Recently I met a youngish priest who told me that he got a sexually transmitted disease when he was in the seminary!
He actually got the STD after he had been ordained a deacon and he got the STD from a staff member.
Thankfully for him it was one of the curable STDs and he recovered completely from the infection.
The seminary he was infected was ALLEN HALL - the seminary in the Archdiocese of Westminster, London. However he himself is not a priest of Westminster Archdiocese. Allen Hall trains priests for all the English Catholic diocese.
ALLEN HALL OR ALICE HALL |
In England Allen Hall is known by priests as ALICE HALL as it has quite a gay reputation.
I have sent two messages to Cardinal Vincent Nichols - the Archbishop of Westminster - to tell him that I have confidential information to pass on to him about Allen Hall and about this priest's STD and the man who gave it to him. Cardinal Nichols has ignored my messages completely. He obviously does not want to know what has been going on in his own seminary.
CARDINAL NICHOLS DOES NOT WANT TO KNOW! |
The day after I met the English priest in question I was contacted by a Maynooth seminarian who told me that a number of Maynooth seminarians - especially those who were gay and active, went for regular sexual health checks at The Guide Clinic at St James Hospital in Dublin. This clinic is a walk in clinic and appointments are not necessary.
Of course it is good and vital that any sexually active person - whether seminarian, priest or lay man or woman - get sexual health checks on a regular basis.
It just seems strange that seminarians studying for the celibate priesthood need to attend for regular sexual health checks. But if they are sexually active then it is vital for themselves and their sexual partners that they do so - especially if they are having unprotected sex. Sadly sites like Grindr - which Maynooth seminarians have been using - often lead to non protected sex.
With all the sex that has been taking place in Maynooth there are bound to have been cases of infection - although such cases I imagine would never be brought to the attention of staff or bishops.
It all goes to show that sex in seminaries is now almost taken for granted!
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Of course it is good and vital that any sexually active person - whether seminarian, priest or lay man or woman - get sexual health checks on a regular basis.
It just seems strange that seminarians studying for the celibate priesthood need to attend for regular sexual health checks. But if they are sexually active then it is vital for themselves and their sexual partners that they do so - especially if they are having unprotected sex. Sadly sites like Grindr - which Maynooth seminarians have been using - often lead to non protected sex.
With all the sex that has been taking place in Maynooth there are bound to have been cases of infection - although such cases I imagine would never be brought to the attention of staff or bishops.
It all goes to show that sex in seminaries is now almost taken for granted!
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GAY BISHOPS AND ARCHBISHOPS
IN HISTORY:
(Wikipedia)
(Wikipedia)
It is not
straightforward to identify individuals before the 19th century as homosexual
or "gay" in the modern sense of the world. Nevertheless, as far back
as the eleventh century, Ralph, Archbishop of Tours in France had his lover installed as Bishop of Orléans, yet neither Pope Urban II,
nor his successor Paschal II took action to depose either man.[3] Baldric of Dol,
Archbishop of Dol in France, wrote passionate letters to his friend
"Walter": "If you wish to take up lodging with me, I will
divide my heart and breast with you. I will share with you anything of mine
that can be divided; If you command it, I will share my very soul."
Several of the poems of Marbodius of Rennes (d.1123) , Bishop of Rennes in France,
speak of handsome boys and homosexual desires although stop short of
consummating physical relationships (An Argument Against Copulation Between
People of Only One Sex). Poems, such as the one where he sent an urgent
demand that his beloved return if he wished the speaker to remain faithful to
him, have been interpreted to indicate that more than poetic invention was
involved.[4]
Public scandal also touched upon the fondness of Cardinal Scipione
Borghese for Stefano Pignatelli (his likely lover). In the 16th
century in Italy, Pope Julius III was rumored to have a romantic
relationship with a teenage boy named Innocenzo.[5] In the 18th century notable examples of
emotional and perhaps romantic relationships among bishops include Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart and Giovanni Lercari (the Archbishop of Genoa).
John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury in England (1583-1604), formed a close
relationship with Andrew Perne while at university in Cambridge.
Perne went on to live with Whitgift in his old age. Puritan satirists would
later mock Whitgift as "Perne's boy" who was willing to carry his
cloak-bag - thus suggesting that the two had enjoyed a homosexual relationship[6]
William Laud (d.1645),
also Archbishop of Canterbury, managed homosexual leanings discreetly, but confided his
erotic dreams about Buckingham and others to a private diary.[7] In the 19th century Cardinal John Henry
Newman remained close
to Ambrose St. John and was attacked by contemporaries for
his "lack of masculinity". The two were buried in the same grave.
