Thursday 3 November 2016

MAYNOOTH PRESIDENT - PROPHET LEDWITH

MAYNOOTH PRESIDENT - LEDWITH

JZ Knight's Teacher Has a Dark Past in Ireland


“Thus the one who needs to molest and the one who needs to be molested—because he needs to understand it—are brought together for the experience. In the understanding called God, nothing is evil.” 
- JZ Knight’s "Ramtha—The White Book."


In 1988, JZ Knight told ABC’s 20/20, “If a person is ever sorry about what they ever did, then they will never learn, and they never progress and go forward.”

Those words must have had a ring to them.

The following year, Irish Monsignor Michael Ledwith began a double life, commuting half way around the globe to study under JZ Knight at Yelm’s Ramtha School of Enlightenment (RSE). 



That was quite a coup for JZ Knight. At the time he joined RSE in 1989, Monsignor Ledwith was President of the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, and head of the National Seminary in Ireland. He was one of a small handful of theological advisors to Pope John Paul II. There was talk of him becoming Archbishop. He had risen very quickly through the ranks, and was still quite young for all his achievements. 

Others in RSE’s 1989 beginners’ group, Ahk Men Ra, said that Michael Ledwith started off in the rank and file. Soon enough, though, his remarkable credentials quickly vaulted him into JZ Knight’s inner circle. He became one of RSE’s most esteemed teachers. 

Other RSE students felt honored that such an important man was part of their fledgling school in Yelm. They felt that Michael Ledwith’s presence gave legitimacy to RSE and JZ Knight’s teachings. Invitations to dinner parties with Ledwith were eagerly sought. He regaled the other RSE students with stories of his adventures around the world, hobnobbing with the upper echelons of power and prestige. 




It’s a good guess that Monsignor Ledwith had kept his connection to JZ Knight a secret from his other life in Ireland and the Vatican. Knight teaches that there is no right or wrong, that not even murder is wrong. That there is no good or bad. That you should think only of yourself. 

All of that didn’t jibe with the teachings of Jesus, to which Ledwith had pledged his life when he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1967. 

It turned out that Monsignor Ledwith had other secrets in his life, besides RSE. Dark, ugly ones. 

Secrets that, when finally revealed, made him a hated man in Ireland. The Irish press reported that Ledwith “fled” Ireland to come…here. Where JZ Knight waited with open arms. No more double life. He apparently needed JZ for real, this time. And she certainly knew how to make good use of him. 

When Michael Ledwith’s dark secrets finally came to light, angry Irish citizens demonstrated against the Church leadership who had punished and banished a whistleblower priest many years earlier. That brave priest’s life was ruined when he had tried to report Ledwith’s ugly secrets in the early 1980s. Meanwhile, Ledwith’s career had skyrocketed. 

These same secrets were later discussed on the floor of the Irish Senate, with the Minister of State in attendance. 

Ledwith's Dark Secrets Finally Come to Light - 

Irish Senator and Medical Doctor Mary Henry spoke on the Senate floor on November 10, 2005, responding to a weighty government report that had finally exposed decades of tragic, heartbreaking cover-ups of the worst of crimes: 

“I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I cannot say I welcome this report because it is utterly appalling. 

Senator Glynn is correct to say that the effects of child sexual abuse on a person last forever. I do not think repayment can do them lasting good but the recognition that wrong was done to them does seem to be the one thing we can do… 

Under the Constitution the churches in this country are permitted to order their own affairs and that is as it should be. However, when the authorities within the church neglect their duties to the most vulnerable people in their flock, we must speak out and take immediate action… 

One of the most serious aspects of the Ferns report is the section dealing with former Monsignor Ledwith, who we learn later was involved in the sexual abuse of children. 

This is significant because for the ten years between 1985 and 1995, the then Monsignor Ledwith was President of Maynooth College, the most important Irish institution for the training of priests. This begs the question as to what type of training on sexual matters priests studying in Maynooth at the time received from this man. 

