Sunday 25 October 2015

ST PETER'S CATHEDRAL - TV INVESTIGATION.

ST PETER'S CATHEDRAL - TV INVESTIGATION.

St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast


I can confirm today that an independent TV film company is well into making an hour long programme about the situation at St Peter's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Falls Road, Belfast.

The preparations for the programme began some six months ago and in the past few weeks the film company's researchers have been visiting the homes of people in the parish area of the Lower Falls Road.

The producer and researcher have also spoken "off the record" to several Down and Connor priests and while most of them have refused to take part in the programme - out of fear of recriminations - one cleric to date has agreed that his person and statements will be shown and heard through the use of an actor with voice over. 

I have had one meeting with a researcher and have agreed in principle to be interview for the programme - both as a former curate of the cathedral (1978 - 1983) and as someone who has been spoken to by people with issues arising out of the historic and current situation in St Peter's. 

Apparently the programme is to be quite wide ranging. Is may deal with the case of the Cathedral Manager and Parish Scout Leader Martin Kerr who was twice imprisoned for abusing altar boys and scouts - one of his victims committing suicide. 

Martin Kerr - Cathedral Manager and Scout Leader
It may go on to deal with the removal of former curate, Fr Joe McGuigan over issues of homosexuality and later concerns at a parish shelter for homeless men in Albert Street. 





It will almost certainly deal with the most recent scandal of another St Peter's curate - Father Dallat - who not only had an affair with a women but made the woman pregnant.


Included in this will be an examination of how the current bishop, Noel Treanor, dealt with the case and with the woman when she was referred to him personally. 

Bishop Noel Treanor
According to parishioners the programme researchers are particularly interested in the issue of a Cathedral Choir Boy scandal that occurred on a choir trip to London.

As a result of this trip the cathedral administrator, Father Hugh Kennedy, was investigated in both a police and an internal church enquiry and having been cleared by both bodies was returned to the Cathedral by Bishop Treanor. 


Dean Hugh Kennedy



The programme makers are asking questions about the resignation of the Choir Boys assistant organist and child protection officer - Ms Helen Frame - after the London trip.

One D&C PP sent a comment to this Blog overnight which read:

"Type into Youtube "NI Choirboys" and you will be treated to all the episodes of the disturbing St Peter's Choirboys series staring ...........................  This was filmed of  course before the infamous debacle in London with .......and .......early morning drunken brawl clad in their smalls tumbling out of a shared room before an audience of minors after a night on the tiles. I hope Helen Frame is being interviewed for the forthcoming programme. She resigned and was the Child Protection Officer for St Peter's Choir. Who has replaced her!




AS A MATTER OF INTEREST - DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO HAS REPLACED MS FRAME?


All in all it seems that for decades now St Peter's has lurched from one scandal to another. 

One scandal in any particular parish is almost inevitable but people are asking why there has been such a succession of problems in St Peters.

People are also asking is St Peter's being neglected because it is smack in the middle of a working and indeed unemployed area. Is such a situation "good enough" for the poor?

Others are saying: "If all these things had happened in the parish of St Brigid's on Belfast leafy Malone Road - where the Catholic "great and good" live - would it be tolerated. 


St Brigid's - Malone Road - No scandals ???

These questions can only be ultimately answered by the Down and Connor diocesan authorities - and by Bishop Treanor in particular.

Noel, if I were you I would be waiting for a knock on my palace door and some TV cameras on my lawn.

35 comments:

  1. Isn't noel lookin powerful well in his gingham shirt . I could swear I've seen him mincin round Bubu but then again I could have him mixed up with another priest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why did Ciaran Dallat have to leave the active ministry when there are other priests of the diocese flagrantly having full blown sexual affairs with men and women? And we all know their names and the names of their men and women.

      Does Bishop Treanor only act with SUNDAY LIFE becomes involved?

      Delete
    2. That picture of Noel wearing what you call his "gingham shirt" was actually taken on a trip Noel made to the USA with Aidan Kerr.

      Delete
    3. Down & connor is just one big joke . The bishop dusnt even want to be here and the majority of the priests are runnin round pullin the knickers off each other . While Ile be looking forward to watching this tv docu I suggest it's more suited to a sit com . Clerical queer as folk would be a good title

      Delete
  2. God forgive me! I cannot wait for this TV expose to happen. It may be the only thing that will force +Noel to take on the severe abuses among SOME of my fellow clergy.

    Priest. D&C.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'll definitely be watching. I have family and friends in the Cathedral parish and I've heard all the stories over the past few years (and I admittedly like a good scandal, rumour or bit of oul' gossip) so I can't wait. All the grannies of West Belfast'll be watching to see lovely Ciarán I'm sure, too.

