Monday 18 December 2017

SCOTTISH PRIEST REMOVED FOR STALKING FORMER ALTAR BOY ONLINE
FATHER KING

FATHER Frank King was rebuked by the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Toal over a series of messages he sent on Facebook to Tony Moore.

BY Stuart McDonald

A PARISH priest has been removed from his post after a complaint was made to church bosses that he harassed a former altar boy online.



Father Frank King was rebuked by the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Toal over a series of messages he sent on Facebook to Tony Moore.

The 29-year-old yesterday told how he was stunned when King, 50, started bombarding him with messages asking to meet up.

The priest contacted him online and repeatedly asked him to go out for dinner or meet up at his house.

When Tony, a hairdresser, didn’t reply to the messages, the priest at St Aidan’s church in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, tried to call him several times.

Tony had a meeting with Bishop Toal, where he showed him the messages and raised concerns about King’s behaviour.


Shocked: Tony Moore(Image: Pressteam)


Church bosses yesterday said King had been warned about his use of social media and has been relieved of his duties.

Parishioners were informed he would not be conducting services when they attended Mass at the weekend.

Tony, of Wishaw, told how he met King briefly in a restaurant in May last year when he was dining with a mutual friend. The priest later added him as a friend on Facebook.

He said: “When he first added me on Facebook, I wasn’t really sure who he was. He sent me a couple of messages just asking how I was, which I replied to just to be polite.

“But then I got a message from him asking me to come to his house to have a drink. I thought it was a bit strange and I didn’t reply.

“I then couldn’t believe it when I looked through his Facebook photos and saw he was a priest.”

Tony added: “I hadn’t heard anything from him for more than a year but then last month he started messaging me again.

“He was saying things like, ‘We need to get together’, ‘Why don’t you come to mine’ and ‘Don’t be shy’.

“They were inappropriate and provocative. It continued for three days. I was getting messages at all times of the day and night.

“I found it really creepy and I couldn’t believe I was being pestered like this by a priest.

“I had given absolutely no indication that I was interested in meeting up with him. It made me feel really uncomfortable and I went to my mum and told her what had been happening.”

Tony, his mother and sister met Bishop Toal last week.

He said: “The bishop looked through the messages but he never wrote anything down about what they said and then he asked me if I was surprised by it.

“He said he would speak to Father King and get back to me. He phoned me later and said he had spoken to Father King, who he said was very upset about it.

“He said Father King had said he thought he remembered me from when I was an altar boy and that’s why he had added me on Facebook. I have no memory of him.

“The bishop then said he had told him the messages were inappropriate and that it would not be happening again.

“I don’t know if he has done anything wrong legally but it is certainly morally wrong.”

A Diocese of Motherwell spokesman said: “This matter was not referred to the police. The priest concerned was asked to exercise care when using social media.”

Meanwhile, it emerged at the weekend that a priest from Perth has been suspended over historic abuse allegations.

The Catholic Church called in police after the allegations emerged against Father Tom Shields, the priest at St John the Baptist church in Perth.

He has been ordered to stand down from his duties while the claims are investigated.

PAT SAYS:

Sadly another shocking scandal for the Catholic faithful of Scotland.

Since the Cardinal O'Brien scandal, there has been one scandal after another to rock the faith of the Scottish Catholics.

There are all kinds of scandals and problems worldwide in the Catholic Church - but the prevailing one seems to be the gay scandal of seminaries, dioceses and religious orders.

It seems that many of these scandals are born in the seminarians with seminarians and priests abandoning their professions and promises.

We saw it in Ireland with Maynooth and indeed with The Irish College in Rome.

It seems that they had similiar problems in Scottish seminaries and in The Scots College in Rome.

These are not isolated incidents.

They suggest a very clear pattern - a pattern that the Pope and the world's bishops are going to have to address. 


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61 comments:

  1. It never ends Pat... The Catholic Church is in denial about a problem that is glaringly obvious: the priesthood has turned into a dumping ground for homosexuals who want to escape from the harsh realities of life, who are coddled and supported by the hierarchy and much of the laity, while leading double lives and destroying the Faith of many little ones and diminishing the integrity and seriousness of the priesthood in the eyes of the younger generation.

