DOWN AND CONOR - AN ABUSIVE ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM?

DOWN AND CONNOR - AN ABUSIVE ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM?

TODAY in the local newspaper THE DOWN RECORDER Crossgar priest Father Paddy McCafferty calls for more help for victims of sexual abuse who suffered in what he calls: "a corrupt and dysfunctional ecclesiastical system.

Father McCafferty, as a seminarian, was a victim of Father James Donaghy, who is still serving a prison sentence for his abuse of Patrick and at least 3 other victims. 

Father Donaghy

I have never spoken to Father Paddy but I know from those who have that he has suffered very greatly and that his abuse has had a devastating effect upon his life.

Paddy as younger man

Father Donaghy was sentenced to 10 years in Prison in February 2012 and is expected to be released from prison in about 10 months time.

The abuse of Father Paddy and the others happened during the time that PADDY WALSH was Bishop of Down and Connor.

Paddy Walsh

However when the national safeguarding agency conducted it's enquiry into sex abuse in Down and Connor it was under NOEL TREANOR'S watch - and amazingly the abuse by Father Donaghy was not included in the "thorough" report.

That led to the massive row between Bishop Noel Treanor and the report supremo - Mr Ian Elliott. Bishop Walsh then made a complaint about Mr Elliott - which was totally refuted and resulted in Bishop Treanor having to publicly apologise to Mr Elliott. 

I have not read, in full, Father Paddy's letter to THE IRISH CATHOLIC which gave rise to today's front page article in THE DOWN RECORDER.

I know that Father Paddy has been very critical of Bishop Walsh in the past.

However I do not know if he regarded / regards the Diocese of Down and Connor has having been / or being "a corrupt and dysfunctional ecclesial community"?

I was deeply involved with one of Father Donaghy's other victims who has come to be know as "VICTIM A" and with his family and with trying to get Bishop Walsh act against Father Donaghy.

In fact VICTIM A's family had their first meeting with the police her at The Oratory in Larne on the 4th January 2003 - 12 years ago. Below I reproduce the notes of that meeting which were given to the police:

1. VICTIM A has been living with Father Jim Donaghy of Bangor since he was 14/15. Most people who know of the situation fear the situation is sexual. VICTIM A's father points out that his son was under age.

2. VICTIM A's father says that his son has changed completely and fears that his son is somehow entrapped.

3. VICTIM A's father is also concerned about his other children as Father Donaghy regularly visits the marital home.

4. VICTIM A's father says that a Down and Connor seminarian who is not related to him is also visiting the parochial house and that Father Donaghy is plying his son and the seminarian with alcohol. VICTIM A's father has also been made aware that Father Donaghy attempted to seduce the seminarian.

5. Father Donaghy is spending thousands of pounds on VICTIM A which includes regular trips to London, gym membership of an expensive Belfast hotel, computers, designer clothing etc.

6. Father Donaghy has told VICTIM A's father that he could talk to Bishop Walsh but that the bishop would believe a parish priest over a layman. 

7. Father Donaghy has told VICTIM A's family that he has big connections in the police and that he will get no where with the police. 

I have a great deal of correspondence between myself and Bishop Walsh about this case - and indeed copies of Bishop Walsh's correspondence with VICTIM A's family.

I understand that this particular case is in the past and that Father Donaghy is paying by imprisonment for what he did.

I also understand that various people are trying to get on with their lives and trying to make a future.

The REALLY IMPORTANT thing is that things like this - or similar things - will not happen in the future. 

That means that ALL DIOCESES - including Down and Connor - must not be, to use Father McCafferty's term: "corrupt and dysfunctional ecclesiastical systems".

The abuse of children is a horrific abuse and corruption.

But so is the abuse of vulnerable adults - be they men or women. 

We would quite rightly be horrified if Father James Donaghy was to be returned to ministry in the diocese when he leaves prison next February.

But surely NO PRIEST who abuses his sacred trust should be returned to ministry? 

Ciaran Dallat

And in my opinion - and the opinion of most who contribute to the Blog - that includes CIARAN DALLAT.