I listened with dismay to the Vincent Browne programme last night as a moral theologian from Maynooth appeared to suggest, as he did in an article in The Irish Times earlier in the week, that the bishops may not have understood that child sexual abuse was a crime. It is beyond belief that he should make this suggestion or suggest that Vatican II was somehow responsible for making sexual sins a form of emotional aberration. I query that anyone should teach theology of that nature nowadays… 

The issue must have been discussed with all the bishops when it first arose because they took out insurance at the time to deal with it. 

I encourage the Minister of State to ensure legislation is introduced as soon as possible making provision for the crime of willful endangerment of children. 

The Minister of State will have a little laugh when he learns that at the time the South Eastern Health Board was not in a position to investigate gross abuses against children…the board should have been addressing what was happening to children who had been disgracefully abused.”
 

Michael Ledwith was fired from the National University of Ireland in December 1994, after the years of cover-up finally began to unravel. He had refused their request that he check himself into a U.S. treatment center for child molesters. He denied everything. 

Prior to being fired by the University, Michael Ledwith had entered into a confidential financial settlement with “Raymond,” who stated that Ledwith had sexually abused him for two years in the early 1980s, starting when Raymond was thirteen years old. The Catholic Church in Ireland also paid for counseling for Raymond and his family. 

Raymond’s accusations were separate and unrelated to the other boys’ accusations against Ledwith, which had caused the whistleblower priest to be fired and banished, over ten years earlier. 




That whistleblower priest, Father Gerard McGinnity, had been Senior Dean at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth at the time. He was an accomplished and respected scholar—and he had been trusted by the seminary students to stick up for the boys. Which he did. It became his undoing. 

In December 1994, Irish Bishop Comiskey notified their Health Board about Michael Ledwith. 

In January 1995, Bishop Comiskey notified the Archbishop of Seattle, after learning that Ledwith had moved here, into the Seattle diocese. 




In 1996, the Irish bishops developed a new set of policies for handling child molestation allegations against priests, including a mandate to inform law-enforcement officials of all credible reports of abuse. Ledwith was eventually defrocked. 

When the Seattle Diocese got a new Archbishop in 2000, a repeat notification about Ledwith was sent from Ireland. 

In June 2002, the trustees of the National University of Ireland confirmed that Ledwith had made confidential settlements with two former seminarians, in 1995 and 2000, following allegations of sexual abuse—which Ledwith continued to deny. Like he had always denied everything. 

Over twenty years after being fired and banished for reporting Michael Ledwith in the early 1980s, Father Gerard McGinnity finally received an apology from the Church. 

Father McGinnity responded, “It is easy to utter words, but when you've been ousted from your position and for twenty years are denigrated as a result, how can a few words melt away the incalculable damage suffered?" 

Demonstrators gathered to demand financial reparation for Father McGinnity, as well. He didn’t participate. 

Ledwith’s Dark World in Our Community - 

It’s been nearly twenty years since Michael Ledwith fled Ireland to come here. During these years, he settled in comfortably at the Ramtha School of Enlightenment (RSE), and has been glorified by JZ Knight. He has traveled the world with Knight, sharing stages with her. He has been proudly featured in her videos. 




In March 2011, Ledwith and JZ Knight made a joint two hour presentation during a sixteen hour RSE wine ceremony. Knight introduced him to the cheering crowd as an “indisputable man.” That audience included children. 

Also in that 2011 audience was a fifteen year old boy, who had been attending RSE events since he was six years old. He had been raised to firmly believe in JZ Knight’s teachings, and to revere Knight’s teachers, such as Michael Ledwith. 

This past April that same RSE teen, now seventeen years old, confessed to a Thurston County detective that he had repeatedly molested a little boy. (see “A Mother’s Nightmare, A Child’s Terror”) 

The small child said that when he would try to scream during the attacks, the teen covered his victim’s mouth and nose with his hand, cutting off his air. 

His attacker gagged him with his tongue until the child vomited. The teen smeared feces on his face and threatened to hold his head in a sink full of water, if he told. 

The teen had also taken a photograph of his two year old sister, and on the photo he drew a penis going into her mouth. 

The young victim’s mother received a letter from a JZ Knight follower, explaining that the RSE teen didn’t really do anything that bad, and he shouldn’t be punished. 

On May 7, the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney charged this RSE teen with two felony counts of first degree child molestation. 

