Monday 31 October 2016

PRIEST TORTURERS PART 11


PRIEST TORTURERS PART 11



YESTERDAY I published a blog about my sufferings in presbyteries at the hands of 4 priests - Father Bernard Driscoll and Canon Patrick Creed in Wales and Fathers Vincent McKinely and Joe McGurnaghan in St Peter's Cathedral Belfast (1978 - 1983).

A RETIRED PP of Down and Connor published the following challenge to me and asked an answer:

"While this is an interesting post, and I really do empathise with your sufferings Pat, I wonder how much you were responsible yourself for the activities of those priests towards you? I can't speak for the Welsh situation, but I can for the Down and Connor as both Fathers Vincent and Joseph were friends of mine. I believe them to have been good, if somewhat limited, men and priests product of their own homes and upbringing, who certainly tried to get on with you in the early months of your time at St Peter's Pro Cathedral. The problem may have been their jealousy of you, but you too didn't help yourself with your arrogant and supercilious attitude and above all your insatiable appetite for self promotion and publicity. Long after you had gone, these men too were having nightmares of your time with them. I know, because they shared that with me. Father Vincent would often say that "Pat Buckley was a nightmare". I wonder looking back can you accept any responsibility for how you mis treated these men. Sure you wanted to side with the parishioners, the poor and the downtrodden of Divis Flats, and that is admirable, but these men were your brothers too. Charity begins at home and you certainly weren't charitable to these priests. I would be interested in what you say. Please no self serving justification of how hard done by you were, try and accept responsibility for clearing the rubbish on your own side of the street. Retired PP Down and Connor".

Today I wish to address his challenge. 

"FATHERS VINCENT AND JOSEPH WERE FRIENDS OF MINE. I BELIEVE THEM TO HAVE BEEN GOOD MEN, IF SOMEWHAT LIMITED, MEN AND PRIESTS PRODUCT OF THEIR OWN HOMES AND UPBRINGING".

I understand that this retired priest was a friend of Vincent and Joe and as such probably knew them much better than I did and had the opportunity to experience, more than I, the good and kind side to both.


Vincent Mc Kinley RIP


On the other hand there is the old saying:
 "IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW ME COME AND LIVE WITH ME".

VINCENT MC KINLEY: 

When I arrived in St Peter's Vincent McKinley had just been made the administrator after more than 20 years as a curate. I think that the new responsibility was difficult for him and when I arrived he was "on leave" suffering from a minor stress / anxiety problem.

When he came back he immediately liked me and I liked him and we were indeed new friends. We went about together quite a bit and he liked my preaching and invited other priests to come and listen to my sermons. He seemed proud to have me as his curate.

He then injured his knee badly in a golfing incident and I not only visited him in hospital but used to bring him fresh clothing to the hospital and bring home his washing to the housekeeper. 

When he got home I used to massage his injured knee several times a day with olive oil and I think this helped his healing. 

After about a year of good friendship Vincent called me to his room one day to say that Joe McGurnaghan, who was the "senior curate" resented our friendship and that from now on we would have to be lesser friends. I was disappointed with this but accepted it.

I hope it is unnecessary for me to make clear that there was nothing inappropriate in our friendship. Vincent McKinley was a very robust North Antrim heterosexual and I had absolutely no other thoughts about Vincent apart from friendship.

Vincent McKinley was a very sexually frustrated man. He had no sisters and was in awe of women. I know for a fact that he behaved inappropriately with a number of women and girls and was tackled about his behaviour in St Louise's Girls College by the infamous Sister Genevieve of whom people said: 
SHE WAS THE TOUGHEST MAN ON THE FALLS ROAD. In fact she banned him from the school at one time.  


Sister Genevieve RIP


Vincent was probably very unsuited for the priesthood and celibacy and I think he would have been a much happier man had he married and had children and worked in civvy street. 

JOE MC GURNAGHAN:


Joe McGurnaghan RIP


When I arrived in St Peters Joe McGurnaghan was on holidays and Vincent Mc Kinley was on the sick.

Initially I was there with my two fellow curates - Father Jimmy McCabe - a holy, chainsmoking Derry man and Father Jimmy Burns - a member of the Salesian Order.