BISHOP NOEL TREANOR - LEADING D&C TO WILDERNESS

BISHOP NOEL TREANOR - LEADING D&C TO WILDERNESS

WE have had 8 years to judge whether or not NOEL TREANOR is a good and suitable bishop for the Diocese of Down and Connor.

At this stage we know that his leadership - or lack of leadership - is leading the diocese into the wilderness of a disenchanted clergy, a disillusioned and confused laity, emptying churches and general irrelevance in society.

At the time of his appointment people genuinely doubted if a man who had little or no pastoral experience and who had spent 20 years behind a desk in EUROPE was the right man to appoint as bishop in one of the most challenging times the Catholic Church has ever faced.

But of course he deserved the benefit of the doubt - and many gave him that benefit. 

But now the JURY IS IN.

What are Treanor's insurmountable weaknesses?

1. AN "AUTISTIC" TYPE PERSONALITY.

Those who meet Noel Treanor speak of meeting someone who seems to have some type of personality blockage that leaves you feeling that he is not totally present with you but is some locked within himself and leaves you feeling you are talking to someone through an invisible wall or from an upper story window.

The Ciaran Dallat victim I sent to him felt this as did an elderly lady who watched him at a County Down church hall function and as did someone in St Malachy's College visit.

The image is of him alone in a corner with a cup and saucer in hand and not in touch with the other people in the room.

Of course he cannot be blamed if this is an inherited or learned trait - but it makes pastoral and human contact impossible. 

 2. A PALACE BUILDER:

Noel Treanor's spending of between 1 million pounds and 4 million pounds on the renovation of his palace is very worrying. He has refused to say exactly how much he spent.

But we are told that the internal door handles cost £350 pounds each and that the wallpaper was £100 a roll. 

Maybe that palace is the external manifestation of his internal ivory tower personality and existence?

But his insistence on spending such huge sums on his personal home when people in his diocese are struggling financially and some of them having their homes taken from them by the banks is an amazing act of arrogance. 

Some wonder why Pope Francis did not reprimand him as he reprimanded the German Bishop of Bling. In fact Francis remonstrated with an American bishop for spending just $400,000 dollars on his home. Noel Treanor has spent at least 4 times that on his Belfast home.

3. THE UNSEEMLY ROW WITH IAN ELLIOTT:

One of Treanor's earliest public disputes and scandals was a row with the highly regarded child protection supremo Mr Ian Elliott.

Mr Elliott was so furious with Noel Treanor that he consulted with lawyers with a view to suing Noel Treanor.

The scandal ended with Noel Treanor having to issue a public apology to Mr Elliott.

Bishop complained about child protection official

Monday 10 September 2012 11.28

Ian Elliott was the subject of a complaints made by Bishop Noel Treanor

One in Four Director Maeve Lewis has described as "staggering" revelations that the Bishop of Down and Connor made a complaint against the head of the National Council for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church.

In a statement, Bishop Noel Treanor said he accepted the findings of a report that found there was no basis for his complaint.

Ian Elliott is head of the Catholic Church's watchdog, which was set up to monitor and report on how child protection guidelines are being implemented.

But newspaper reports revealed that Mr Elliott was the subject of a complaint last year from a senior member of the Catholic hierarchy.

The Sunday Times reported that Bishop Treanor complained that Mr Elliott was engaging in spin against the church during media briefings.

Retired Supreme Court Judge Catherine McGuinness conducted an investigation, which concluded there was no basis for the complaint.

Bishop Treanor said the matter that arose was a procedural one, adding that he accepted the findings of the report and withdrew his assertion.

A spokesman for Mr Elliott said he would be making no comment on the matter at this time.

Ms Lewis described the revelations as insulting and staggering.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Ms Lewis said actions of the Bishop of Down and Connor were extremely insulting to Mr Elliot, whom she described as a man of immense integrity.

But she said it gives an insight into Church culture, a church she said was unaccustomed to being held to account for its actions in the manner which the NBSCCCI was doing.

4. ALLIANCE WITH DUP AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE:

Bishop Treanor took the unprecedented step of going to the Stormont parliament building and aligning himself with the fundamentalist and unionist  party - the Democratic Unionist Party against gay rights and gay marriage.