On September 30, the teen pled guilty to both felony counts of first degree child molestation. He is a registered sex offender before his eighteenth birthday. 

At his sentencing, he said he didn’t “think” he would do it again. 

And according to JZ Knight’s teachings, this RSE teen really had no reason to think that this horrible, sick sexual abuse of an innocent child was wrong. Since the age of six, this felon had been raised to follow someone who teaches that there is no right or wrong, and that such crimes are not wrong. That his little victim had “created his own reality,” meaning that he had brought it all on himself. 

As JZ Knight’s Ramtha—The White Book states, “Thus the one who needs to molest and the one who needs to be molested—because he needs to understand it—are brought together for the experience.” 

On December 2, 2006, “Nature Girl” posted the following statement on the online forum F.A.C.T.net about an RSE experience with JZ Knight and Michael Ledwith – (JZ Knight is also called “Ramtha” by her followers): 




“Personally, I was in a wine event and Ramtha had Micael Ledwith stand up and he said that he had sex with a young boy. This was during the truth session that Ramtha had going on, when we would drink wine and tell the truth. So during that time he confess on stage and I was suprise to hear it, but we all have our stuff. Thank God that is not a part of my world. Now what is going on with him now, I do not know because I left the school a couple of years ago.” 

Others have told me they attended that same wine ceremony, and remembered it in the same way. 

The reports from Ireland included multiple accusations against Michael Ledwith—not just one boy. 

Multiple boys who, in JZ’s world, just needed to experience it and understand it. 

Reports over the years suggest that the Irish boys and their families didn’t understand it quite as well as JZ thought they should. Their lives were shattered. They are still afraid to speak out in public, because they still feel deep shame and humiliation. 

And the RSE teen’s small victim still can’t sleep through the night, even though he is now more than a thousand miles away. He screams in terror, afraid that his attacker will return, and smother him again. 

Michael Ledwith’s Bizarre Teachings with JZ Knight – 

In the years following his disgraced flight from Ireland, Michael Ledwith has appeared to lose touch with reality. He has also spoken with increasing bitterness about God, the Judeo-Christian ethic, the Bible, and even the Irish Catholic Church hierarchy that fiercely protected him for so long…and punished another, in his stead. 

The same Church hierarchy that punished and banished a righteous priest, Father McGinnity, because he had tried to speak up for the boys. 

Father McGinnity, who was ostracized for decades because of Michael Ledwith’s dark sins, did not lose his faith in God. He was upset with some people, understandably. But he did not lose his faith in God. 

As far as anyone knows, Father McGinnity has yet to receive an apology from Michael Ledwith. 

And as far as anyone knows, none of the Irish boys—now long grown—have yet to receive an apology from Michael Ledwith. 

But Michael Ledwith’s past seems to be taking its toll on him. 

In the 1999 JZ Knight video The Two Paths, Michael Ledwith gives a rambling talk about how wine grapes are not native to planet Earth. He solemnly explains that the original grape vines were brought here 450,000 years ago by space aliens on UFOs. These space aliens hung around long enough to make wine and mate with the locals. 

According to JZ and Ledwith’s teachings, the wine grape is not all that came here from outer space. JZ Knight has long taught that Jesus was actually a space alien who came here on a UFO, and who hated God just like she does. Ledwith agrees. 

Both JZ and Ledwith shared the stage for two hours, and revisited the Jesus-as-alien theme during a March 2011 RSE “wine ceremony”—what participants define as pounding a lot of wine, bottle after bottle. And chasing it with tequila, cocaine, marijuana, and Prozac. Among other things. 

Michael Ledwith had to be helped to his feet and guided to the stage for this 2011 joint presentation with JZ Knight. It was now seven hours into JZ’s sixteen-hour wine ceremony. Ledwith wobbled on unsteady feet in disheveled clothes, and he stared at JZ with glazed eyes. Once on stage, he held himself up by clutching onto the back of JZ’s throne. 

At that point, though, Ledwith appeared to be holding up better than his hostess. JZ’s hair straggled around her face. Her make-up was streaking. Her words were slurred. Her sentences rambled nonsensically, and were laced with profanities, like “f-ck Jehovah.” 

