Sunday 6 September 2015

"BOBBIO" TREANOR AND CANON GUNN

"BOBBIO" TREANOR AND CANON GUNN

Back Row: Extreme left: "Bobbio" Treanor. Front left: Canon Gunn

This past week the Bishop of Down and Connor - from now on to be known as "Bobbio" Treanor, has been travelling again on his favourite patch - the continent of Europe. This time he has been visiting the town of Bobbio in Northern Italy and as he has been made an honorary citizen of that town he now wishes to be known as Bobbio Treanor. 




They used to say about Bishop Eamon Casey of Kerry:

The Holy Spirit is everywhere,
And Bishop Casey is everywhere except in Kerry.

It now seems that we have another prelate in Ireland who is, very often, bishop in absentia. Can we now say:

The Holy Spirit is everywhere,
And Bobbio Treanor is everywhere except in Belfast.

In the meantime the poor priests in Down and Connor have not been able to tell their boyfriends and girlfriends when they are free can on holidays with them. This is putting a grave strain on presbyteral relationships.



At least when Uriah Walsh was the bishop these priests and their consorts knew where they stood. Uriah always led the Down and Connor pilgrimage to Lourdes over the 12th of July holiday and when he returned he made his appointments before he headed off to Rome with his doyen, Monsignor Bartley. This meant that all the Mr & Mr and Mr and Mrs Mc Priests could plan their holidays and be away before the changes or a week or two after settling into their new parishes.



But now we are already in September and there is no sign of Bobbio letting the priests know his intentions. 

This also means that these poor priests and their husbands and wives may be forced to holiday as late as October. What use is that when all the sun has gone away and the October Devotions have started?

The Church is supposed to be marriage and family friendly. Bobbio is causing no amount of clerical domestic tension. If he's not careful some of the priests will be driven to go away and join the Premenstrualtension Order.

And is it really fair to a man called Gunn to put a "canon" in front of his name? This will give him a complex - with people saying: "Hello Canon Gunn".

A similar thing happened in Dublin archdiocese some years ago to a Father Archdeacon. The archbishop made him the Archdeacon of Glendalough and he never got used to people saying: "Hello Archdeacon Archdeacon". 

It was worse for a poor Dublin priest called Father Payne. He once called on an elderly parishioner who could not remember his name and he decided to give her a hint by saying: "Something you feel in your tummy" - to which she replied - "Ah yes - Father O'Toole :-)



For Gods sake Bobbio - come home for a day or two and take your priests out of pain!





22 comments:

  1. Pat, I think you are being a little unfair to Bobbio. The system in bygone years when Uriah Heap Walsh was the Ordinary worked because priests and their partners mainly went on package deals which required some advanced planning. However, nowadays with the ability to pick and choose Ryanair or Easyjet flights at short notice and hotels or apartments ( or in the case of PPs in plum parishes villas) on the Internet such trivialities as the arrival of the letter of appointment from Lisbreen is but a minor distraction. I'm sure such considerations would figure large in Bishop Treanors thinking.
    Portaferry Pete

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  2. There will be no d&c priests at sitges this year . The nudey beach will be empty without them !.
    On another note bishop trainor says we need to do more for the refugees coming over , why not put a few families in with every parish priest ?
    They all live in massive houses with the best of everything . Good old noel could put a few in lisbreen as long as they be careful around his antiques and promise not to use his touch of silver shampoo

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  3. Pat why are you so obsessed with what happens in Down and Connor and with Bishop Treanor. You are like a battered wife that keeps going back to her battered husband for more abuse. You are no longer a priest of the Catholic Church, you are no longer a priest of the archdiocese of Cardiff (for which, I believe, your were originally ordained). You are a bishop of the Oratory society that you have founded. Thats all fine and dandy. But why do you spend most of your blogs rabbiting on about the Roman Catholic diocese of down and connor, its bishops and its priests? Is it the case that you just cannot let go? That you still desperately wish to belong to a diocese that does not want you? Thats the most painful reality of all. Wanting to belong to a group that has expelled you and that does not want you? Just something for you to think about. You are increasingly becoming like the sound of a broke record. Thats a pity as you have, occasionally, had some interesting and important things to say. If you take my advice you will forget about down and connor, its priests and its bishops and get on with your own lives. Just as they have done with regard to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do not wish to belong to D&C or indeed to Cardiff or indeed to Rome.

      I write about the RC Church internationally and locally as I am interested in letting people see how corrupt and false it is.

      I also am interested in helping all RC victims.

      Finally, my Blog readers like it.

      Delete
    2. I agree with what Pat says, for, holding the institution of the RC church in low esteem as I do, and disgusted by the behaviour of a significant number of its clerics its duplicity needs to be exposed. Pat's blogs serve a valuable purpose in that respect, albeit I do think he does, by times, go over the top, perhaps seeking to provoke reaction.
      I just wish a lot of the D&C clerics could be more openly vocal in expressing the disquiet many of them obviously feel.
      MourneManMichael

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  4. To blogger at 21-04. I know for a fact that a majority of the guys in the diocese read Buckley's blog. It is interesting and often funny. It also exposes the hypocrites in our presbyterate and lays bare the shortcomings of our esteemed superiors. I have always admired Buckley for his pluck. He has more balls that most of the gentlemen serving in D+C. He puts his money where his mouth is. His presence must be uncomfortable for the folks on Somerton Road. Long may it be so! Ad multos annos Buckley.