IN RECENT TIMES:
Roman Catholic Church:
The official position of the Roman Catholic church is that bishops must remain celibate, and that homosexuality is a "grave disorder". Therefore, revelations in the Catholic church concerning the sexual orientation of senior clergy have tended to be as a result of local scandal, amid revelations of sexual abuse. Randy Engel has documented many of these scandals, and also discusses Cardinal Spellman's homosexual proclivities.
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a retired Catholic bishop in the Diocese of Detroit, has consistently been a supporter of New Ways Ministry and has also called for homosexual priests and bishops to "come out" and be truthful to themselves and others. Gumbleton has acted as a keynote speaker at Call to Action conferences. In 1995 he wore a mitre at a church service on which were symbols of the cross, a rainbow and a pink triangle in solidarity with the gay community. Later, he came into the public eye before the Vatican's Instruction with regard to the ordination of homosexual men was released, arguing against Fr. Baker's article on the issue in America.
Francis Spellman, Cardinal Archbishop of New York (died 1967) was long rumoured to have been gay, according to a book by John Cooney, who said that many whom he interviewed took his homosexuality for granted.[35] In addition, a book published in 1998 claims that during World War II, Spellman was carrying on a relationship with a chorus boy in the Broadway revue One Touch of Venus.[36] Spellman defended Senator Joseph McCarthy's 1953 investigations of subversives and homosexuals in the federal government.
Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, Wisconsin retired on May 24, 2002 following the revelation that he had used $450,000 in archdiocesan funds to settle a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment. In a statement one week later, he admitted the falsity of his previous assertion that income he had earned outside of his priestly occupation (and turned over to the Church) exceeded the $450,000. In 2009 he confirmed that he was gay, but did not reveal any details of his relationships
The auxiliary Roman Catholic Bishop of Cape Town, South Africa, Reginald Cawcutt, resigned in July 2002 following allegations that he outed himself as gay on a sometimes-sexually charged website set up for gay priests. Bishop Reginald Cawcutt blamed the scandal on the conservative U.S. organization Roman Catholic Faithful which infiltrated the now closed website, called St. Sebastian's Angels, and traced posting addresses.
In 2003, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër was removed from office by John Paul II for alleged sexual misconduct with younger men who were students in his care. Officially, the Pope accepted the resignation letter which Groër had written on the occasion of his 75th birthday. This made Groër, who had adamantly refused to ever comment in public on the allegations, one of the highest-ranking Catholic clerics to become caught up in the sexual abuse scandals.
In 2005, Juan Carlos Maccarone, the Bishop of Santiago del Estero in Argentina was forced to resign after images were released of him engaged in sexual activity with another man. Suggestion was made that the former state governor Carlos Juarez had been involved in the release after criticism of the governor's human rights record.[43]
Francisco Domingo Barbosa Da Silveira, the Bishop of Minas in Uruguay was forced to resign in July 2009, following a gay sex scandal in which he had faced extortion.
Most recently in February 2013, Cardinal Keith O'Brien (leader of the Catholic church in Scotland) was forced to resign as archbishop three months ahead of planned retirement because of allegations of inappropriate acts with four priests during the 1980s, but also more recently. O'Brien had been a vocal critic of the UK Government's plans to introduce same-sex marriage.
When allegations of a sex-abuse coverup
began to leak out of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis a couple years
ago, they were always accompanied by another, seemingly unrelated set of
accusations: the bumbling attempts of Archbishop John Nienstedt, then the
leader of the archdiocese, to have sex with men.
“The archbishop has been known to go
‘cruising’ (and I am not referring to the type of cruising one does on a ship
in the Caribbean) and, on one occasion, purchased ‘poppers’ (and not the
exploding candy preferred by elementary school students) and followed another
gentleman to his car for, well, the type of activity that men purchase
‘poppers’ for…,” wrote Jennifer Haselberger, the whistleblower whose
allegations prompted Nienstedt’s resignation last summer. On her website,
Haselberger helpfully links to Wikipedia’s entry on poppers: basically
disco-era sex drugs.