    The Church appears to have no awareness of how it is viewed now by those in their late teens and twenties.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How would you say people in their teens and twenties view the Church?

      Genuine question.

      Pat.

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    2. 8.31
      Your post exhibits a lack of faith, very little hope and absolutely no charity.

      Delete
    3. With contempt I imagine, after all the scandals.

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    4. 8:31’s post is spot on. It is TOTALLY realistic and true. What dark regions of Denial and Excuses do you inhabit one wonders?

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    5. 8.31. Your comments are not true in their entirety. There are some wonderful youth programmes taking place for young people right across our country. Parishes try their best to engage young teenagers in different ways - not always successfully. However, we must remember the times we are living in. It's a very different landscape than 10/15/20 years ago. Handing on faith is hugely challenging and simplistic, uninformed comments like yours do not enlighten in any way. It is also a distortion to conclude that the church is a dumping ground for homosexual men to escape from harsh realuties of lufe. Give us your scientific research data - truthfully - instead of gossipy innuendo. What, may I ask is the Oratory offering teenagers to attract their commitment? What wonderful full congregations are there after 34 years or more? I don't see flames of fire anywhere - even in Larne!

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    6. Re/young people's views on the Church. My two teenage children attend Mass weekly with us and we know our older boy at away at university still does too as we see him on the chapel webcam. We pray God that they will continue on the right path. They seem to know and understand their faith well but we are so busy and probably can't take much credit for that. We give a lot of credit to the teachers in their Catholic schools along the way. They are great.

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    7. 12:19, if you want scientific data just analyse the John Jay Report on the US scandals and the many stories as above and the Maynooth scandal, etc...

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    8. I've had the privilege to walk with teenagers in the journey of faith for more than fifteen years now. So many of them feel homeless. They have this personal encounter with Jesus and struggle to see the Christian community they meet in Acts at a local level. There are some very pastoral compassionate priest and lay ministers about but its far too inconsistent. The worst injury to a young person's faith is when a good priest is replaced by a twit. In my humble experience many of our young people have a healthier relationship with the Lord than some of the priests in ministry. I pray as a brother that some form of evangelisation takes place with those in ministry! Any form of pastoring when your prayer life has disappeared and your well is dry will inevitably end up in damaging those around. Bishop Pat, i love to see your focus on prayer life when you discern a brother's vocation. I think we have far too many theologians who have learned what spirituality is and never experienced it!

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    9. I've had the privilege to walk with teenagers in the journey of faith for more than fifteen years now. So many of them feel homeless. They have this personal encounter with Jesus and struggle to see the Christian community they meet in Acts at a local level. There are some very pastoral compassionate priest and lay ministers about but its far too inconsistent. The worst injury to a young person's faith is when a good priest is replaced by a twit. In my humble experience many of our young people have a healthier relationship with the Lord than some of the priests in ministry. I pray as a brother that some form of evangelisation takes place with those in ministry! Any form of pastoring when your prayer life has disappeared and your well is dry will inevitably end up in damaging those around. Bishop Pat, i love to see your focus on prayer life when you discern a brother's vocation. I think we have far too many theologians who have learned what spirituality is and never experienced it!

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  2. Congratulations, Brother Jim.

    (Is that Aria in the background?)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bishop Pat, what is the process at The Oratory for those who wish to receive Holy Orders?

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    Replies
    1. The process is like this:

      1. The person seeking Holy Orders approaches us.

      2. We have long chats about their past, their current situation and their sense of vocation.

      3. At an early stage they meet the whole congregation Nd all get to know each other.

      4. A police check and other checks are acquired.

      5. We look at their education and their knowledge of theology, scripture, liturgy etc.

      6. We look at their past and current involvement in ministry.

      7. We look a their spirituality and prayer life.

      8. We look at all aspects of their health.

      9. After all of this the congregation will commit to follow a plan a d instruct me accordingly.

      10. We all ask: "What is God's call to this man or woman"?

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    2. An obvious and excellent way to assess a candidate's suitability for priesthood. Well done!

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  4. Shocking scandal? Some pearl-clutching here, I'd say.

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    Replies
    1. Including the hairdresser by the looks of things.