When Joe returned from holidays and I met him I found his to be reserved and a bit cynical. A few days after I met him he gave me this advice: 
"This is a bad parish. The people here as as thick as bottled pig shit. Don;t get too involved. Say your Masses, do your funerals and weddings, have a drink and a wank and wait until you get a better parish".

At 26 and two years ordained I was a bit shocked at this approach and obviously had no intention of adopting it. 

Joe had himself been treated very badly by one of his former PP's - either the parish priest of Portaferry or Holywood. 

This was Joe's daily timetable:

9 / 10 am - Morning Mass followed by breakfast and a read of The Irish Times.

After Breakfast - Went to his room and listened to classical music.

1. pm Lunch and back to his room for a visit from his bother Matt or a priest friend like Father Brendan Mooney.

6 pm: Tea.

After Tea: Back to his room for TV or more classical music.

The only break on this timetable was for his day off on Thursdays.

Joe was an expert in fine wines and cognacs. He arranged the cathedral wine cellar and at lunch everyday we had red wine; vegetable soup supplemented with sherry and coffee and brandy at the end. Joe's evening tipple was Remy Martin cognac.

I never got close to Joe but tried to please him by bring a bottle of wine to the dining room. Unfortunately I knew very little about wine then and my choices were met with disdain by Joe.

I do believe that there is an explanation for how Joe was - apart from having himself been abused by a parish priest. 

Joe McGurnaghan's father was a hard man and the headteacher of a school in Ligoniel. I believe that he was very hard on his children ans his behaviour may well be called abuse. I think this affected Joe and his brother Matt.

I have a friend whose grandmother had been Joe's girlfriend many years ago in Ligoneil. Maybe Joe would have been happier had he married a good woman who made up to him for the severities of his youth.

"The problem may have been their jealousy of you, but you too didn't help yourself with your arrogant and supercilious attitude and above all your insatiable appetite for self promotion and publicity". 
Was I arrogant and supercilious and did I have an insatiable appetite for self promotion and publicity?

The dictionary defines arrogance as being: "having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities".

It also defines supercilious as: "behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others".


I do not believe that I had or have an exaggerated sense of my own importance. I am the oldest of 17 children and grew up in relative poverty in the suburbs of Dublin. I went to no posh schools and did my Leaving Cert in a Tech in Dublin.

I suppose I must be strong willed and stubborn to have survived. But that was not easy and at times in my life - including my time with Vincent and Joe just survived with the help of doctors and counsellors. At my worst times in St Peter's the local GP and SDLP politician Joe Hendron had me on valium and was fully aware of my issues. 

I think it was a clash of generations and pastoral approaches. Vincent and Joe saw Divis as hopeless and I wanted to tackle the hopelessness by pastoral work, cleaning up the streets, organising music festivals, tackling the "joy riders" etc.

But of course - "
Nemo iudex in causa sua" - No man is a judge in his own cause.

While I had clashes with clergy I never had problems with the parishioners in the parishes I worked in. 

At my Last Judgement maybe the parishioners of Llanrumney, Bridgend, Briton Ferry, Whitchurch, Divis, Kilkeel and Larne will speak for me.

The "prosecution" will undoubtedly call the clergy to the witness box. 

In any event the court will be considering the following charges against us all - including myself, Vincent McKinley and Joe McGurnaghan:

Did you feed the hungry?

Did you give the thirsty a drink?

Did you clothe the naked?

Did you care for the sick?

Did you visit prisoners?

Did you welcome strangers into your home?

I suppose we will all be hoping more for MERCY than JUSTICE?





Sunday 30 October 2016

PRIEST TORTURERS

PRIEST TORTURERS



There has been some talk on this blog about cranky priests who makes the lives of others - fellow priests and lay people - a HELL.

I have come across my fair share of those in my 40 years as a priest.

When I first went to Wales in 1976 I was appointed curate to the PARISH PRIEST FROM HELL - a certain FATHER BERNARD DRISCOLL of Bridgend parish.

I was 24 at the time and just ordained. This is a summary of how he treated me:

1. He hated Irish people and told me at every meal time that I came from "DIRTY DUBLIN".

2. I had to be in my bedroom at 9 pm every evening.

3. I was not allowed any visitors (including family) to visit me.

4. He gave me £5 a week pocket money which even in 1974 was small.

5. He forbade me to visit parishioners in the maternity ward of our local hospital as he said: "IRISH MEN HAVE A THING ABOUT PREGNANT WOMEN".