In late July, more stories of
Nienstedt’s “promiscuous gay lifestyle,” as a fellow priest put it, were
released by prosecutors. Most relate to his time in Detroit, where he moved up
the clerical ladder in the late 1970s and ’80s. He’s said to have frequented a
gay bar just across the border in Canada, whimsically called the Happy Tap.
But even if the allegations are true,
it doesn’t mean that Nienstedt is sympathetic to sexual abuse — a link between
homosexuality and priestly pederasty is as unproven as it is enduring. Nor does
it mark Nienstedt as unusual. Catholic researchers estimate that as many as 58
percent of priests are homosexuals. To confirm that he desired men would be
like discovering that the pope is Catholic.
But Nienstedt is not just any priest,
of course. He staked his tenure in Minnesota fighting marriage equality — and using
church money to do so. No other archbishop in the country has gone so far
as to condemn the families and friends of gays and lesbians for abetting “a
grave evil.”
Nienstedt, who now lives in California,
writing and editing for a Catholic institute, has publicly denied that he is
gay. He recently declared, as no straight guy ever has: “I am a heterosexual
man who has been celibate my entire life.”
For gay Catholics, if Nienstedt does
share their desires, the deceit would be heartbreaking, “a sickening level of
hypocrisy,” as one described it. It may also help explain why Nienstedt not
only neglected the sins of priests, but covered them up, a pattern of denial
that would be hard to fathom if it were not so deeply personal.
A different era
When gay Catholics in the Twin Cities
first came together, in the late 1970s, they asked to meet with then-Archbishop
John Roach. They were looking for compassion and understanding, if not
acceptance — and to a remarkable degree they got it.
With Roach’s blessing, the Catholic
Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM) — an independent group of local
Catholics based in St. Paul — introduced a sort of sensitivity training in
parishes and in nine of the 11 local Catholic high schools. It was intended to
help priests, teachers, and administrators better serve gays and lesbians, and
it lasted for nearly 20 years.
“During the peak of our work,” one of
the group’s co-founders told me several years ago, “we became almost
mainstream.” In 1989, the archdiocese awarded its Archbishop John Ireland Award
to another CPCSM co-founder for his social-justice activism on behalf of gays
and lesbians.
The efforts paid off: “If it was okay
to bash someone in the past, it isn’t now,” reported the director of Catholic
Education and Formation Ministries in 1998. “We’re trying to teach kids what’s
right.” When conservative activists objected that same year, the archdiocese
defended the Safe Schools initiative.
Michael Bayly, a gay Catholic who until
last year headed up the CPCSM, began compiling this history in 2009, shortly
after Nienstedt became archbishop. He worried at the time that “there are some
who would like to downplay or even deny such a relationship.”
But the church’s openness wasn’t
limited to the Twin Cities. Bayly recalls that in 1994, when he moved to
Minnesota, a bishop from Detroit came to talk with gay and lesbian Catholics on
how — to quote the advertisement for the dialogue — a “wholeness in sexual
expression” can be “deeply human and truly spiritual.”
In fact, Detroit was known as one of
the most open-minded districts of the church. And as Nienstedt was starting out
there, he was imbued with its liberal spirit.
Promoted and protected
In 1977, as the era of disco and
poppers was in full swing, Nienstedt was 30, a newly minted priest in Detroit,
and he became the secretary to Cardinal John Dearden, characterized by theNew
York Times as a “leading liberal voice in the Church.” Nienstedt
himself described his mentor’s views to the Times as aligned
“with the mind of the Church.”
But something changed after Dearden’s
retirement in 1980, when Nienstedt went to work and study in the Vatican, which
was shifting toward the neo-conservatism of the new Pope John Paul II. As a
leading critic of Nienstedt has noted, the ambitious young priest saw
first-hand “the changes John Paul II sought in the church and the kind of
bishops whom he wanted.” When he returned to Detroit in 1985, Nienstedt’s new
boss was a favorite of the pope, and, sure enough, in time Nienstedt adopted
his views.
For pushing back on gays in the church,
among other issues, Nienstedt would be promoted and promoted and promoted
again. He would also be protected: Among the revelations in the documents
unsealed last month is that the Vatican envoy to the United States quashed an
investigation into Nienstedt’s homosexual activity and ordered evidence
destroyed.