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    Replies
    1. Maybe +PB is the "Devils Advocate" in the corrupt clerical club of D&C?

      Delete
    2. Bishop Buckley lives in the territory of Down and Connor. If he is interested in the renewal of Catholicism it is logical that he is focused on the state of Catholicism where he has lived for nearly 40 years.

      This Blog is the only place where some of us can say what we think.

      I think he is doing us a service.

      D&C priest.

      Delete
  5. I could never understand the logic of clerical changes. Having been born and reared in an urban setting I dreaded the thought of been sent to "the sticks" - not that I have anything against rural life in principal. Also I valued the relationship I had with my parish. They knew my weaknesses but they also knew my strengths. In principal we got along

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  6. I have to say this did give me a little giggle after a bad weekend! Thanks for brightening up my Monday kind sir!

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  7. When sharing the Gospel, and breaking the bread is deemed 'insufficient' by a Priest or a Bishop, in their own diocese then they must seek delight in other places, and other things, be it Bobbio, Rome, or Jerusalem, or excessive material comfort. Sadly they don't realise they are actually running away from themselves.
    The ego is too strong, and it always seeks new diversions ; and in these situations Jesus is not enough.

    Priest of D&C.

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  8. The Dean of the Cathedral is said to be incandescent with jealous rage at this promotion of two of his contemporaries over his head and the only titles he can get are invented ones.

    Poor Timio also is very down at lip. All the stamps, envelopes and other things he has licked for the episcopal conference - and all the cardinals and nuncios he escorts all round the place, totally out of the goodness of his own heart - and with no thought for himself whatsoever - and not even a hint of purple yet. Ah well, there is always Raphoe yet to be filled. Sigh...

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  9. The D&C clerical changes are a damp squib compared to the Bishop Walsh & Bishop Daly eras; for in those days there were a few 'troops on the ground' and promotion/demotion was possible.
    Nowadays any half wit can become a PP !

    LUX.

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  10. I remember PJ Mulally. Always the bestman. Never the groom. Take note Timmy boy

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    Replies
    1. Maybe Timo is just not the marrying kind? Maybe he is a confirmed bachelor?

      Delete
  11. What sort of organisation would appoint a supervisor into a demanding position aware that his previous performances were questionable and lack lustre. What type of senior management would place a square peg in a round hole fully aware that the result may well be that years of good work by the previous supervisior could be undone and sometimes wrecked. What type of senior executive on being made aware of the negative affects of such appointments persists with them and continues to make the same mistakes time and again. Do any of them realise that a major side affect of that mismanagement style is that good pro-active supervisors presently in post , because of what they have witnessed elsewhere, become demoralised at best or just couldn't give a ++++ at worst. Forgive me,I know I shouldn't criticise because the organisation tells us that these appointments are guided by the Holy Spirit.
    Dalriada Dick

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    Replies
    1. But that is the whole point - it is an organisation of its own - it cannot be compared to any other company with proper protocols and procedures. And unfortunately it has so few recruits that it has to make do and retain those "employees", who have demonstrated their inadequacy for the job, who may leave a trial of destruction in their aftermath and have to take no accountability for their actions to the people who have provided the money for their salary, never mind their trust and respect. Transparency is avoided at all costs in this company - especially to the shareholders!

      Delete
  12. My late uncle was a priest in a northern diocese and was the founding PP in a new parish. He built the new church and along with the curates- he was always full of praise for them- worked very hard to develop a great community spirit. He often complained that the gratitude of the diocese was that his replacement as parish priest was a frustrated and useless drunk who in no time at all destroyed all the years of hard work. Our uncle was so disgusted he retired a couple of years later a very dispirited man. During his retirement former parishoners and former curates would often call with him and tell him of the goings on as the parish fell apart. Within a year a majority of mass goers were attending services in neighbouring parishes. Interestingly two of those who served as his assistants left priesthood in due course.

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  13. Sad story, and dispiriting to see a good man treated like this.
    But doesn't it say a lot about the state of decline of the "holy roman catholic church"? (I refuse to use capital letters!)
    Yet it's exalted self important leaders, certainly here in Ireland, refuse to accept the winds of change blowing more strongly by the decade. So frustrated useless old drunks are placed in positions of power as you describe while the bishops blindly persist in attempting to retain a status quo when even the dogs in the street recognise that before long there simply will be very few rc priests left.
    Maybe that's what it takes to bring about some meaningful change instead of filling in the cracks around the edges.
    MourneManMichael

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    Replies
    1. They are indeed a thoroughly corrupt and evil lot! When a ship full of rats is being sunk it is not enough to make holes in the hull. The ship needs to be burned to ensure none of the rats survive. I look forward to the day when Irelands clerical rats are exterminated. Retired and wasted life priest. Donegal.

      Delete
    2. Even though I know nothing about you 16:41, your candid acknowledgement of the nature of the church suggests that you have been one of the minority who have done their best in trying circumstances. For that I commend you, and I, for one, do not think that if you have tried your best, (even allowing for your own human failures such as we all have), that you have had a wasted life.
      Though I regularly criticise rc clerics, I have indeed met some extremely kind, understanding and inspiring ones.
      MMM

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  14. We will have a much better world without any religions. They are all evil. Humans are not stupid enough to listen to the dying classes spouting myths from an evil book of control.

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