Wednesday 7 March 2018

ANOTHER DROMORE MESS???


CANON LIAM STEVENSON

CANON LIAM STEVENSON - THE PARISH PRIEST OF LURGAN - HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS ADMINISTRATOR OF DROMORE DIOCESE IN THE WAKE OF THE FATHER FINNEGAN SCANDAL AND THE RESIGNATION OF BISHOP JOHN MC AREAVEY.

McAreavey


Was Canon Stevenson's appointment a wise and well-thought-out appointment?

I'm not so sure.

Canon Stevenson taught in St Colman's College alongside and under the principalship of Father Finnegan.

Canon Stevenson went to St Colman's College on his ordination in 1972 and stayed there until 2000. For the last period, he himself was principal of the college. That means he was 28 years a priest-teacher in the college.

No one is saying that Canon Stevenson has done anything wrong. Absolutely not. 

But he lived in the same building as Finnegan from 1972 to 1987 - a period of 15 years.

He shared every meal with Finnegan in the college Priest's Dining Room.

FINNEGAN

Is it really wise to appoint a former colleague of Father Finnegan to be the administrator of Dromore Diocese when the bishop has just resigned for celebrating Finnegan's funeral and celebrating Mass with him in Hilltown Parish?

During all the years of the Finnegan abuse did Canon Stevenson and the other teachers never hear a whisper of what was going on?

Did not a single boy not tell someone?

Did any boy tell any other priest staff member in Confession of what was going on?

Maybe that is the case. But I find it hard to believe that there was not even one whisper during the 40 YEAR REIGN OF ABUSE.

And even just from the public perception view - was it wise to appoint a teaching colleague of Finnegans to be the diocesan administrator at this difficult time.

Why does the Catholic Church never learn?


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




  
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 8TH MARCH 2018
FROM: MY MIND BLOG


Happy International Women’s Day!
Today, we acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of women socially, environmentally, politically, culturally and economically.
Since 1911, women have spent this day telling their stories, reflecting on their journey in a bid to inspire other women but also to call for gender equality.
As George-Hilley (2015) stated “International Women’s Day is a positive force for celebration, but it must also be a platform for action and transformation to empower women across the world”.
IF THINGS HAVE CHANGED, WHY DO WE STILL CELEBRATE IT?
Well, the original aim of the day was to achieve full gender equality for women around the world. While things have changed, the aim still hasn’t been achieved. Global figures such as Malala Yousafzai and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson still show that women’s health, education, employment rate and payment are still less than that of men.
Now this is not to exclude men and all they have done in the attempt of unity across both genders.
As men, here are a few things you can do to carry on the work done to achieve women’s rights:
1.     Ask the women and girls in your life about their experiences with inequality?
2.     Ask how you can help drive change?
3.     Get involved with events and charities that aim to increase equality for men and women
4.     Acknowledge the daily struggles that women in your life face
5.     Organise a discussion on the changing roles and expectations of women
It has been proven that having celebration such as the International Women’s Day provide a space for discussion between both men and women. It is an event that is open to anyone who wants to be a part of change.
WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH
In the race to achieve gender equality for all, women usually juggle many things and in silence in order not to appear weak. The role of the modern woman usually involves being a mother, spouse, carer, worker, friend as well managing the traditional role that society sets out for them.
These roles expose women to many risk factors for poor mental health. While some women might ask for help when juggling too many things, others might find it difficult to talk about their feeling and internalise them, which can lead to mental health problems. These are factors that we each have to be aware daily regardless of our gender or background.
Being #BoldForChange requires courage, stepping out of traditional definitions of masculinity or gender norms, which can come at a high personal risk to one’s reputation or even safety. Here at MyMind, we have mental health professionals who can help you along the way, so feel free to get in touch if you need someone to talk to.
Let’s make everyday International Women’s Day.

By Cynthia Ebere-Anaba

107 comments:

  1. Dromore is just a total mess.

    suppose he is the only one qualified to do the confirmations.

    Why is Mc Keown not doing the 90 confirmations in Omagh on Saturday.?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All the Dromore parish priests have been delegated to do their own confirmations.