The evidence that exists, in the form
of corroborated witness accounts, suggests that Nienstedt spent his time in
Minnesota, from 2001 to 2015, living a precarious double life: indulging his
homosexual tendencies, even as he railed against them.
Haselberger, who worked closely with
Nienstedt in the archdiocese office as an adviser on church law, believes his
proclivities help explain why he coddled abusive priests — he may have been
attracted to them. And the so-called Delegate for Safe Environment, a priest
overseeing child-abuse prevention in the archdiocese, came to the same
conclusion about Nienstedt two years ago: being gay “affected his judgment.”
But Nienstedt’s silence protected far
more priests than he could have known or been attracted to — dozens across
Minnesota. And aside from suspicions of a relationship with one of the most
notorious, Curtis Wehmeyer, his intervention — or lack of it — appears less
about personal favor and more about institutional preservation. He saw sin, and
looked the other way.
Instead, the deal that Nienstedt long
ago made for the benefit of his career — to follow the church into conservatism
— now seems a kind of ecclesiastical quid pro quo: if he covered for the sins
of the church, the church would cover for his. The internal investigation of
him, reportedly quashed by the Vatican, had been his idea — he was that
confident that his name would be cleared.
But the deal may also have been a trap.
By closing the door to homosexuality, marking its expression as the work of
Satan and the most aberrant of sins, Nienstedt had nowhere to go with his own
desires. He left himself no way out.
At the end, as multiple investigations
closed in, Nienstedt still stuck to the pattern, claiming both that he was
unaware of abusers under his watch and that any accusations of homosexuality
were merely retaliation for his anti-gay policies. He had no choice but to
double down on denial.
IRELAND - PAST AND PRESENT:
Have we had and do we have gay Catholic bishops in Ireland? My answer to that is YES.
ARCHBISHOP JOHN CHARLES McQUAID: Dublin ( 1940 - 1972). In his book: THE RULER OF CATHOLIC IRELAND John Cooney made various accusations about John Charles.
I knew John Charles personally from 1970 until 1973. For the last year of his life I visited him every Friday afternoon.
My own opinion is that John Charles was a repressed homosexual and I have never seen any conclusive evidence to say that he acted out his orientation.
OTHER GAY IRISH BISHOPS:
I believe that there are Irish bishops who are living who are homosexual by orientation.
If you take the low figure that some 5% of males are homosexual - and if there are some 30 Irish bishops - reigning and retired - then there are 1.5 gay Irish bishops.
However I think we know that the incidence of homosexuality in the priesthood is higher than in the "normal" male community - then the number of gay Irish bishops is higher that 1.5 %
One Irish seminarian who is now a priest told me of a dinner he had with a bishop one evening and when the bishop got a few too many he spoke of his admiration for the "male penis".
There is certainly - and always has been - talk among the clergy about the topic.
However, I imagine these stories and rumours are more likely to surface after a bishops has gone to his heavenly reward.
Personally, I was "approached" as a young priest by a Mitred Abbot who told me that he had had sexual activity on 18 different occasions during his monastic life. The fact that he remembered the exact number leads me to think that those occasions were treasured memories :-)
IRELAND - PAST AND PRESENT:
Have we had and do we have gay Catholic bishops in Ireland? My answer to that is YES.
ARCHBISHOP JOHN CHARLES McQUAID: Dublin ( 1940 - 1972). In his book: THE RULER OF CATHOLIC IRELAND John Cooney made various accusations about John Charles.
I knew John Charles personally from 1970 until 1973. For the last year of his life I visited him every Friday afternoon.
My own opinion is that John Charles was a repressed homosexual and I have never seen any conclusive evidence to say that he acted out his orientation.
OTHER GAY IRISH BISHOPS:
I believe that there are Irish bishops who are living who are homosexual by orientation.
If you take the low figure that some 5% of males are homosexual - and if there are some 30 Irish bishops - reigning and retired - then there are 1.5 gay Irish bishops.
However I think we know that the incidence of homosexuality in the priesthood is higher than in the "normal" male community - then the number of gay Irish bishops is higher that 1.5 %
One Irish seminarian who is now a priest told me of a dinner he had with a bishop one evening and when the bishop got a few too many he spoke of his admiration for the "male penis".
There is certainly - and always has been - talk among the clergy about the topic.
However, I imagine these stories and rumours are more likely to surface after a bishops has gone to his heavenly reward.