Once Ledwith was safely escorted onto stage, JZ returned to her teaching that Jesus really was an alien, who came to this planet to teach the opposite of what is in the Bible. JZ and Ledwith explained that Jesus actually came here to teach the same things that JZ Knight teaches, and that the Bible got it all wrong. 

During their joint presentation, Micheal Ledwith called the God of the Bible “fickle, capricious, psychotic, neurotic, and insecure, and we are supposed to believe that He is the Creator God.” JZ added that God is a “psychotic, insecure son of a bitch,” and Ledwith laughed. 

Michael Ledwith was still laughing a couple hours later, when JZ Knight told her audience, “I’m pissing my pants right now.” She had just blown mucus and phlegm on the stage and the front row of the audience. Ledwith was having great difficulty remaining on his feet at that point. It was now nine hours into the sixteen-hour wine ceremony. Two hours into their joint presentation. 

JZ had just made a rambling death threat against, in her words, a Hindu creature of politics with plagiarized books, a Los Angeles mansion, Rolls Royces, dyed hair, Chardonnay, and celebrity followers. She ordered him to kill his cat and mark the blood on his door to protect himself from her. 

Her followers later said they assumed had she was talking about Deepak Chopra—but they couldn’t be sure. 

JZ then instructed Ledwith to talk to Southern butt h-les. Ledwith told his own version of the Sermon on the Mount, then JZ interrupted to complain that she was bored, and “We can dismiss all of Christ’s-ez bullsh-t.” She warned that she was “mis-CHEE-vee-ous” when bored. She needed entertainment. 

To repair her boredom, Ledwith and JZ then danced on the stage to Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never,” each swaying alone in their own private dance. Ledwith clutched a pipe and sang along with Elvis. JZ danced with both her middle fingers protruding, poking into the air above her head. Flipping off the heavens. 

For all of his flaws, Elvis Presley probably wouldn’t have approved of JZ and Ledwith using his song that way. He said, "I ain't no saint, but I've tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God...I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world." 

Those were not contributions that JZ Knight and Michael Ledwith appeared to care to make. 

“A Slight Moral Infringement” 

In a more serious moment during his 2011 presentation, Ledwith honed in on his hatred for the God of the Bible, calling Him a God “who will send us to hell for all eternity for a slight moral infringement.” 

Michael Ledwith did not specify what would constitute a slight moral infringement. 

Perhaps it has something to do with Irish Senator Mary Henry’s speech. And everything that led up to it. 

It is not part of the Judeo-Christian ethic for God to send someone to hell for all eternity for a slight moral infringement. With his impressive theological background, one would think that Michael Ledwith should know that. 

But it is interesting that he spoke of someone going to hell for all eternity. 

Maybe it’s just the old saying…you can run, but you can’t hide. 

Even if you run halfway around the world. 

And like my friend Pastor Jeff Adams says, God can track you down. Even so far as Yelm, Washington. 

33 comments:

  1. Satanist doctrine, without a shadow of a doubt - - Stomachchurning! Words fail me at this moment,Pat...

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    1. Agree. This man doesn't warrant reading about. He has fallen so low even Hell would reject him. I am filled with sorrow for his poor victims and for Fr. McGinnity. I would rather read about priests people hold in high esteem.

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  2. Completely insane.

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    1. On 29th January 1972,Pope Paul,VI referred to the 'Smoke of Satan entering the Church ...."
      Satan does seem to be doing very well in Ireland and worldwide!
      Freaks - like Ledwith - abound. Blasphemy is common currency. Murder, drug abuse, abuse of children and the young are commonplace - no one pays the slightest attention!
      Pornography is available on mobile phones, iPads and computers - even to very young children and no one seems to be able to stop it. Young minds are being corrupted - and all for financial game for the ruthless!
      Bishops are afraid to open their mouths - have lost moral authority!
      Where do we go!from here!




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    2. For his own sake, I hope he is insane!
      If not, it looks to me like he has sold his soul to Satan - or for money and some form of earthly comfortable life!
      Insanity would give him some chance of redemption

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  3. Which brings me to my central question, Pat: Will Archbishop Diarmuid Martin be responsible for endangering seminarians when he returns his small flock of 3 to Maynooth without having sought or achieved any root and branch changes in the regime there?