6. He decided what and how much I could eat at meal times.

7. He constantly told me that: "IRISH MEN'S BRAINS ARE BETWEEN THEIR LEGS".

8. I was forbidden to enter the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea - the kitchen was the sole territory of the housekeeper MISS "HOPE" !!!!  For me it was NO HOPE.

9. He sat at all my Masses to to watch me and criticised all my sermons.

10. He had a massive radio positioned between himself and me on the dining table. I could see the back of the radio.

11. He spoke to me in Latin all the time. 

12. He bullied all the altar boys, Catholic school teachers, parents and parishioners.

13. He was locked in his room all day drinking whiskey.

14. The presbytery and church were in shambles as he would not spend anything on repairs. 


MURPHY


After a few months I complained to  Archbishop John A Murphy who told me that my PP was a saint and would make me one. 

When I persisted the archbishop sent me to a psychiatrist who said there was nothing wrong with me and that I needed to be removed from an abusive situation.

Murphy insisted that I stay there. 

I gave Murphy my notice, a few days to respond and having heard nothing packed my bags and went home to Dublin.

Murphy issued a document saying that i was a CANONICAL FUGITIVE !!! a FUGITIVUS :-)

After a few months at home he sent for me and appointed me to a new parish where I spent a year or so.

I was happy in that parish but after a year a scandal broke out in the parish involving another priests and a woman.

Murphy cleared out the parish and sent me to a CANON PATRICK CREED - a native of Tipperary, in Cardiff who was worse than DRISCOLL in Bridgend. 


CREED - DIED IN 2000


This time I stayed a short time and parachuted out of Wales for good.

Many curates in Cardiff at the time were suffering the way I was. Some left the priesthood altogether. 

There has been centuries of abuse by parish priests of their curates and their parishioners. 


MC KINLEY


I suffered such abuse not only in Wals - but in Down and Connor under Fathers VINCENT MC KINLEY AND JOE MC GURNAGHAN during my 5 years in St Peter's Cathedral.


MC GURNAGHAN


I still suffer nightmares about my time in St Peters - 1978 to 1983.

McKinley and Mc Gurnaghan tortured me mentally, emotionall. On one occasion McKinley punched and kicked me in the priest's dining room. 

They both stood, drunkenly, kicking my bedroom door, night after night swearing at me, signing sexually charged songs and using the most profane expressions and language.

While this was going on I was in my mid and late 20's and lay in bed in the dark distressed and crying.

In St Peters dining room the conversation at mealtimes was all about vaginas, cocks, spunk, the gussets of knickers, bras, bandy legged "ould dolls" etc - absolutely foul and immature. Many visiting priests left in shock. 

Driscoll, Creed, McKinley and Mc Gurnaghan have obviously left a negative scar on my psyche that seems to emerge only in nightmares !

To this day I wake up in a cold sweat thinking I'm back in St Peters.

They were unhappy and frustrated men. They should NEVER have been ordained. 

When I related my stories to the then bishop - Cahal Daly - he simply called me a liar.

There is far more abuse in the Catholic Church than child abuse. For a long, long time, priests have been abused by other priests. 

PS: I could not find a picture of Bernard Driscoll. 


---------------------------------------------------


Saturday 29 October 2016

MAYNOOTH - ITALIAN STYLE

MAYNOOTH - ITALIAN STYLE

THE OBSERVER Catherine Deveney
MARK MURRAY - VICTIM

A British man who travelled to Verona in an attempt to forgive the Catholic missionary who sexually abused him at Mirfield seminary in Yorkshire almost 50 years ago is being prosecuted in the Italian courts on three counts of “trespassing, stalking and interference in private life”.

Mark Murray, 60, who filmed his encounter with Father Romano Nardo at the Verona headquarters of the Comboni missionaries in April last year, said he was “appalled and disgusted” when a letter summoning him for criminal proceedings in Verona on 14 September arrived at his home in Wales last week.