Treanor with DUP leader Peter Robinson

Not only did Treanor offend gay people and their family and friends by this thoughtless action - he offended many ordinary Catholics from the nationalist community who had suffered under extreme unionism for decades.

5. SCANDAL AT THE CATHEDRAL:

Noel Treanor allowed scandal to continue at his cathedral with the reappointment of Hugh Kennedy.

Finally he realised that the problem would not go away and allowed the Bould Hugh to move to Wesminster - where he was proudly seen this week con-celebrating with Cardinal Nicholls !!! 

HUGH proudly processing in Westminster

6. THE FR CIARAN DALLAT AFFAIR:

Bishop Treanor's most public recent mistake has been his determination to reappoint Fr Ciaran Dallat to ministry after his having an affair with a Belfast parishioner, making her pregnant and taking up to £20,000 in gifts from her. 

On the night she lay losing the baby he went out for dinner with friends. 

Without any announcemeny - and barely 12 months after his removal - Dallat appeared among the priests at the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass. 

When there was a flurry of protest after the Mass Treanor announced that he was going to give him an assignment after Easter.

The Ciaran Dallat affair is a clear sign that Noel Treanor does not care what the priests and the people of the diocese think of his decisions.

Appointing Dallat to ministry will be a clear TWO FINGER gesture by Treanor to all. 

Noel Treanor is truly leading Down and Connor into a deeper wilderness.

And he does not seem to care?

FATHER CIARAN DALLAT - THE EASTER STORM

FATHER CIARAN DALLAT - THE EASTER STORM

THE PEACE, CALM AND GRACE OF HOLY WEEK AND EASTER HAS BEEN DESTROYED IN BELFAST AND IN THE DIOCESE OF DOWN AND CONNOR BY THE ARROGANCE AND STUPIDITY OF SEX SCANDAL PRIEST - FATHER CIARAN DALLAT - AND HIS BLIND CHAMPION - BISHOP NOEL TREANOR.

Bishop Treanor announced on Holy Thursday - the day that priests renew their VOW OF CELIBACY - that Ciaran Dallat - who had a two year relationship with a parishioner and fathered a child with her was to be returned to ministry after Easter.

Bishop Treanor - Destroying Holy Week and Easter ?

His announcement has caused UPROAR among the priests and people of the diocese and has engulfed the diocese and the whole Irish Church in an unprecedented HOLY WEEK and EASTER storm.

 It is only a bare year since Ciaran Dallat stepped aside in scandal but this week this Blog discovered that since he stepped aside he has been saying PUBLIC MASS in his native NORTH ANTRIM.

Yesterday several people wrote to this Blog claiming that the affair which caused Dallat to step aside last year was not the only contradiction in his priestly life.

It is one thing for a sex scandal priest to cause uproar and destroy the Church's most solemn week of Easter.

It is a totally different thing when a BISHOP uses HOLY WEEK to try and sneak a scandal ridden priest back into ministry by trying to hide him among the BODY OF PRIESTS on HOLY THURSDAY.

Noel Treanor has portrayed himself as out of touch with ordinary life since he came to Down and Connor.

This is a step too far.

NOEL TREANOR MUST NOW CONSIDER HIS POSITION !!!

FATHER CIARAN DALLAT - AT CHRISM MASS !!!

FATHER CIARAN DALLAT - AT CHRISM MASS !!!

FATHER CIARAN DALLAT - nearly a year to the day he had to withdraw from priesthood for making a parishioner pregnant - has turned up in the cathedral in Belfast to "renew" his priestly promises !!!

The Down and Connor priest who was shocked to see him present among the bishops and priests and who notified the Blog of his presence said:

"DOES THIS APPEARANCE (WITH NOEL TREANOR'S APPROVAL ???) NOT SPEAK VOLUMES AS TO THE CANCER IN OUR CHURCH? NO APOLOGIES - JUST STICK ON AN ALB AND BRAZEN IT OUT. 