    In light of the Archdiocese of Dublin's proclaimed support of the Children First principles, will Archbishop Martin not be guilty of endangering young seminarians by sending them to Maynooth which he has not sought to change in any meaningful way?

    Can you truly be said to have attempted to reform any system when you merely move priests or seminarians around a chess board without changing the rules for the game?

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    1. Any bishop sending seminarians to Maynooth knowing the current situation can be accused of endangering vulnerable young men.

      If ANYTHING happens to them the bishop / diocese will be legally responsible and will be open to being pursued in the court for wreckless endangerment.

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    2. Go on outer that! Sure that's all shite talk. This blog was once informative in a way. Now it's utter bullshit and hysteria. Like the good fellas ye are would ye ever spend time with your husbands/wives and leave the young fellas in maynooth alone. No ones holding a gun to their head

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  4. I wd like to see this article printed in the daily or Sunday rags...for those who would hope to think that what your blog would go unnoticed.
    Many many do not know what goes on or what went on here in Ireland
    If I mention your blog to my friends, they tell me straight out
    '' Who believes a word that THAT MAN'' says or worse.
    So please get this out to the great unwashed
    What bout a column in a Sunday Pat ?????

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  5. I note that CR has remained a Blog reader/poster. He mentioned he was in Maynooth ten years ago. Where are they now, I wonder and what stories could they tell?

    Diocesan Students 2005-2006
    The following is the list of seminarians that attended Saint Patrick’s College during the last academic year:

    Achonry
    Mullarkey, James, I Seminarist
    Ardagh & Clonmacnois
    Johnson, Gerard II Divinity
    Baxter, RevTurlough, MTh
    Armagh
    McAleer,Ryan, I Arts
    McHugh,Thomas I Arts
    Coll, Francis I Divinity
    Cashel and Emly
    Meehan, Dominic, I Arts
    Clogher
    Malcolmson, Kevin, III Arts
    Cloyne
    Kelleher, Declan, I Seminarist
    Lynch, Damien, II Arts
    Cremin, Gerard, II Divinity
    Corkery, Seán, II Divinity
    Cork & Ross
    Buckley, Anthony, II Arts
    Strahan, Liam, H Dip Phil
    O’Sullivan, Liam, II Divinity
    Treacy, Thomas, II Divinity
    Comerford, Michael, IV Divinity
    Derry
    Devine, James, II Seminarist
    Donnelly, Felim, H Dip Phil
    Deighan, Stephen, II Divinity
    McFaul, Daniel, III Divinity
    Down & Connor
    Creagh, Frank, I Divinity
    McGurnaghan, Peter II Divinity
    Cushnahan, Vincent, II Divinity
    Ward, George, II Divinity
    Savage, Kevin, III Divinity
    Mulligan, Declan, IV Divinity
    Dromore
    Crossan, Stephen, II Divinity
    Dublin
    O’Rourke, Brendan, I Seminarist
    Meehan, Conleth, II Seminarist
    Brady, Joseph, II Arts
    Carroll, Michael, H Dip Phil
    Prendergast, John, H Dip Phil
    O’Doherty, Shane, H Dip Phil
    Kelly, Michael II Divinity
    Zuribo, Aloysius, II Divinity
    Nguyen, Dan An, III Divinity
    Colclough, Robert, IV Divinity
    McDonald, Joseph, IV Divinity
    O’Sullivan, Pádraig, IV Divinity
    Elphin
    Quilty, Michael, H Dip Phil
    Davidson, Sean, H Dip Phil
    Coughlan, John, II Divinity
    Ferns
    Cullen, James, I Arts
    Kehoe, Thomas, II Divinity
    Doyle, James, IV Divinity
    Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora
    O’Donoghue, Patrick, III Arts
    Whelan, Martin, I Divinity
    Connolly, Michael, IV Divinity
    Kerry
    Cronin, Jeremiah, II Divinity
    Kildare & Leighlin
    Ó Duibh-Broin, Liam, I Arts
    McManus, Philip, I Divinity
    Maher, Clinton, I Divinity
    Killala
    Murphy, Seán, II Arts
    Gilroy, Rev Michael, Ph D
    Killaloe
    Fitzgerald, Gerard, I Seminarist
    Lupton, John, III Arts
    Jones, Gerard, H Dip Phil
    O’Neill, Fergal, III Divinity
    Kilmore
    Maguire, Seán, II Arts
    Meath
    Kelly, Declan, I Arts
    Campbell, Joseph, H Dip Phil
    Gonoude, Anthony, III Divinity
    Raphoe
    McGrory, Neil, I Seminarist
    Gallagher, Gregory, I Arts
    Flood, Jonathan, I Arts
    McGroarty, Damien, I Divinity
    Gallagher, Shane, II Divinity
    Ferry, Francis, III Divinity
    Tuam
    Burke, Patrick, IV Divinity
    Waterford
    Toomey, Michael, I Divinity
    Overseas Dioceses
    McLauren, Malcolm (Johannesburg), H Dip Phil
    McLoughlin, Donald (Johannesburg), I Divinity
    Stankovic, Ivica (Mostar), II Divinity
    Yakoub, Yousef (Haifa), II Divinity
    Kabore, Rev Andre (Koupela), PhD