Personally, I was "approached" as a young priest by a Mitred Abbot who told me that he had had sexual activity on 18 different occasions during his monastic life. The fact that he remembered the exact number leads me to think that those occasions were treasured memories :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
TODAY'S POEM:
TODAY'S PIC:
THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes: PRIESTS: |
And like the father, so also do the teacher, the class, the priest, and the prince still see in every new individual an unobjectionable opportunity for a new possession. |
TODAY'S POEM:
Jenny Joseph’s “When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple”
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens And learn to spit.
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
TODAY'S PIC:
TODAY'S PIC IS A TRIBUTE TO MAYNOOTH
I am presuming STD is not an old fashioned phone number before the advent of mobiles! Once again it is down to the hypocritical way celibacy is dealt with. Of course all people are charged to be appropriate in their relationships with others
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered what Jesus wore at tha Last Supper! I would imagine that it was his normal clothing! Our own priest has said that if Jesus was to have the Last Supper now he would be dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and training shoes - something he would like to do£
ReplyDeleteIt is way past time that bishops should abandon mitres, croziers, gold rings etc. The church must get back to simplicity.
As a comment on the above - how do these creatures accept bishoprics etc?
Bishops should be selected by the priests and people of their Diocese - guys like the Above would never slip through.
Nuncios appoint the 'Nice Guys' who cosy up to them and go out of their way to impress - the Game Players. That is why we have what we have.
Also - ex-professors, presidents, bishops' secretaries etc. Who have never done real priest's days work in their lives!
There are good bishops - we need the best?
This is an extremely important matter - the selection of Bishops?
DeleteIt is something that the ACP should get involved in?
It does seem that most of the bishops chosen nowadays are really the 'Nice Guys' who have little knowledge of how people live, their problems, illnesses, addictions, poverty (especially poverty) etc.
People in a Diocese should be consulted, Diocesan priests should be consulted. No one wants a total stranger foisted on them especially if as mentioned above, they are former presidents or principals of schools, former bishops' secretaries and suchlike! We need men who have been tried, tested and have 'walked the walk.'
We need to have men who are men!
The Nuncio would need to know the feeling of the priests in vacant Dioceses. The impression is that the best way to become a bishop is to be faultlessly dressed, talk politely, rock no boats, and play the 'nice guy' game.
DeleteWe need John the Baptist types - prepare the way if the Lord!
It is a very rocky way, rocky road out there nowadays, potholes, dangerous bends, blind corners. We do need men who are real men JCB types - and they are there!!!'
Sad, indeed, to read of the priest, with an STD, who made it on to a Terna.
DeleteOn a happier note, I know a John the Baptist/JCB type of priest. His name is Timo. He positively reeks of the sheep.
He's spent his whole life, thus far, just yearning to be an ordinary priest, in an ordinary parish, nothing special, nothing grand; but he's always been thwarted.
The Wounded Healer commandeered, press-ganged, coerced and bullied him, into taking up his cross as spin-doctor-general.
A diocese like Raphoe, Clonfert, Clogher, Cork and Ross, Galway, or any fuckin' place ya care to name coz he's not fussy like, would give him the space he needs to set the Irish Church on fire.
Timo will make Willie Walsh look like the Prince Bishop of Hapsburg. With his dazzling displays of humility, Timo will put Uriah Heep in the shade. Vescovo subito! Vescovo subito! The cry rises up from the multitude, as they rattle the bin lids, throughout the better class districts of Belfast.
Already, the continent of Europe is taking up the appeal: Bischof sofort! Bisschop onmiddellijk! Évêque immédiatement! obispo de inmediato! Easpag láithreach! Statim episcopus! επίσκοπος αμέσως!
Fr Dick Byrne.
Pat, good to see Vinnie has appeared on the list of clerics who aren't bothered. In fact I tried to talk to him about something in Birmingham and had exactly the same brush off.
ReplyDeleteTo anyone who would say that this blog is a magnet for malcontents, I would say that these people only become malcontents because they are treated so incredibly badly by the RC church and of course their rancour is released in a forum like this because there is no other.
Keep up the good work Pat.
Yep. Vinnie can't be bothered. No interest in his diocese, priests or seminarians.
DeleteLikes swanning around in red.
I am a priest of the Westminster diocese and no fan our of Bishop, but I can tell you I have very rarely if ever seen him in the red cassock. He only wears choir dress when absolutely essential. He dislikes it. Please get your facts straight before you comment on something you know nothing about. I doubt you have even met Cardinal Nicholls, let alone stepped inside our Cathedral.