“The Combonis know these ‘crimes’ are not true. They are trying to intimidate me. It’s all about power and control. They are trying to send out a message to say, ‘Don’t dare take us on’.”

In 2014, the Observer reported exclusively onwidespread abuse at Mirfield in the 1960s and 70s after a group of 11 British men settled out of court with the missionary order, receiving sums of between £7,000 and £30,000.

Murray, who has suffered lifelong psychological problems as a result of his experiences, received the maximum sum after revealing a horrifying litany of sexual and emotional abuse that included having a cross carved in his chest with a finger nail. “This has all had a massive effect on my emotional well being,” he said.
The film of his visit, posted on the internet, shows him entering the Verona Mother House unimpeded, asking for Nardo, then waiting quietly in the order’s chapel. During a brief conversation, Murray tells Nardo of the devastating effect his actions have had on his life. Nardo sinks to his knees and replies: “If it is my fault that you bear a heavy cross, I believe I should ask the Lord for forgiveness for having erred. I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. If what happened in your life was caused by me, and if what you are saying is true, I am truly sorry and ask for forgiveness.”
What the Combonis are doing now is re-victimising me and compounding the abuse I experienced as a child

Murray, who became a brother of the missionary order for two years in Uganda after leaving Mirfield, said his journey was always about catharsis. “When I was sitting in that church, I was in control. I was no longer a child. For the first time in my life, I had total control and it was so powerful that I was able to forgive him.”
His anger now focuses on the order’s response rather than his abuser.

 “‘Interference in private life’ is a disgusting thing to say to someone who has been abused. What about the interference in my childhood and adulthood? And stalking has awful connotations. As for trespassing, I walked through an open door and spoke to a receptionist.

“What the Combonis are doing now is re-victimising me and compounding the abuse I experienced as a child. It’s the opposite of what Pope Francis has said about treating abuse victims with understanding and compassion. Why are they doing this to me and my family?”

A lawyer has been automatically assigned to Murray by the Italian courts and he faces significant legal fees. During his visit to Verona, he sought the assistance of one of Italy’s most renowned newspapers, La Repubblica, to film his encounter with Nardo. Journalist Marco Ansaldo has now also been contacted by police and told to log his address with the courts, usually a precursor to legal proceedings in Italy. “The police told me it was with regard to my article,” Ansaldo told the Observer, “but I don’t have any official papers yet.”

Murray’s case was thoroughly investigated, said Ansaldo – as was the Observer’s original report. “I did my job. I checked my sources. We had three journalists working on the case. What can the Combonis say? I think their principal objective is to pull down Mark Murray and because he was listened to by La Repubblica, they would like to bring us down too. It will be a battle – and we will see what the outcome is.”

A spokesperson for the Comboni Missionaries in the UK said: “The Comboni Missionaries in the UK are not pursuing any legal action against either Mark Murray or Marco Ansaldo and cannot comment on cases which we understand may be being pursued in Italy.”


---------------------------------------------------

AN INTERESTING FILM FROM A BLOG READER:

THE DAY I KILLED MY RAPIST:

FROM THE BBC:

Friday 28 October 2016

VATICAN ON CREMATION

Vatican: Don't Scatter Cremation Ashes, And Don't Keep Them At Home
·     

The Vatican has issued new guidelines recommending that the cremated remains of Catholics be buried in cemeteries, rather than scattered or kept at home.
"Following the most ancient Christian tradition, the Church insistently recommends that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places," state the guidelines released Tuesday by the Vatican.
The guidelines do not represent a change the church's overall policy on burial and cremation, but rather underline "the doctrinal and pastoral reasons for the preference of the burial of the remains of the faithful and to set out norms pertaining to the conservation of ashes in the case of cremation" in light of the increasing popularity of cremation in many countries, according to the introduction of the document.
Cremation has been steadily growing in popularity in the United States. According to the Cremation Association of North America, an industry group for cremation-related businesses, nearly half of all people who died in 2015 in the U.S. were cremated, up from about a quarter in 2000.
The newly articulated ash norms include not storing human cremains in the home and refraining from scattering ashes "in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way ... in order that every appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism be avoided."
The creation of jewelry and other ash-containing mementos is also explicitly prohibited by the guidelines.
Since its founding, the Roman Catholic Church as an institution has always preferred burial to cremation. For periods, cremation was outlawed entirely. However, since the Second Vatican Council, the official position of the church has been that cremation, while not preferable, is also not banned.