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  6. 37 parishes in Clogher, big evening for mc Daid retiring and feed afterward...we all invited, wonder if I can go..I used to live in that dioceses

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    1. Yeah, another big knees-up for +Liam Mac Daid. A nice man but useless bishop.....no leadership, no vision, no interest in encouraging younger guys but rather beholden to his cronies in the senior ranks of the Clogher clergy. A total waste of six years......no matter who we get now in Clogher as bishop it's too little too late........we're f*****!

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  7. I see the name of the young Dromore diocese priest who was recently in the newspapers after being videoed snorting cocaine and spending two days on a drinking bender - if the story as reported is true - which poses the question as to whether this young priest's behaviour suddenly came upon him after his ordination or whether in fact his association with drugs and heavy drinking was going on over many years and particularly during his seven years in Maynooth under the close scrutiny of the Deans of Discipline and Formation and also of his fellow seminarians who lived and socialised with him.

    The question arising therefore is how this young and troubled priest and previous seminarian got through seven years of Maynooth so easily while others on the list of names were cast out for any taint of so-called fundamentalism or orthodoxy.

    The other question is why the Catholic church does not seek to interview either seminarians or young priests about their recent experiences of Maynooth particularly in the cases of those cast out or those who showed signs of extreme drinking and some drug taking shortly after the exit from Maynooth.

    If you want to know the real truth about Maynooth aren't the people to ask most directly in every sense those who have fallen foul of the regime thereby costing their dioceses and themselves huge financial losses in the time and monies invested in failed vocations?

    Why don't the bishops show some signs of actually wanting to know the real truth rather than just mouthing platitudes about the place?

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    1. Sadly the papal inquiry was for people ordained from Maynooth and people who were then seminarians there. It specifically excluded former seminarians who were ordained. Such men (of which I am one) are all considered to be bitter about not being ordained.

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    2. typo at Anon 15:08

      That should read that the inquiry "specifically excluded former seminarians who were NOT ordained".

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  8. @12.27.
    Interesting list. I noted once that I was in Maynooth about 10 years ago. I do not recognise some of those names though. But I'm sure that at least some of them share on the blog here as well.

    To Pat, A great read today. It is certainly a strange morality that JZ Knight shares. And yet it is not far removed from how the Irish Church operates. Take for example when a person complains of being abused by other priests/seminarian and the bishop says that their actions will make the victim a saint (instead of focusing on the rights/rongs of what is happening) - it is only a small step to say that the victim and the abuser were brought together for such a purpose.

    I am not surprised that the hierarchy of the church appear to be removed from God and the Church's teachings just as JZ Knight is; it is just unfortunate that the distance from God is more apparent with JZ Knight.

    CR.

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  9. Did you leave the seminary, CR, before you ordained ?
    Good post

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  10. 14.27... I would pose the question
    Do many of the young seminarians get led astray by their experiences of being in gaynooth
    Example...men in the same bed, others visiting their teachers and priests

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    1. People make the choices they make. However there is a cohort who go to seminary for the wrong reasons. During my time there it was evident that some people were on the prowl both within the seminary community and outside it.