NO THOUGHT AS TO THE DISGRACE BROUGHT UPON THE CATHEDRAL PARISH BY HIS ACTIONS, NOR THE PAIN CAUSED TO HIS VICTIM LINDA AND HER FAMILY. 

THE WHOLE EXERCISE WAS A CRUEL PARODY ON WHAT CHRISTIAN LOVE AND SERVICE IS TRULY ABOUT.

I AM JUST WONDERING DID ANY OF HIS OTHER C0-CONCELEBRANTS NOT FIND HIS PRESENCE INAPPROPRIATE AT BEST AND DISGRACEFUL AT WORST?

ITS THE THREE MONKEYS ROUTINE AGAIN - SEE NO EVIL........."

There are very serious questions to be asked about this appearance at the cathedral:

1. Did it happen with the knowledge and approval of the bishop - Noel Treanor?

2. Is it the first stage of the diocese trying to reintroduce Dallat back to ministry ?

3. Has Father Dallat changed his manner of living - in other words has he learned to keep his gun in his holster?

4. Has Father Dallat undertaken any form of counselling and therapy?

5. Is he about to be foisted on a parish in the diocese?

6. On which parish is he about to be foisted.

7. Has the diocese and the bishop let his victim know of his gradual return?

8. In practice is celibacy optional in the diocese of Down and Connor?

Many people will view Father Dallat's appearance at the Chrism Mass yesterday surrounded by bishops and priests as the clergy rubbing the noses of the laity in the mud.

It seems there is one rule for clerics and one rule for laity!

********** UPDATE************

A JOURNALIST HAS JUST INFORMED ME THAT NOEL TREANOR HAS ISSUED A PRESS STATEMENT SAYING THAT HE IS REINSTATING DALLAT AND WILL GIVE HIM A DIOCESAN APPOINTMENT "IN DUE COURSE"

********************
************************* FURTHER UPDATE

The Reverend Dog beside Bishop Treanor

CIARAN DALLAT WAS NOT THE ONLY UNUSUAL CO-CELEBRANT AT YESTERDAYS CHRISM MASS IN ST PETERS.

A DOG ALSO CONCELEBRATED:

Rev Dog and Bishop Walsh chatting

WILL BISHOP TREANOR APPOINT THE CONCELEBRATING DOG TO A PARISH "IN DUE COURSE" ???

CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD - A REALITY CHECK

CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD - A REALITY CHECK

TODAY - HOLY THURSDAY IS THE DAY CATHOLIC PRIESTS ALL OVER THE WORLD GATHER IN CATHEDRALS IN FRONT OF THEIR BISHOPS TO RENEW THEIR PRIESTLY PROMISES.

BUT HOW FAITHFUL IS THE CHURCH AND BISHOPS TO THEIR PRIESTS - ESPECIALLY WHEN A PRIEST HAS A CRISIS?

THE FOLLOWING PIECE WAS SUBMITTED TO THIS BLOG AT 00.21 AM THIS MORNING. IT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF:

"Orthodoxy versus orthopraxy is a fine balancing act the Church is always struggling with.

As a former priest, now married, and incidentally unemployed, I find this dichotomy at play in a very real and tangible way in my own personal experience. Leaving priesthood was traumatic on various levels. 

As a priest I was very safe when it came to orthodoxy. I pretty much accepted the Church's teachings on everything. My Achilees heel was celibacy, when in conscience I felt I was also called to marriage. 

I am now paying very dearly for following my conscience. The Church was ruthless in abandoning a loyal servant. When I chose to leave and marry all my celibate friends completely disowned and abandoned me. It was if I was a raving heretic. 

I have paid very dearly for choosing another path. Unfortunately due to my lack of skills and training I have not been able to secure a job in any form, even the most menial. 

I am wondering if my CV stating I am a former priest is mitigating against me. Who would trust a former priest in this climate anyway?

My bishop doesn't give a toss.....all he was worried about is that I signed the laicisation papers to complete a neat canonical process. He doesn't give a crap about issues of basic survival....why should he, given that he is living in clover himself. 