The new recommendations reiterate that policy, quoting the church's canon law in stating: "The church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased. Nevertheless, cremation is not prohibited, 'unless it was chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine.' "

Reasons contrary to Christian doctrine, the church says, include "a denial of Christian dogmas, the animosity of a secret society, or hatred of the Catholic religion and the Church."

PAT SAYS:


I do not like the TONE of this Vatican document. In the 21 st century the Church should not be using IT IS FORBIDDEN language on issues like this.

By all means let the church teach and preach its teachings on death, burial, cremation, the resurrection of the body etc.

But to issue ORDERS and INSTRUCTIONS to people is counterproductive. 

As a Christian I believe in heaven and the resurrection of the body. I have a personal preference for burial. I have already purchased a grave and even erected a headstone without my name on it.  It will save someone else doing it after I die. 

As Christians we do believe in the resurrection of the body. But will our resurrected bodies not be like Christ's resurrected body? His resurrected body could pass through walls etc but he was also able to eat with his disciples and appear to them in the form in which they perfectly recognised him.

If we believe that God is all powerful is he not capable of putting us back together from ashes in the sea - just as he is capable of putting us back together from the tummies of worms?

Is the Vatican not arguing about how many angels can fit on the head of a pin?

Heaven and the eternal life is a great mystery. Why should we try and quantify they mystery? Why should we be telling God what he can and cannot do?

There is also the very important point that cremation is a whole lot cheaper than burial. It is easier for poor families to afford a cremation. In Dublin a grave can cost you Euro 1,000. In London one can cost you £10,000 plus. 

Its okay for wealthy cardinals in Rome to pontificate from their marble halls with places reserved for them in marble tombs. 

Should we not be more interested in world hunger, drought, poverty, disease etc than we are in after death mysteries.

The Church should be more interested in the HERE AND NOW rather than in the HERE AFTER.

If your life is good now it will be good after.

A FEW MORE FLOWERS ON THE PATHWAY OF LIFE,

AND FEWER ON THE GRAVES AT THE END OF THE STRIFE

-------------------------------------------------------------------




Thursday 27 October 2016

MAYNOOTH AND GRINDR

MAYNOOTH AND GRINDR



MAYNOOTH is still featuring on the gay app GRINDR and after the fuss over the summer it seems to be business as usual again.


It seems that seminarians are using it again albeit in smaller numbers for the present and those that are using it are going to greater lengths to hide who they really are and cover their tracks. 

During the summer we saw that seminarians were using Grindr to arrange sex with each other, a small number of priests and lay people both inside and out Maynooth University.

It also seems that a small number of Maynooth University staff are Grindr men and through the app they arrange to meet each other, students, seminarians and people in the vicinity of Maynooth and wider afield in Dublin. 

The Blog has received very recent snapshots from Grindr and we will publish them today without saying who the individuals are.  

The snapshots make it clear that seminarians and others are not just using Grindr to MAKE FRIENDS as one seminarian claimed during the summer - but explicitly for no strings attached gay sex. 



I am sure that most readers will understand the meaning of looking for a F***

Others may be unaware of what "rimming" means. How can we say it politely? It means mouth to a** contact.



SEMINARIANS:

The Irish Catholic Bishops - with one curious exception  have come out in support of Maynooth, its staff and its seminarians.

Does that mean that it is okay for seminarians to be having gay sex with each other and with others?

As the bishops have not said otherwise - at least publicly - then it MUST be okay. 

So lads - CARRY IN GRINDING !!!



MAYNOOTH consists of two colleges - the NATIONAL SEMINARY and MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY.

Some seminarians, if not all, attend classes in what we might call the secular university.

The reader who sent us the Grindr pics - which I have heavily edited - believes that seminarians should not be associating in the university with Grindr clients.

How do you feel about this?

The secular Maynooth University is part of the National University of Ireland and therefore it must be guided by the rules of that university and by Irish law - which means that discrimination cannot be tolerated.

People would say that staff and students of the university are entitled to have a private life as long as it does not impinge on the university.