      The seminary council were more focused on testing anybody who seemed genuine in their vocation, while turning a blind eye to other people's activity.

      The seminary council's attitude was what broke individuals. Those who were there to prowl was what destroyed the sense of community. I suppose in despair some broken individuals do turn to such activities as grindr; it never occurred to me to hop into bed with another seminarian. It did however occur to me to speak with my spiritual director, vocational growth councillor and vocations director.

      Simply put, it was (and appears to still be) a headwreck of a place.

      The bishop's attitude is that they outsourced the training, and those it was outsourced to are the experts in formation so they take a hands off approach. They put structures in place to support seminarians - such as the vocational growth councillor and spiritual director. But something is wrong, which ultimately falls into two points,

      1: the attitude of the seminary council is negligant towards both the church and the seminarians. They make bad calls at every turn, ultimately facilitating seminarians who prowl.

      2: is the simple fact that a seminary council cannot get to honestly know seminarians who they do not live with. Having a seminary for 60 odd students spaced over a campus means that the building is frankly not for for purpose anymore.

      Net effect is that the Trustee fail in their duty of trust with regards to governance and management by failing to adequately assure themselves of the quality of formation and life in Maynooth.

      CR.

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  11. So the bishops who run gaynooth have all this bad example on their conscience
    They are to blame, not the seminarians who try out sex because others. Are at it.
    Worse than the child abuse scandaL

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    1. It is certainly BIGGER than the child abuse scandal.

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  12. I recall back in the late 1980s hearing of a sermon mgr ledwith gave to a group of deacons on the night they took their vows of obedience and celibacy.
    In St Marys oratory, darkened and lit only by candles the good mgr spoke and made highly disturbing sexualised remarks to the deacons to be. He compared any breach of celibacy to a married man having sex with a corpse.
    A few years later a collection of mgr ledwith's speeches was published but strangely this talk was omitted.
    It is also my understanding mgr ledwith was not sacked but in fact managed to negotiate a lucrative pension settlement with the nui authorities before he stood down. He was cunning, devious and highly disturbing. He also had access to very clever lawyers.

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  13. Cardinal Vincent Nichols has apologised to young unmarried mothers who were pressured into giving up their children for adoption. Photograph: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images
    <<<<>>>>>
    Wonder when the apology will arrive here

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  14. Can anyone find out if he still getting a pension from gaynooth

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    1. A pension by definition is for life.
      Hindsight is a wonderful thing: given his theological orientation Ledwith should never have been the head of a seminary but he was a very gifted man and as President he made an invaluable contribution to the development of what has since become the independent secular university at Maynooth.

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    2. Yes, he build a bridge over the main road, linking the north and south campuses. It was known by the seminarians as The Monsignor's Erection

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    3. That edifice was erected by his predecessor jeremiah newman who was a highly conservative professor of sociology and later the bishop of limerick. The bridge was called newman's erection. Alas the erection came down some time ago.

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  15. How can someone like JZ Knight command a following. It is beyond belief. Did the Devil get hold of Ledwith. Being pissed on stage at what is supposed to be an inspirational and motivational event takes the feckin biskit.

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  16. Just looked up Knight. How can Someone make a fortune from shite unless it is a compost factory. Subjective realities like she proposes is the stuff of drunken hallucinations hic!

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  17. Knowing what we know now ... some of us should have taken Ledwith down to the end of the Graf and knocked the sh1t€ out of him.
    He has a lot to answer for. Many good men were lost to the church because of his actions and the inaction of many bishops in the 80s and 90s.

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  18. I just watch Dr Ledwith’s interview with Kerry Cassidy, I didn’t feel like watching it, but my girlfriend wanted by impression, as a person who has turned from New Age spirituality and my so called ( spirit guides) back to my Catholic Church but out again, now with no where to turn ! I didn’t like the interview, I could see he is either being deceived by Spirit unknowingly or knowingly working with a deceptive Spirit, so I did a search on him which led me here, I am not surprised by what I have read, we are indeed at war and it is a spiritual war ! God help us ( what God I do not know ! )

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