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    2. Couldn’t agree more. It’s called a rhetorical flourish.

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    3. Lol I was wondering when someone was going to make a comment like that.

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    4. The mafia defence are out today...

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  5. The Fr King scandal has all the hallmarks of a silly old queen with a drink in him. It predates the current “Mrs Mills” scandal by some years I think.

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  6. It looks as though that priest was stalking Tony Moore, the unhappy result of a obsession with the man.

    It isn't enough, I'm afraid, that Father King has been relieved of active ministry: he needs counselling, not only about his apparent obsession, but about just how deeply he is prepared to re-commit himself to his freely made promise of celibacy. If it is established that this promise was not made in earnest (and cannot be re-committed to in the same way), then he really ought to be laicised as soon as possible.

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    Replies
    1. Laicisation seems extreme in this case. Had it happened in Ireland, he would have been sent to America for a while till things blow over.

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    2. I agree with you, 11:54, that laicisation would be extreme in this case...as a first step. But if this priest is not prepared to be celebate (and this includes chastity), then, realistically, what's the alternative?

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    3. I’m sorry to tell you Magna Carta - he’s BACK in ministry!

      Is it too much to expect that our priests have some integrity, to say nothing of a titter of basic wit??

      Frank King is a buffoon. He is extremely immature and he should not be a priest.

      I would not trust this man around my sons.

      How can any young man go to a priest like this with a problem and not fear that he will be “perved” over as the young ones say?

      How can they stand up with any credibility and preach a sermon?

      The earlier poster at 08:31 is absolutely right about the danger these men are causing to the Church in Scotland. They are making Catholics a laughing stock in a country where there is a long history of bigotry against us.

      The leadership is the absolute pits too!

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    4. http://www.rcdom.org.uk/st-peters-hamilton

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    5. 12:29, what you've said (that King is back in ministry) is shocking, but not surprising. It's testament to the grossly over-inflated opinion clergy have of priesthood (and, therefore, of themselves): that, ontologically, a priest must be held in the highest regard...no matter how he behaves.

      British history is thick with examples of this kind of thinking, to the point where offending clerics were considered too special to be tried in secular courts and were instead tried by Church-run tribunals, which, of course, handed down much more lenient sentences (ordered on pilgrimmage, for example, rather than suffer the more severe secular penalty).

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    6. Good to see you back magna carta

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    7. Francisrex, as he calls himself on hotmail, is back, as bold as brass, at St Peter's, Hamilton.

      Delete
  7. Pat you are definitely the pink Bishop now!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the pic of Pinkie and Perkie!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Pat your friend Phonsie Is on Liveline with Joe Duffy

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  10. By the looks of pleated surplice and rose vestments, there's a conservative tone in the picture. I thought you were radical! But you both look good. Pat, while I disagree with most of how you interpret things, realities and events, and while I believe you encourage much venom against the Catholic Church and clergy and allow Magna a vicious reign on this blog, I would genuinely love to see the emergence of small Christian communities of prayer, deep gospel spirituality, contemplation and social action. I think your vision would be much more successful and fruitful if you concentrated more on establishing such communities. Leave the criticism of the "sins of the fathers" to other critics. There's a trolley load of them available. I'd love to witness the growth of new Christian communities.

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    Replies
    1. I would say that I am "traditional" on things like liturgy, vestments etc.

      I am "liberal" on theological and social matters.

      I always dress properly for Mass and the sacraments.

      I not not traditional in the sense of Tridentine - although I believe that those who are are entitled to be that too.

      I would sincerely love to see the establishment of basic Christian communities. In one sense I believe we have one here.

      But you know the sword has two edges - one sharp one for cutting away decay - and a more soft edge for buttering bread and spreading oil on wounds.

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  11. It's not unknown for a middle-aged man to become helplessly infatuated with a pretty young(er) thing. Death in Venice, for example. Painful, but normally it might be thought rather mean to involve the man's "boss" in resolving the situation.

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  12. I see there is a new Anglican bishop of London- and a woman Here here!
    I am delighted to see it. Others on this blog might have other views
    Will you ordain any of your priest's bishops, Pat???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The new woman Bishop is for Aberdeen and Orkney for the Scottish Episcopalian Church and the Dean and Senior people have resigned because of it.