DeleteWhy will your cardinal / bishop not accept information from me about a sexual scandal at your diocesan seminary?
DeleteI have never met Vincent ans have no desire to.
I have been inside your cathedral.
My friend Father Hugh Kennedy is never out of there now
As a priest of the diocese of Westminster all I can say that as a seminarian Cardinal Vincent was very interested in his seminarians. He was a good father in God. He supported us and challenged us when we needed it.
DeleteDear Pat,
ReplyDeleteCan you seriously be suggesting, or even hinting, that there are the counterparts of Nienstedt, Groer, Weakland, Cawcutt, Keith O'Brien, et alia, among the serried ranks of the episcopate, on this holy isle of sainted scholars?
Seriously, Pat??? That makes absolutely no sense, in view of Gaynooth, Grindr, Gorgeous, King Puck, the Trolley Dolly, the Prying Dean, "strange goings on", "I'm sending my boys to Rome where they'll be safe from the poisonous atmosphere", etc., etc., etc.
I mean - just look at the robust and decisive action, being taken by the Irish bishops and archbishops, to clean up Gaynooth and turn it back into Maynooth again!!
What planet are you living on, Pat? ;-)
Rome is a city with many Expressions of sexual activity allegedly
ReplyDeletePat, have you been warned off by the priest in that wee town in Co Tyrone?
ReplyDeleteNo. No one warns me off.
DeleteI would like more information / evidence about the whole affair.
Little does pat know what plan maynooth have put in place. He's falling for it day after day
ReplyDeleteIts a terrible thing to be open and transparent.
DeletePeople who want to "get on" are much more clever.
Honesty and humility aren't highly rated virtues in the clergy from the echelons of Rome down to your run of the mill curate. Only those who play cute from day one have any chance of even being ordained. Imagine John the Baptist, any of the prophets, even Jesus himself applying to enter a seminary..none of them would make it past the front entrance. When I was in seminary twenty years ago I always thought of it as an acting school. There was so much hypocrisy, two faced double standards, projecting the right image, total playacting. Some clerics would bag an Oscar without much effort- they are so used to the acting mode that it's largely unconscious.It's automatic with them.
DeleteTime and again I've seen unassuming, intelligent, sensible and able types being sidelined for flash, brash talkative types who love the sound of their own voice and whose ambition is in inverse proportion to their talent.
DeleteFound a few guys who remember your Clonliffe days......
ReplyDeleteOh? Tell us more.
DeleteAnd?
DeleteI was indeed in Clonliffe from 1970 until 1973. We were about 120 seminarians in those days.
DeleteI'm sure many of them remember me - I went on to become "notorius" :-)
Apart from playing pranks on people, breaking petty rules, missing some boring lectures etc I did nothing wrong.
I have interesting stories to tell of Clonliffe and some of its "inmates" at the time - some who left and some who went on to be priests in Dublin.
I do not know what you are trying to suggest. I did nothing there I am ashamed of - and if you think you can intimidate me you are backing up the wrong tree.
Pay them no heed Pat. Bunch of tossers!
DeleteWhere's the openness and transparency gone Pat?
ReplyDeleteI am absolutely open about my Clonliffe days and all the other things in my life.
DeleteRead about it in my 2005 book: A SPIRITUAL LIFE - A SEXUAL LIFE - available on Amazon and Kindle :-)
Have just downloaded your book on Kindle Pat . I look forward to reading it and getting to know you better!
DeleteAod
Okay. Its not a book for the squeamish but a number of people have found it helpful on the question of sexuality and spirituality.
DeleteSounds like a sad wind up Pat. Run out of ammo throw the furniture. Could be spouting sh*t to turn people off the blog
ReplyDeleteAnd as for you Sean page, the blog has been sent to your colleagues and I can assure you your being called a bully
ReplyDeleteWhich colleagues are these then out of curiosity
DeleteThis Blogger is more than happy to accept robust criticism and aslo able to decline to publish threatening comments.
ReplyDeleteComments that threaten me, those close to me or other comment makers are forwarded to an arranged contact in the Police Service for Northern Ireland internet crime section.