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pat, considering the small corps of priests to choose from, I see nothing wrong with the appointment of Canon Stevenson. Despite your efforts to absolve him of any wrongdoing, your piece taints all by asdociation. I really think you should stop interfering now in the challenges that face Dromore Diocese as you bring nothing positive, creative or constructive to solving its difficulties. You seem thrilled to build your fame on the downfall of others. You do so without any semblance of justice, fairness and balance. I don't know Canon Stevenson very well but I would be concerned for his life after your article as it is full of innuendo, judgment and suggestion. I think you are totally unfair and very mean spirited. But then, you are not of Christ! The other article deserve its proper space and shoukd not have been placed alongside this. Women Deserve Better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would be more concerned for the life of the church if reparation for cover up and looking the other way on abuse is not done. As a lay person it looks a little ominous. For a personal response, I do wish the canon well in a difficult role. I'm sure he does not expect to be there for very long.

      Delete
    2. What a hypocritical comment. Christ told a woman she should be stoned to death for adultery if the stoners were worthy and he told the Jews off for abrogating God's command to have sons who didnt respect their parents stoned to death.

      Delete
  4. Guilt by association now Pat???!!! Get a grip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even allowing the benefit of the doubt of any knowledge of sexual abuse, Stevenson must have been fully aware of the grotesque physical abuse being carried out by Finnegan at the college during his forty-odd year association.

      Delete
    2. No guilt. Unfortunate association.

      Delete
    3. 10:31 Canon Stevenson was 28 years in the college, not 40.

      Delete
    4. No one is saying that Canon Stevenson has done anything wrong.

      I make that clear in the Blog.

      What I do question is the wisdom - in view of the massive public interest in the story - of appointing anyone (not just Canon Stevenson - with a strong St. Colman's connection - especially a priest who taught alonside Finnegan.

      Delete
    5. MourneManMichael8 March 2018 at 12:23

      I spoke recently with a relative who was at St Colmans during the Finnegan era. to quote him: "Even the dogs on the playing fields knew to avoid Finnegan, and as a first year, older pupils told you to avoid being alone with him, not to go anywhere in his car with him......."! He personally knows one fellow pupil who was sexually molested by Finnegan, and subsequently, as an adult, after making a complaint to the diocese, was "paid off" even after he refused to sign a non disclosure document.
      It is my personal view that Stevenson must have, and certainly ought to have, known enough about Finnegan's unacceptable behaviour to have raised concerns at some stage prior to the current wave of disclosures. Perhaps he did? Where does/did the buck stop?
      But given his past association with Finnegan and St Colman's, it seems only reasonable to question whether his present "acting-up" role in place of McAreavey is a wise move. Was it an automatic presumption for him to 'move up' or did McAreavey choose him from among other possible candidates?
      MMM

      Delete
    6. MMM, Canon Stevenson is the Vicar General of Dromore and as such shares in the delegated power of the bishop.

      It would be quite normal for a VG to fill the role of "administrator" when the see is vacant.

      But as you say, in view of the Canon's close associations with Finnegan, it would have been wiser for a priest without associations to be the administrator - even from the point of view of public perception.

      Caesar's wife must not only be above suspicion - but seen to be above suspicion.

      Delete
    7. Canon Stevenson replaced the outgoing Monsignor Aidan Hamill as Vicar General as of 5th January last. It's unlikely that the Bishop chose him in anticipation of the present situation.

      Delete
    8. It will be very interesting so to see who the priest consultors elect as the administrator when the time comes.

      Delete
    9. It's ludicrous to put a newly ordained priest into a school and leave him there for 28 years. Why didn't he just become a lay teacher.

      At least he'll have a very agreeable teacher's pension, especially as he was the president for a while.

      Delete
    10. Don't be so ready to believe in such a priest's financial security in retirement: some of his income may go to the diocese, i.e. 'his bishop'.

      Delete
    11. You're probably right. The priests in St Michael's College in Enniskillen had to hand over a big chunk of their teacher's salary to subsidise the boarding department. I remember the President, Fr Macartan McQuaid complaining about it.

      Delete
    12. I know of one priest, a former teacher at St Malachy's College in Belfast, who, apparently, left the priesthood and his teaching post, in part because such a huge swathe of his salary went to Down and Connor.

      Delete
    13. Aidan Hamill was a very outgoing VG, 12:38. Lol

      Delete
  5. I agree with 6.21. We should pray for Dromore Diocese and trust for its future. As for Magna, nothing new in his drunken, ignorant rant. The hurt of being thrown out of seminary weighs heavy on him. Canon Stevenson needs our support and prayers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who appoints Administrators?