That's the trouble with clerics. They live in the head. They can afford to. They get paid handsomely for living in abstractions. Disembodied servants of the Church. I know. I was one of them myself until I had to acknowledge my humanity. 

The hypocrites who really annoy me are the ACP (Association of Catholic Priests) priests. They shout and complain relentlessly, challenging orthodoxy. They pride themselves as liberals and fearless mavericks and rant and rave about the Church....that is until their bishop, superior or CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Rome) official threatens them. Then they realise their radical dissent may impinge upon their clerical privileges i.e. income, roof over their head, material comforts etc. Suddenly, mouse-like, they retreat back into their comfort zones to lick their wounds. 

It's fools like me who suffer. Orthodox, quiet, non-confrontational, people prepared to fall on their sword to follow their conscience with dignity. 

I can tell you I have followed my conscience with dignity, even apologetically, penitentially, and sorrowfully and all I have received is ostracisation, a complete withdrawal of material support, loss of position and so called status.

I have paid hugely for trying to live in an honest manner. For my honesty, I have been punished where it truly hurts. monetarily, materially, financially, only because of celibacy and nothing else. I fully accept all the doctrines of the Church. I failed in this one discipline and my life has been impacted upon in a very hard way.

It's not an equal playing pitch. In my diocese there are paedophiles who have not been suspended....I know at least two....there are active homosexuals and heterosexuals....priests with children...and here I am, the fool who is paying the ultimate price....loss of home, employment, vocation, for choosing to be honest.

It does make me sick....Anonymous".

WHAT HAVE WE TO SAY TO THIS MAN?

WHAT HAVE WE TO OFFER HIM? 

FATHER RORY COYLE - THE PICTURES SAY IT ALL!

FATHER RORY COYLE - THE PICTURES SAY IT ALL!

FATHER RORY COYLE is still missing from Armagh and for some strange reasons the diocese and the parish are trying to pretend that he is still there and that nothing at all has happened?

The picture below shows the parish website at the beginning of the week with Father Rory's picture having been removed in a hurry with a press of the DELETE button - leaving his name and details where his picture used to be:

Rory gone !!!!

After people began enquiring about Rory and after this Blog highlighted his disappearance someone in the diocese or the parish decided to put his picture back on the website in a hurry as you will see below:

RORY back !!!

 Rory's reappearance on the parish website was accompanied by a couple of very vicious comments submitted to this Blog by a priest - comments that were too obscene and personal to publish.

Rory was prolific on FACEBOOK and TWITTER and both his Facebook and Twitter accounts have disappeared.

- What you see below is what you get if you try and look at Rory's Facebook account today:

NOT AVAILABLE !!!

What you see below is what you get if you try and access Rory's Twitter account:

DOES NOT EXIST !!!

So what have we now:

1. The diocese and parish pretending that nothing happened to Father Rory.

2. The diocese and the parish pretending that he is still in the presbytery.

3. The people of the parish not getting any explanation.

4. A full close down on ALL Rory's internet activities.

If this happened in Russia under President Putin we would say that it was horrible but what you would expect.

But is is happening in what is supposed to be a CHRISTIAN diocese and parish under the control of what are supposed to be CHRISTIAN bishops and priests. 

It reminds me of the expression that used to be very common among clergy:

"The best way to treat the laity in the Church is like mushrooms. Keep them in the dark and throw plenty of shit on them".

Thank God there are fewer and fewer people willing to be kept in the dark and fewer and fewer people willing to accept clerical shit.

FATHER RORY COYLE - "AIRBRUSHING" BEGINS

FATHER RORY COYLE - "AIRBRUSHING" BEGINS

THE "AIRBRUSHING" OF FATHER RORY COYLE OUT OF CHURCH LIFE IN ARMAGH DIOCESE HAS ALREADY BEGUN WITH THE REMOVAL OF HIS PICTURE FROM THE PARISH WEBSITE.

It was a hastily organised airbrushing by someone simply pressing the DELETE button on the photograph resulting in Rory's name and contact details ending up in the picture column.

I imagine that as the new week begins someone will be called in to do the do the "removal" properly.

We may even see a new curate appointed by Eamo - if he is not too busy this week.