The idiots are getting desperate. The fact is - thousands and thousands of people come here everyday to learn what is really going on in the fiasco of the Irish Church, the bishops and Gaynooth. The good ol' boys HATE that fact but they can do nothing about it.
DeleteHow anyone can attempt to call Sean Page a bully is utterly absurd. Anonymous at 18:40, you are truly a pathetic excuse for a miserable S.O.B.
If anything, from the little I know about Sean Page, he has been a casualty of the church. He was honest enough to leave and brave enough to start a new life in the UK without any help from the church to whom he devoted his life. At least he has his integrity intact, more than can be said for many a hypocrite who stayed put and yet had it both ways.
DeleteI know of a priest who has an STD (not the doctoral variety), whose name was put on a Terna. Just shows how little the powers that be know about some clerics, sometimes at least.
ReplyDeleteIncest......a game for all the family......
ReplyDeletePat, why, as soon as someone mentions Clonliffe, do you threaten to inform the PSNI on report of 'threatening comments'?
ReplyDeleteTo quote Archbishop Martin, it sounds like there are some 'strange goings-on...'
The least you owe us, Pat, is honesty and openness.
What happened at Clonliffe?
Nothing that I know of happened at Clonliffe - at least during my 3 years there.
DeleteThe threatening comments have nothing to do with Clonliffe - but threats of physical attacks on me, those close to me etc.
I have written about Clonliffe extensively in A THORN IN THE SIDE and A SEXUAL LIFE - A SPIRITUAL LIFE.
I do think there were bad things happened in Clonliffe some years after I was tbere. I mean seminarians and priests may have abused children there.
I have spoken to one victim.
Pat, why don't you just delete theses unnecessary comments made to you about you
DeleteThey are just a distraction, same as the ones made to Sean Page
Most who post here don't want to read them
I try very hard not to censor. But I will take your advice and not publish comments from a..holes :-)
DeletePat is doing the right thing referring threatening comments to the police. What he has initiated is a battle and since the other side have more to hide than him they will try to stop him. If they're resorting to threats that will trip them up sooner or later. Obviously it won't result in their dismissal from the clerical state since it's hard to see what does result in that.
DeleteThe other thing that happens is that people rally round to defend their chums. Personally I am completely in agreement with the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster's relentless careerism and ambition and actively hope he is the next pope. After decades of keeping his head down and nose clean, he would hate the level of media attention and I would be delighted to see him get what he wished for.
A holes dont bother me Pat. In a sense it gives a better picture of who it is makes up this world of ours
DeletePat
ReplyDeleteAre the gaynooth damage limitation team sniping you. I detect a gaynooth black ops team at work.
Rasputin
Maybe? But they will not succeed :-)
DeleteGod bless your integrity.
DeleteRasputin
I see from the following link that the RC church in Singapore publishes Banns on Ordination. Catholics are obliged to reveal any impediments or circumstances that would prevent the Deacon from receiving Sacred Orders and should contact the Parish Priest or The Archbishop with such information as soon as possible.
DeleteQ1. Does a similar Bann on Ordination system exist in the Diocese of Dublin which could be used to stop the ordination of Deacons who are in ongoing sexual relationships?
Q2.Is it true that Diocesan priests take vows of Celibacy (to remain unmarried) whereas those in religious orders takes vows of Chastity (to abstain from sexual relations)?
http://www.catholic.sg/banns-of-ordination/Banns of Ordination
The following Seminarian will be called to the Order of Deacon on 19th Day, February, 2016
Bro. Cornelius Ching Tze Choon
at Church of the Holy Trinity, by His Grace, Archbishop WILLIAM GOH DD, STL, Archbishop of Singapore.
This is a public announcement requirement, CIC 1051 §2.
Catholics are obliged to reveal any impediments or circumstances that would prevent Bro. Cornelius from receiving Sacred Orders and should contact the Parish Priest or The Archbishop with such information as soon as possible.
Pat, you say that of course it is vital that every sexually active person gets sexual health checks on a regular basis. Do your really believe that there are no monogamous couples anywhere? What a cynical world you live in.
ReplyDeleteI have been happily married for 46 years, I won't be taking your advice and am confident that anyone who needs to is almost certainly offending God.
I am sorry if I did not make what I was saying clear. Of course people like yourself have no need for sexual health check like anyone in a momogamous relationship,
DeleteI'm so sorry for bothering you, Pat, but who's Sean Page? haha
ReplyDelete