Sunday 19 June 2016

DRUMBO PARISH - AN UPDATE

DRUMBO PARISH - AN UPDATE


Today in Drumbo and Carryduff parish the pariah priest - Father Martin Kelly - is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his ordination. He is joined by family, friends and fellow priests.

Martin
Also present is the former Bishop of Down and Connor - Paddy Walsh and the former Auxiliary Bishop - Tony Farquhar.


Paddy Walsh


As the Mass began I wondered why the current bishop - Noel Treanor - was not present. The priest delivering the homily said that it was because Bishop Treanor was conducting the annual pilgrimage in Saul in County Down.

I hope that was the reason and that the Saul pilgrimage was not just a convenient excuse for Bishop Treanor not to be there. The talk in the diocese is that Noel Treanor and Martin Kelly are not friends?

I also hope that the Drumbo problem is not causing division between Bishop Treanor and Bishops Walsh and Farquhar?


Tony Farquhar
After all Martin Kelly, Paddy Walsh and Tony Farquhar are all old D&C man and Noel Treanor is not.

Watching the parish webcam I thought that the church should have been more full with parishioners - given that many in the congregation were Kelly family members, people from Martin's native Cavan and people from the parishes in Down and Connor where Martin served.

The truth is that there is a rift in Drumbo and Carryduff parish between those who support Father Kelly and those who do not support him. 

The rift is mainly about finances and about Fr Kelly sacking the 5 man Parish Finance Committee.

There are other issues too. There is the removal of the Parish Secretary from the presbytery to the parish hall. There is the issue of the so called "mysterious woman" who is ever present in the presbytery these days. 

This Blog has received various comments from parish.

- Comments supporting Father Kelly unreservedly.

- Comments questioning Father Kelly.

- Comments from people who have no concerns about parish finances.

- Comments from people - including the dismissed PFC - who want the whole saga investigated.




Then there is a whole question about some church property. The latest comments says:

"As you will see from my last post I fully support the former PFC but we must be fair. The PP has nothing to do with counting the collection. This is done by a group of honest and trustworthy parishioners.

What needs clarified is the property in Newtown Park. This has been rented by the same family for a number of years on a year to year basis. They, some may foolishly say, did improvements to the house on the assumption that they would be staying there for a number of years.

They have now been told that the lease would not be renewed as the house was needed for the PP to retire to!

Surely with all that is going on with the PFC and the mysterious lady the very least Bishop Treanor can do is to insist that Father Kelly leaves the parish when he retires soon. 

How could an incoming PP have any chance of restoring faith within the parish with Father Kelly still living there"?

There is a whole complicated mess in Drumbo just now. We are told that the diocese undertook and independent investigation into everything.

Surely in fairness to the parishioners, the dismissed PFC and indeed Father Kelly himself, the findings of that investigation should be published.

If it is not - rumour and disharmony will continue - the truth will not emerge - and all kinds of people will feel that they have been done an injustice.

Only Bishop Treanor can solve this wound by publishing the findings of the investigation? 

Also - it would be a VERY BAD IDEA to Martin Kelly to retire and reside in a divided parish.

If Bishop Treanor will not make a public statement - why does Father Kelly not make one?

I will publish any statement - UNEDITED - that Fr Kelly sends to this Blog.

21 comments:

  1. So many problems need addressed.....its so sad, lots of people young and old in the parish now go to other churches for mass due to activities in our parish! I feel media need to be informed of more

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  2. Quite right if Fr Kelly is still around i think some parishioners may take exception to him being there.So much for charity. We wonder what Bishop Treanor has to say about this?