    Carrick parishioner

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fr Constantine Bile25 October 2015 at 18:35

    All this ignorant and bigoted GLOATING about the Catholic Church - the Body of Christ is evil and comes straight from Satan.

    The Catholic Church in its essence in perfect and pure. It is only imperfect in its accidentals and sinful members.

    I do agree and wish that Bishop Treanor was tackling all of this clerical misbehaviour.

    If I had my way I would bring back Bishop Paddy Walsh - at least the priests had some fear of him.

    Fr C Bile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Father Bile, Was it not Bishop Walsh who presided over the JAMES DONAGHY case?

      In Donaghy's case at least - I know - that he had no fear of Walsh!

      Delete
  5. Fr bile . Between god in heaven and the devil in hell whoever named him named him well

    ReplyDelete
  6. Will the Poor sisters of Nazareth please switch of their internet in their home and silence Father Bile please thank you

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fr Constantine Bile25 October 2015 at 18:53

    Haw! Haw!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fr Constantine Bile25 October 2015 at 18:58

    Not that it is any of your business I am not retired and am still very active in pastoral ministry.

    The people I minister to like and respect me because I tell them the Truth - and do not peddle liberal, Protestant, wishy washiness to them.

    I regard myself as one of the true priests around.

    And I'll not be featuring in either Sunday Life or TV scandals!!!

    Fr C Bile.

    ReplyDelete
  9. If you are not retired why did you sign an earlier post EV. I think you are losing the plot Con !! Lol

    ReplyDelete
  10. The TV raises its head again. I hope this will not be a flash in the pan 5 minute wonder and life goes on as normal-little or no change. I had my minutes in the limelight and thought I could change the world. The reality was the world changed me but at least I managed to keep sane-I think! Media is fine but when is positive change going to happen

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hugh Kennedy was cleared of criminality. It is not necessarily a crime to have a drunken fight with a lover unless there is a breach of the peace, or an assault and charges are pressed.

    Criminality was probably not suspected in this case to begin with. What has been glaringly apparent, from the word go, however, is Kennedy's unfitness to take care of souls in a Parish.

    "Dean" Kennedy has been allowed to live out his own private fantasy in St Peter's for a number of years now. At best, he thinks he is living in "Brideshead Revisted". He has manufactured, in the diocesan Cathedral, a rarefied fantastical, homo-erotic, "dream" of 19th century Anglo-catholicism.

    For the sake of the people of St Peter's, he needs to be rudely awakened from his - and his organ grindr friend's - idyll.

    This situation has been a scandal now for years and it is shocking that it has come to the point of a TV exposé, with the fallout of further scandal for the Catholic community.

    Bishop Treanor needs to act decisively. He is, technically, the PP of St Peter's and he needs to act, authoritatively and canonically, for the good of the care of souls in his Cathedral Parish.

    St Peter's has certainly had a raw deal in its more recent history and the scandals are tainted by child abuse and a dysfunctional type of homosexuality (my gay friends agree with me that the manifestation of homosexuality in St Peter's is far from healthy).

    The Cathedral needs to be restored as a centre of spirituality and Liturgy that is truly pastoral. There was once a choir there that was first-rate and truly Catholic liturgical music, that sought to include the congregation, was the norm.

    That has all been demolished by the "Dean" and co-pilot's fantasy of High Anglicanism in the Lower Falls.

    There used to be priests in St Peter's who served their people and were available to them day and night. Now the "Dean" waltzes in and out when it suits him, swinging his thurible, to welcome important visitors and preside over a type of Liturgy that might as well be celebrated on the Moon.

    Fr Peter Carlin is an excellent priest; but he is infirm. Frs Phonsy and Paul from Clonard are fine men too and the Parish would be lost without them; but again, decisive, canonical intervention is demanded now of the bishop and a good pastor appointed to the Cathedral.

    Helen Frame's take on the goings on would indeed be well worth hearing and I hope she will be heard. The carry on at St Peter's is a standing joke as it is but it is also now primed to explode in the bishop's face as yet another chapter in the sorry tales that have dogged the Church for so long.

    Concerned priest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was the good dean not ment to be coming to coleraine ? . I think he would love coleraine he could prance around the gardens in his hat n robes , the old biddies would kiss his arse and the caretaker would worship at his feet ! . Plus coleraine is a very progressive parish the current servant of the alter flaunts his other half in front of everyone and not a word is said to him . Unfortunately the ordinary parishioners hate his guts but being the Catholic Church who cares what the muggles think . So your deanieness what are you waiting for get up here quick before someone else beats you to it

      Delete
  12. It is abundantly clear that Person A and Person B, who have generated this scandal, need to removed by the Bishop as a matter of urgency. There is surely a clause in Canon Law that allows the Bishop to act for the sumum bonum.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fr Constantine Bile26 October 2015 at 10:06

    I did not fully realise things were so bad for so long at the cathedral.