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  13. Bishop Pat, how many women have you ordained priest? I know you ordained at least one.

    Are there currently any women preparing for priesthood with you?

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    Replies
    1. Just 1 18 years ago. None at the moment.

      Our next priestly ordination is on January 28th.

      Delete
  14. I think it’s great that you have ordained Brother Jim to the order of Lector; it’s even more impressive that you have done so after consultation with your congregation at the Oratory.

    I have read a lot about the Royal Commission in Australia over the last few days and have realised even more acutely how badly wrong the Church has got its priorities in relation to child protection and safeguarding even now. I love Catholic spirituality and going to Mass; I do not feel comfortable being part of the Roman Catholic Church which can do so much harm and still dare to suggest it has any moral integrity.

    I pity the priest described here. I suspect the loneliness he felt and the desperation to be near another human being drove him to act in an entirely inappropriate way. I do not excuse him or his behaviour but wonder what kind of organisation, premised on love, would allow any human being to be put into such a situation. Clergy in open partnerships - gay or straight - seems to me a much more full and healthy way to encourage a ministry which is mature and developed. Perpetuating a system in which lonely men seek solace in food, drink, gambling and illicit sex seems crazy to me, however beautiful the theology of priesthood might be in the abstract. Can it ever justify such horrendous damage and human cost?

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  15. 99.99% of the lonely men on the likes of Grindr, Fabguys etc are laymen. The AA and Weightwatchers are 99.9% lay people, so it's wrong to suggest that they are problems afflicting only Catholic clergy or caused by the Catholic church.

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    Replies
    1. But these lonely men as you call them probably don't abuse their position to condemn and harm other gay people like the pulpit pooves persistently do.

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    2. What, 21:37? The fact that these 'laymen' are visiting such sites (For what? Sex?) means that their intention IS to abuse another human being.

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    3. 20.28 How many clergy have the guts to attend AA. Anyway it is anonymous there is no rank or distinction just a higher power. where does 99.99 % come from the Dettol ad....

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    4. At 21.37
      Those who use phrases like ‘intrinsically disordeted’ are rare enough. The Dominican priest in Dublin in June 2015 was the most recent.

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    5. Cardinal Keith OBrien called homosexuality ‘a moral degradation.’

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    6. True... but it didn't stop him, did it?

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  16. I'm informed that the incident on today's log happening ed 2 years ago and that Fr King is now back in ministry.

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    Replies
    1. I am sure he has learned his lesson, but if we discover he is bad mouthing gays from his poovey pulpit it should be reported on here.

      Delete
  17. Is it just me or this blog or both that think that a significant no of RC Clergy have a screwed up sexuality. Clarice and I attended a Christmas Bash with the bishop this evening. Ordinands being ordained deacon attended including some partners attended. It all seemed extremely normal if there is such a thing. I not saying CoE is perfect
    I am wondering if generations of celibacy is a root contributor to many clerical hangups.

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  18. Pat, at 13:23 I made very unkind comments about Frank King. I did so out of anger and frustration at the ridicule to which the Church is being exposed by the behaviour of some priests.

    However, I should not have made the very uncharitable remarks and I am sorry. I would be grateful if you could delete the post. I will confess it and do penance. It has bothered me all day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pat, I asked you to remove that comment and you didn’t.

      Delete
    2. Well, if he didn't, he has now... and I missed it. Drat!

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    3. '... and I am sorry.'

      No you're not, you are an attention seeker... like Magna.

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    4. Sorry? Prove it. Get yourself up to the Giant's Ring and put your bum in the air.

      Delete
  19. Pat, Can i email you?

    ReplyDelete
  20. “There are closeted gay priests who are vipers,” observes the theologian Mark D. Jordan, the author of The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism. “They are really poisonous people, and they work out their own inner demonology by getting into positions in power and exercising it” against other gay men, women, and anyone whom they perceive to be a threat. “Alongside that are suffering priests who seem sincere all the way down, who are trying to be faithful to God, and also to take care of people and change the institution. They are the ones who are always forgotten, and read out of the story from both sides.”

    Vanity Fair - Letter from Rome - The Vatican’s Secret Life
    Michael Joseph Gross

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