So there can be nothing wrong with members of the university being gay, being actively gay or indeed using gay dating sites. It is their private right?

The only "complication" arises in the case of priests or seminarians.

Maybe the Catholic Church has to ask if Maynooth secular university is a "suitable place" for priests to be teaching or seminarians to be studying? 

Then, on the other hand, if priests or seminarians cannot behave in university what hope is there that they will behave later in dioceses and parishes?

It seems to me that there are issues raised here. 

Is sharing a campus with a secular university a suitable place for a seminary and seminarians?

And then, if you seclude seminarians away for 6 or 7 years will they be suitable to minister in churches and parishes that exist now in the secular world anyway?

Many a priest - straight or gay - has fallen in love with a parishioner or had a fling with them.

Or has the Church got it all wrong on celibacy and homosexuality in the first place?

In any event the Irish Catholic Bishops have not properly and deeply addressed all these issues.

They are content with applying plasters to symptoms rather than addressing the underlying "disease".

And it is precisely that approach that leads to scandals, victims, perpetrators, law suits. loss of faith, lost of trust etc.



Meanwhile Maynooth Grinds on and rocks on - until the next big scandal breaks. 

And that - is just around the corner !

--------------------------------------------









Wednesday 26 October 2016

HOMOSEXUALISING THE CHURCH

HOMOSEXUALISING THE CHURCH




Many clever observers of the Roman Catholic Church say that increasingly the Church is being "homosexualised" - especially in the context that the Catholic priesthood is becoming more and more a "gay" profession.

There are various signs of this homosexualkisation. 

As we saw in this summer's scandal engulfing Maynooth Seminary - most of the seminarians now entering are gay.

That in itself is neither an issue or a problem. The right kind of gay man will make every bit as good a deacon, priest, bishop, archbishop, cardinal or pope as the right kind of straight man.

But the problem we are encountering now is that the priesthood is NOT attracting "straight" men in the way it did in former times.

And on top of that the priesthood is attracting more gay men than before - and the wrong kind of gay man at that.




What is the WRONG KIND of gay man?

It is the kind of gay man that thinks that his sexuality defines him and that it is not just a small part of his whole person-hood, psyche and existence.

It is the kind of gay man that thinks that flaunting his sexuality is the mature way to cope with his sexuality.

It is the type of gay man that has not made the important connection between his sexuality, his spirituality and his morality.

That kind of gay man is psychologically, spiritually and morality SCHIZOPHRENIC.

That's the kind of gay man who thinks it is a sin for a straight guy to have sex outside marriage but not a sin for a gay man.

That's the kind of gay man who, as a priest, promotes or represents strict Catholic morality in the pulpit and confessional or when wearing his collar - but who throws off that morality completely when he is hunting on Grindr, cruising gay bars and clubs or enjoying his time in the gay sauna.

Its also the kind of gay man who enters a seminary and is happy to join the gay cabal / gang in the seminary, play up to seminary staff who are gay and be part of bullying, harassing other seminarians - seminarians who are heterosexual - or seminarians who are gay but want to be celibate or seminarians who are pious and want to do things like kneel at the consecration of the Mass.

You see the world is a very diverse place - when it comes to skin colour, race, creed, ability / disability. gender, sexual orientation etc.

And the Church which is there to let the world know about Jesus needs to be every bit as diverse as the world.

To homosexualise the Catholic priesthood is to destine it for decline and extinction.

We need priests who are black, white, red, yellow etc.

We need priests who are straight, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, asexual etc.

We need priests who are intellectual, artistic, practical, tradesmen, farmers, nurses etc.

We need priests who are men and priests who are women and priests who are somewhere else on that spectrum.

We need priests who are married, single, widowed.


Diversity is VERY GOOD.

That's why it says in the first book of the Bible - Genesis:

"God saw ALL that he made and indeed IT WAS VERY GOOD"

This homosexualisation of the Church is a result of many things - including a negative hang up about sexuality and the human body, virginity, celibacy, sin, hell, anti pleasure etc etc.

These Church teachings are forcing people not to be themselves, to wear masks, play games, pretend and generally speaking escape reality and their real selves with all the human needs that need addressing.

