagh intervene?

Threatening letters started arriving:
Reconciliation, Jesus, The Prodigal Son and the New Testament went out the window and the "inquisition" style took over.

.......And the rest is history........

But of course I still had his prayers.............................

29 comments:

  1. And obviously his prayers have worked. Your ministry has gone from strength to strength.!!

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  2. I enjoy your blog very much Pat and have great admiration for you. I notice there is a long time lapse between the two letters above. Just wondering what happened in between to cause such a change of attitude. Southern Catholic

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    1. After Paddy Walsh's nice letter of 01.04.1992 there was a long period of silence from him.

      Then he started threatening me with "suspension" and worse - excommunication?

      As soon as he began to threaten me I only corresponded with him through my solicitor - which made him angry. We told him we would resist any of his canonical threats with action in the civil courts.

      Then the last letter (above) appeared - followed by a letter "suspending" me.

      Suspension and excommunication mean absolutely nothing to me. They are medieval devices.

      "Once a priest, always a priest".

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  3. Paddy's prayers - as useful as tits on a bull.

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    1. When he sent Canon Raymond Fitzpatrick to me the Canon said:

      "Bishop Paddy is in agony in front of the tabernacle about you".

      I replied:

      "His agony is totally unnecessary. It can all be solved in 20 minutes by Christian charity and a cup of tea".

      Obviously he chose to continue in agony?

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    2. It very much seems to me like Walsh was obliged to follow the orders of his predecessor, Cahal Daly who had moved to archbishop of Armagh in 1990, thereby assuming overall charge of Irish ecclesiastical matters as well, of course as becoming Walsh's immediate boss.
      The letter of 7.5.98 has Daly's manner and style all over it. A belligerent and intolerant shrewish little man, I saw him in a debate once, berating Fr Brian D'Arcy in a manner reminding me of a shrill cockerel getting redder and redder round the sagging neck/jawline! D'Arcy was being very patient,polite and eminently logical in his comments, but was forced, eventually to simply roll his eyes heavenwards in the face of such intolerance. The studio TV audience were fully behind D'Arcy, but Daly was so full of himself as to have no understanding whatsoever of how extremely arrogant and illogical he appeared.

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  4. Dear Pat,

    You had no chance of a reconciliation with + PW because the man was/is a sociopath.
    I realised that many years ago when my father died, and he treated me shamefully in the aftermath - not a caring bone in his body !

    Priest of D&C.


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    1. Father, Sorry to hear that your were treated badly by Paddy Walsh at such a sad and sensitive time for you and your family.

      If that was how he treated a serving priest of the diocese then there is hardly any surprise that he treated me with a great lack of Christianity.

      Do these men nor believe in the Day of Reckoning and the giving of an account of their stewardship?

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  5. Paddys agony over you would have been but nothing compared to his agony after The Jim Donaghy business. Lol !

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    1. Sadly, As one who was deeply involved in the Donaghy affair - as a helper to Victim A and his family - I do not believe Paddy Walsh lost one minute's sleep anout Donaghy. In fact he would backed Donaghy and made him a monsigmor or canon, had the civil law not got involved.

      I have a large file on this case in which PW features highly.

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  6. Interesting to go back over history. Your original submission was a long document which I must admit I did no read. Paddy Walsh I remember as a regular visitor to the Irish College. He sat at the top table, was the man that wore the (episcopal) ring but never gave away much about his true self. How do you see the Oratory progressing as time marches on. Is there a constitution or a mission statement to guide the years ahead?-Just me being curious!

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  7. My late husband wrote to Cahal Daly one time about a religious matter . It may have been about a married priesthood . I'm not sure. In fairness he did get a reply which completely ignored the question he asked but was a long lecture on something irrelevant. Ever after hubby referred to him as "the red-hatted weasel" which I think some Protestant minister had dubbed him. Southern Catholic.

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  8. Suspension, excommunication and whatever ! So what ! The acid test is will either of these two sanctions prevent you from entering heaven ( if you believe in that place). Not likely. These are man made threats used by the Catholic church control police from chapter two in the manual "How to Frighten the Dumb Bas****s in the Pews"
    The fear generated by church teaching and indoctrinated into the punters since birth was that naughty boys and girls go to that awful place. Hell ! So to be suspended or excommunication means Hell. Dearie dearie me ! What sort of clowns are Walsh and his fellow bishops if they believe that that nonsense will work in this day and age?
    Pat, you just carry on in your good work bringing comfort and healing to those good people who the pointy hat brigade have written off. I know you. I know Walsh. I knew the Loughguile Weasel. You are ten times the man any of them are or were !
    Dalriada Dick

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  9. If +Paddy Walsh was "in agony before the tabernacle" it must have been because his knees were giving him serious bother! I can think of nothing else which would have caused agony to that man.

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    1. So as well as being a sadist, Paddy is also a masochist - it figures.

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  10. My mother who lived in Belfast but was originally from Armoy used to say there were 4 bishops from the Ballycastle area. Daly,Dallat and O'Brien (Scotland). Who was the fourth?

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    1. Donal Lamont (1911-2003), Carmelite, Bishop of Umtali, Rhodesia (1957-81)

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    2. Bishop Donal Lamont was also from Ballycastle.

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  11. Not very gentlemanly to publish confidential documents but oh! the schadenfreude of seeing that man revealed by his own words as theologically ignorant, incompetent in canon law and pastorally insensitive. Shame, shame and shame again on those old boys responsible for his promotion.

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    1. Agree with your opinion except for the "ungentlemanly bit". Pat should have put this in public domain long ago, and not to have done so shows remarkable patience and fortitude on his part.
      To "fight fire with fire" is sometimes very necessary.
      MMM

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    2. I think you only have a responsibility to treat gentlemen, gentlemanly.

      Daly, Walsh and Co and no gentlemen. They are ruthless mafia men.

      As for "private and confidential" - the letter was addressed to me.

      I am quite entitled to put in into the public arena.

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  12. Donal Lamont Bishop of Umtali Rhodesia was from Ballycastle. Southern Catholic

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  13. For those who are looking for some Sunday afternoon light entertainment, the Floofy Hoo Show, starring Dean Kennedy and his wife, is starting at 5pm on the St Peter's Mausoleum Channel of ChurchServices.tv. I. for one, will be glued :-D

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  14. In fairness I don't think anyone can deny that Daly, Brady, Walsh, Martin etc are all clever men. What a waste of intellectual energy. Cahal Daly's thesis for his doctorate was on Tertullion. Can somebody please tell me what use is that in the 20th or 21st Century for a bishop. What a pity these people have wasted such brainpower on the affairs of a man made institution which is becomining increasingly marginalised. Had these guys and many of the other "Ecclasiastical Scholars" devoted their study and learning to cancer research for example we may possibly have had a cure by now.

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  15. I couldn't agree more with 18.55. Furthermore, if the undoubted fiscal skills of some of our parish priests had been put at the disposal of the Treasury instead of building monolithic empty churches and white elephant halls then we might now have (a) continuous zero interest rates, (b) our National Debt wiped out and (c) no requirement for quantitive easing! Whatsmore had Fr Conleth Byrne been seconded to assist the Chancellor of the Exchequer then interest free loans to widows and spinsters could quite easily have been a feature of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement
    Dalriada Dick

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