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  3. I have been uncomfortable with monetary issues since June 2014. Around this time the weekly collection amounts suddenly stopped being printed in the parish Bulletin. What was strange was:
    1. The fact that it just suddenly and randomly stopped being printed, with no explanation (for as long as I can remember this total was published in the Bulletin alongside a note of thanks.)
    2. The amount that was collected in the four weeks building up to this action. There was a sudden and dramatic increase. The average weekly collection was approximately £3,000. With standing orders the weekly collections steadily increased from £2,900 on the 4th May to £4,863 on 8th June 2014.
    Why did the weekly collections stop being printed? To this day we have not been given a sufficient explanation other than the PP asked the secretary to stop printing it. What is more uncomfortable is the knowledge that the PP has now insisted on counting the weekly collections totally by himself. A PP in a parish of our size is a demanding role. I find it peculiar that a busy PP finds time to count thousands every weekend and the total collected is not shared with the parish!?! My wife and I respect the members of our parish who are being brave and seeking the answers that we all deserve.

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    1. Apparently the money is being counted by trustworthy parishioners and not Father Kelly?

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  4. All this is very sad especially for the parishioners of Drumbo & Carryduff who has supported the parish faithfully down through the years. Bishop Treanor and Father Kelly owe a full and honest explanation to all the decent people of this parish a.s.a.p

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  5. Many seats this afternoon were also filled by the 3 parish choirs and Scouts, Cubs and Beavers who were told to be there. #rentacrowd

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  6. Hi Pat,

    Thought you might be interested to know that a certain Bobbio was spotted at the youth mass at Clonard Novena yesterday.

    SPP

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    1. Why does that not surprise me? The old expression "Flies on sh**" springs to mind :-)

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    2. 09:28 that's lost on me! What do you mean "a certain Bobbio"

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    3. It is a low grade attempt at humour - for some low level reason it refers to Bishop Treanor!

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  7. To Anonymous @ 13:52, refer to blog post of 6th September 2015 it'll all make sense! ;-)
    Also to Anonymous @ 18:29, clearly you appear to be lacking in said humour!

    SPP

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    1. SSP
      Humour is a very personal thing!
      I could never find humour in anything which demeans, mocks or is in fact - low level - low grade and crude!
      Ain't nothing wrong with my humour, chum!

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    2. Speaks volumes about the life of a priest when the parish secretary no longer wants to be privy to his actions - which he cant even keep out of the working day or parish office. What professionalism! Similar situation to what the secretary in Dunloy had to put up with a few years back before Casper Carrot was finally moved.

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    3. Last day of June and the silence from Lisbreen is deafening on all of this. Nothing has changed and the "Carryduff problem" continues ��. Wonder if Lisbreen is worried that a Papel audit on the spend there might be instigated!! I can only surmise that clergy have "stuff" on the Bishop that prevents him actioning anything within the Diocese. He would be sacked for incompetence in any other walk of life!

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    4. One day ahead of myself!!

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  8. Into july and still no word from 'Lisbreen mansion' on what is to become of drumbogate. Fr kelly still saying masses surely the parishoners of carryduff are owed an explanation. As Fr Kelly is due to retire shortly. surely a lot of questions must be answered before he goes

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  9. Into august and as last person said still no word from Noel & co. on the problems in Carryduff parish. Maybe lisbreen are hoping this will all blow over.

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  10. Interesting reading about Kelly. This guy has history in dividing a parish. Portaferry parish was the same split evenly between his sycophants and those who weren't blind to his behaviours

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  11. Fr Kelly is due to retire this month. I would like to know if the inquiry team will publish their report into the financial affairs of carryduff before he moves on

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  12. Just read the statement from Bishop Treanor this morning on Carryduff's ongoing problem.It seems Fr kelly has done nothing wrong.But the statement does not go far enough to answer all the questions, why did kelly sack the finance committee?, why was the bank account suspended?, why has the weekly collections not been published in the bulletin? What will become of the property in newtown park? Will Kelly still be here saying mass next week.Sorry Noel but i dont think this so called independent inquiry will go down to well with a lot of Carryduff parishoniers, if it really is independent.Time to make a change to a new PP in carryduff

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  13. fr martin kelly where is he living now

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