More parishioners have contacted me from Armagh saying how sad they are at Rory's departure and how concerned they are that he is being looked after and not left alone.

Apparently the parishioners greatly enjoyed Father Rory's Masses and his homilies. They also say that he was always available to them and very easy to talk to about any subject.

He is especially missed, I believe, by the younger parishioners who liked him.

Rory (left) and Father Tom his fellow curate

The young people enjoyed his youth Masses with Fr Tom McHugh. The above picture is from Tom's Twitter account which is entitled: "These two made every Mass special".

 The parishioners are also upset that neither Archbishop Eamo or any of the Armagh priests have told them anything about Father Rory. One parishioner said: "Everything is happening in the parish as if Father Rory never existed".

The administrator of Armagh - Father Peter McAneney has not told anyone what is happening. 

This is the second problem for Father McAneney in a few weeks. A few weeks ago, as mentioned in this Blog, he was involved in the row that erupted about the plans to have the retired Cardinal Sean Brady confer Confirmation in adjoining Middleton parish.

Some of he Middleton parents had objected to Brady's presence over his role in the Father Brendan Smyth affair.

As it turned out the parents protests were successful and Sean Brady did not do the Middleton Confirmations.

THIS VERY DAY - MARCH 20TH - Eamon Martin Is publicly appealing for more information about the fate of the IRA "DISAPPEARED".

BUT EAMON - you have your own DISAPPEARED - THIS VERY DAY - Father Rory Coyle and you are pretending that he does not even exist! Is this not hypocrisy? 

Where have you buried him?

Why do you expect the IRA to do something YOU will not do?

WHERE IS RORY?

You can't hide all day everyday eating birthday cake in your Mammy's!

INDULGENCES ON WHEELS !!!

INDULGENCES ON WHEELS !!!

FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS STILL MAKING NEWS WITH INDULGENCES!

The latest INDULGENCES "offer" comes from the Roman Catholic bishop of Wrexham in North Wales.

Bishop "Plenary Indulgence" Brignall

If you cannot get to the source of the indulgence His Lordship will bring the indulgence to you - courtesy of his car trailer and a Portable Indulgence Door !

The Catholic Church says:

"Like all previous Jubilees, the Jubilee Year of Mercy features a very special plenary indulgence (the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to sin).

Even though we can only obtain one plenary indulgence a day, if you perform the required actions for other plenary indulgences on the same day, you can still obtain multiple partial indulgences.

To receive the Jubilee Year indulgence, you must fulfill the usual conditions, (specified below) and perform the indulgenced act: passing through a designated Holy Door during the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy (between Dec. 8, 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and Nov. 20, 2016, the Solemnity of Christ the King) or performing one of the corporal or spiritual works of mercy.

You may receive the plenary indulgence yourself, or offer it for a person in purgatory.

To receive a plenary indulgence

• It is necessary to be in the state of grace at least at the time the indulgenced work is completed.
• A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day. In order to obtain it, the faithful must, in addition to being in the state of grace:
• have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin;
• have sacramentally confessed their sins;
• receive the Holy Eucharist (it is certainly better to receive it while participating in Holy Mass, but for the indulgence only Holy Communion is required); and
• pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff."

Our local Door of Mercy, where you can obtain ONE PLENARY INDULGENCE a day but as many PARTIAL INDULGENCES as you wish - by going through the door is at St Patrick'e Church in Donegall Street in Belfast.

If you are passing there and see a small number of old people going in and out of the door hundreds of times there is no need to panic or ring the police or the ambulance services.

They are simply devout Roman Catholics gaining a PLENARY INDULGENCE for themselves and multiple PARTIAL INDULGENCES for their living and dead relatives and for various souls at various stages of their sentences in Purgatory.

Remember Purgatory is not like Maghaberry Prison where you can get 50% off your sentence for good behaviour.

The only way to have your Purgatorial sentences reduced is to have people on earth going in and out through Doors of Mercy - whether those doors are stationary - or as in the case of Wrexham - mobile. 

So - get yourself to a DOOR OR MERCY near you!