      Delete
    2. I think the Canons or Priest Consultors.

      Delete
    3. No administrator has as yet been appointed. The good canon is the absent bishop's vicar general and can continue in that role until the bishop's resignation has been accepted by the Pope. Given the gross discourtesy shown to the Holy Father by the premature announcement of the resignation it could take the Vatican bureaucracy a very long time to do anything at all about it.

      Delete
    4. FROM DROMORE DIOCESAN WEBSITE

      Letter to People, Religious and Clergy of the Diocese.

      2nd March 2018

      Today I am writing my letter of resignation as Bishop of Dromore to Pope Francis. I do so with a heavy heart. I wrestled with this decision over recent weeks; it was not an easy decision to take. Following recent media coverage which has disturbed and upset many people, I decided on Thursday to resign.

      I would ask you first and foremost to continue to hold in your prayers those who have been abused and all who are suffering at this time.


      Until new arrangements for the leadership of the Diocese are in place, Canon Liam Stevenson, the Vicar General will take responsibility for the day to day administration of the Diocese.


      As regards the celebration of Confirmation, the priests of each parish have been delegated to minister this Sacrament.

      To serve as Bishop of Dromore, my home Diocese, has been the greatest privilege of my life, though not without its challenges.

      Finally, I want to say thank you for your kindness and co-operation over my time as Bishop. Please keep me in your prayers, as I will keep you in mine.

      John McAreavey

      Delete
    5. 11:32, in other words, 'the Vatican will engage in tit for tat by delaying its response to McAreavey's "gross discourtesy to the Holy Father by the premature announcement of the resignation" '. Oh, how morally edifying that would be! What an example to set others! But then, what could one reasonably expect from that place?

      Delete
  6. Dear Bishop Buckley,


    I really like your blog however it never allows me to post even after two attempts at Cars, signs, buses, street signs so I give in.


    Can you point out that it is the Canons of the Diocese or the College of Consulters that appoint an Administrator till a New Bishop is appointed and at the rate Cardinal Mark Outlett is appointing it can be a few years however the Diocesan Treasurer stays in post he is the only part of the Curia that stays during a Vacant See.


    Also I wonder if the Bishop asked his fellow Bishops to cover Confirmations and they all refused this should be taken up with the Papal Nuncio and Cardinal Sarah at the Congregation of Devine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.


    God Bless

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mary !a Aleese states the Rc church is misogynistic

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 12.16 What's that. Is it contagious

      Delete
    2. Who cares what Mary McAleese says? Sounds like she'd be much happier as an Anglican.

      Delete
    3. Mary is one of a group of dissident has-beens who'll address a group of silverhaired coffin-dodgers in the Gresham about "5 years to save the Irish church". A very balanced panel, not.

      Delete
    4. I wonder if Brian Darcy will once again affirm his deep-seated desire to marry a woman lol? https://www.irishcatholic.com

      Delete
    5. Please refrain from that insulting term "coffin dodgers".
      You, in particular, were told that before.

      Delete
    6. .... Which goes to show that Mary is not wrong about everything ..

      Delete
    7. Why do you object, 00:42? Is it because you are one yourself? Who appointed you moderator of what can be said here? It's Pat's blog, not yours.

      Delete
    8. I hope there are plenty of disabled loos and handrails in the corridors of the Gresham, as there'll be nobody under 70 at that event.

      Delete
  8. I think Pat is right to question the cannon’s appointment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because Canon Stevenson's appointment may be an unwise and ill-thought-out appointment?


      Delete
    2. I'm glad that pervy Anglican bishop of Chichester, Peter Ball, was not made a Canon. Could you imagine introducing yourself as Canon Ball?

      Delete
  9. I'm giving my missus the day off from cooking and housework in recognition of today.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm a firm supporter of ladies lib. I'm letting mine out of the kitchen for a few hours to tidy up the garage and to Hoover the car but she's definitely NOT driving it. We haven't come that far!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I let "her indoors" borrow my motor for a big shop in Tesco. She reversed into a metal bollard in the car park. Needless to say I didn't lol.

      Delete
  11. I'm sure I speak for all blokes when I say that the birds deserve a pat on the bottom for organising International Women's Day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @16.13

      I tried out your recommended Women's Day "bottom pat" today in the office. It doesn't work.
      I am on my way up to boss's office .(I didn't recognise his wife in front of me in the lunch canteen..)