This in turn leads to many types of victims and a varying degree of people behaving irresponsibly or badly.

There is something wrong with someone being a priest and at the same time not being true to themselves. That does not make for an effective priest or a happy person.

Its the reason many priests are on "painkillers" - alcohol, power abuse, illicit affairs, sex hunting, drugs - or develop things like anxiety, depression or obsessive compulsive disorder etc. 

The priesthood is in a great crisis.

That crisis must be deeply examined.

And various things must be done to make the priesthood vibrant and healthy again.

The current majority gay priesthood is not working well at all.

Of course I also realise that there are quite a number of cynical jack the lad heterosexual priests out there too.

We have discussed them on this blog and heard from the women they are abusing.

-----------------------------------------------------------












Monday 24 October 2016

SECRET CLERICAL CHANGES

SECRET CLERICAL CHANGES?




At least TWO IRISH BISHOPS have begun withholding some clerical appointments in the list of their diocesan changes especially in the cases of priests whose names have appeared in the public arena for one reason or another.

FATHER CIARAN DALLAY:




In the Diocese of Down and Connor in Belfast the former cathedral curate who made a parishioner pregnant - Father Ciaran Dallat in now working as a chaplain in Maghaberry Prison. But there was no mention of him in the recently published diocesan changes?

This is how Father Dallat's name appears in the online directory of priests:




But Father Dallat has not lived at St Peter's Cathedral for nearly 18 months !!!

And then if you take a look at the diocesan directory to see the prison chaplains you see no sign of Father Dallat even thought he has been working as a chaplain in Maghaberry Prison for months !!!



The chaplains in Maghaberry are Fr Brady, Fr Bannon, Brother Monaghan and Sister McMahon.

But no sign of Father Dallat ?


FATHER DAVID BROUGH:


And then we move to DUBLIN and to DIARMUID MARTIN.

Fr David Brough, the former PP of Rathmines was off the mission for a while after certain difficulties.

Then we heard that Diarmuid Martin had appointed him to Arklow Parish.

BUT........

This is how Fr Brough appears in the Dublin on line directory of priests:




The Parish of Arklow consists of three sections - Arklow, Castletown and Avoca. 

This is the Parish of Arklow website telling the public who the priests of the parish are:



No Father Brough.

This is the contact list of the Castletown part of Arklow Parish - no Father Brough.




This is the Avoca side of the parish list of personnel:






Where is Father Brough? Is he in Arklow, Castletown or Avoca? But if he is his names are not listed as belonging to any of those areas. If he is in Arklow he is not listed as a PP, a Co PP, a Curate, a Parish Chaplain. 

If he is in any of these areas what is his role?


FATHER CHRIS DERWIN:

Father Derwin has been in the news and has been curate in Balbriggan in Dublin. This is how he is listed in the on line Dublin directory:




There has been talk of him moving for months now and talk of him not getting on well with the PP Father Eugene Taffe and talk of security cameras being installed at the presbytery.

A parishioner of Balbriggan sent us the following from Sunday's Balbriggan Parish newsletter:




A call from Archbishop's House. There have been rumours for weeks that Diarmuid was moving Father Derwin to the south of the diocese - the deep south.

But no announcement as to where he is going?

Normally it is announced that Father ............... is leaving Balbriggan and we wish him well in  his new parish of .............

But Father Derwin's destination is not known - except to Diarmuid Martin and presumably the PP of wherever he is going.

What is the point of having CLERICAL CHANGES if some appointments are published and some are not?

What is the point of having on line Diocesan Clergy Lists if not all diocesan priests are on it?

What is the point of diocesan websites if they are not kept up to date?

Why are some bishops publishing their clerical changes late or not at all? 

What is the thinking behind publishing SOME clerical appointments and keeping other SECRET?

I hope we are not repeating the habits of the bad old days when priests were quietly moved around from parish to parish for all kinds of reasons.

We don't really expect a lot from most of the Irish bishops - but Diarmuid Martin is supposed to be the champion of TRANSPARENCY.

What are you at Diarmuid?


WE WOULD BE INTERESTED TO HEAR OF OTHER SECRET CLERICAL CHANGES IN OTHER DIOCESE

bishoppatbuckley@hotmail.com




-------------------------------------------------------