    It is obvious to me that the situation is now causing admiratio.

    I will offer my Mass today for Bishol Treanor to be moved by God's Holy Spirit.

    At least if he acts now the forthcoming programme will have to acknowledge that things have changed.

    Two sound diocesan priests need to be sent in to minister there and Fr Kennedy needs to be found some niche that suits him - perhaps even a desk job.

    Who should we send to St Peters? What about Fr Eugene O Hagan as ADM and Fr Mc Carthy CC Larne as full time curate. Fr Mc Carthy is as yet unspoilt and he has a music degree from QUB.

    We woyld then have a truly Catholic and pastoral team.

    Fr C Bile

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fr Bile, I was pleasantly surprised by your moderate and positive tone above.

      Your suggestion about Eugene and Conor for St Peter's is good.

      Eugene has an untarnished reputation and as you say Conor McCarthy is unspoilt, has the energies of a young man and has the music background to go with it.

      Eugene would be near Lisbreen and could continue as chancellor - but would need to be relieved of other duties.

      If asked I would be happy to help out in Ballyclare and Larne.

      Delete
  14. Why is Dean Kennedy wearing a purple cassock in the pic above?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you not know? Its because the Dean has asppirations and ambitions - as yet unfulfilled by Noel.

      PP D&C

      Delete
  15. I wish all Fr Bile's contributions were as positive and as 21 st century :-)

    PP D&C

    ReplyDelete
  16. The "Dane" is indeed straight out of an E.M. Forster novel. It would be funny if it wasn't so appalling.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Very Rev Dr Hugh Kennedy is precisely what this diocese needs! Get Treanor of the Throne of St McNissi and get Dr Kennedy on to it, with Very Rev Timothy Bartlett, Episcopal Vicar for Social Affairs and Communications, beside him, as Auxiliary Bishop. Then - and only then - will this once great Diocese of Down and Connor flourish once more. Fr Connie Baleful.

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a fantastic suggestion and perhaps Fr Bankin could be given charge of the Matrimonial Tribunal. Ah,sure I can just see St MacNissis looking down and saying to St Malachy "What the **** !!!"

    ReplyDelete
  19. Can anyone confirm a rumour circulating in Ballymena tonight that one of its sons is to be named as the new auxiliary bishop at 11am on Friday ?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hmmmm,,,, it's Paul Symonds, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Pat, that rumour was on the go in Ballymena last week. It even named the man. Nothing happened. So I think somebody is making mischief. Last weeks rumour even had his episcopal ordination in All Saints Church and named the date !!

    ReplyDelete
  22. No no, I've heard it is Archdeacon Kevin Donnelly. A fine priest, highly respected and an avuncular figure.

    Sure wasn't he one of the Three Wise Men, appointed by Bishop Walsh some years ago, that young priests could go to with their wee problems, if they were afeard of going to Paddy himself?

    What matter that he is nearly 100 years old - don't they say, 'the older the fiddle the sweeter the tune'?

    Sure he'll be good for a few Confirmations. Can't they wheel him down to the childer? All he has to do is rub a wee drap of oil on the brats!

    ReplyDelete
  23. One of my colleagues in school told me that last week. Pity it wasn't true,or not as far as we know as yet, but the same man would be a very good choice. Bring a proper pastoral touch.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ballymena folk sure know how to gild the lily hi

    ReplyDelete
  25. Timo is online feverishly trying to change his place of birth to Ballymena hi! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  26. Why do folks think Fr Bartlett won't make a good bishop?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because he desperately wants to be a bishop (never a healthy sign). He's self-serving, untrustworthy and immature.

      Delete
    2. Bartlett is one of these characters who get themselves ordained but who is too precious to work in a Parish and whose "vocation" (his self-calling) was to the episcopate and not the priesthood because he seeks prestige and power over others. He should never be made a bishop because he seeks it for his own aggrandisement. He has never served a day in a parish in his life and does not want to get his hands dirty dealing with the real issues priests face and should be facing. Priests are ordained for service of the people - not to kiss ass bishops and invent "important" jobs for themselves and to have their own whims and fantasies pandered to. Since his student days, Timo has been licking arse and desperately promoting himself. We have had enough of men like him in the Church. Let him get off his backside and do some real work on the ground and do what he was ordained to do.

      Delete