      Delete
    2. I bought the office lesbian a new pair of dungarees, for the day that's in it.

      Delete
    3. @16.13
      LOL .. Priceless!
      The boss's wife... Oh dear..!

      Delete
  12. It’s not disrespectful of JMcA to have resigned without having first received approval crom the Vatican.

    It is unreasonable of the Vatican to insist on this way of proceeding.

    It’s simply another instance of the exercise of power by the Vatican around the appointment of bishops which rctens to managing their resignation also. For that reason, JMcA knew he wouldn’t be allowed to go when he wanted to.

    Bishops sould be elected locally. The Church of Ireland has an excellent system. Typically it involves 12 laity and 12 clergy from the diocese and the same numbers again from within the ecclesiastical province making 48, plus 3 bishops.

    For most of the 19 Century most Irish diocese were filled by election locally. Emmett Larkin’s multi-volume history gives copious examples.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is well known that in the Catholic Church, as indeed in many organizations, no one may leave their post until their resignation has been formally accepted by the appropriate authority. The only exception in the Catholic Church is the Pope himself, as we saw with Pope Benedict. The hasty bishop could have done with the services of a good canon lawyer. Nemo judex in causa sua, as they say themselves, no one can be the judge in his own case.

      Delete
    2. McAreavey did not judge himself, 18:24: he was judged by circumstance and by people in his diocese; and he was found to be seriously wanting.

      Delete
    3. What do you think it is, the Eurovision Song Contest or Btiain's Got Episcopal Talent?

      Delete
    4. All Anglicans are laity, there's not a deacon, priest or bishop among them.. Their Orders are absolutely null and utterly void.

      Delete
    5. Why don't you become an Anglican if they are so very, very great?

      Delete
    6. 18:24 You fail to grasp what’s at stake. Whether or not his resignation has been accepted by the Vatican is not the issue. It is rather that the Vatican’s stranglehold on the power dynamics involved extend to a man’s not being allowed even to apply to resign when he wants to. That’s a human right. McAreavey knew that, being the canin lawyer he is, and chose to exercise him human right. For this he deserves to be applauded.

      Delete
    7. Join the CoI then!

      Delete
  13. If the election system in the CofI had been employed by the Catholic Church in Ireland I very much doubt that many of the prelates presently in office
    Would have been elected.
    A system like this would favour the likes of Fr Timothy Bartlett. His talents would be easily identified by good people of sound judgement and heartily endorsed by a dozen clergy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Bro Tim had stayed in the Christian Bruvs he'd probably be Superior General by now.

      Delete
    2. At 18:02 - ROFL

      Delete
    3. At 18:02 Howdy Timothy! How’s it hangin man? Lol

      Delete
    4. Rev Bro/Fr Timothy Bartlett not CC or PP8 March 2018 at 21:22

      Hi 20:10, long time no speak. Things aren't great, not much interest in the WMOF2018 and that was supposed to be my big break. The Congregation for Bishops is taking soundings on Dromore. It wouldn't be my first choice (the palace is a bit poky) but any port in a storm.

      Delete
    5. Would you take a bet on that?

      Delete
    6. I'm barred from Paddy Powers.

      Delete
  14. Could this be Mgr Hugh "cowboy" Connolly's big moment? Or does he like his Paris sinecure too much to return to dreary Dromore?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Rt Rev Mgr Hugh Connolly DD8 March 2018 at 19:14

    Paris in the Spring or Newry in the Spring? May I have 5 minutes to think about it?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Pat What is it about incriminating everybody who inhabitated planet earth when Fr Finnegan was alive ? Nolan will be next to latch on to the fact that Canon Stevenson is in some way tainted because he worked in the same building as Finnegan. Grow up and change the record for fuck sake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bad language is unacceptable!

      Delete
  17. As for the Church of Ireland my friend, in Christian church terms it is comparable with Knockbreda Utd v Barcelona FC , C0I a small bunch of lapsed catholics whose church founder was a head hunting congenital syphlitic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, we can't be sure he was a syphilitic, much less 'a congenital' syphilitic.😆

      Delete
    2. 20.08 Ecclesial Community sounds better.

      Delete
  18. Maybe you should return to mainstream Catholicism Pat after your sojourn in the desert of Larne, eating locusts and dodging Protestant paramilitaries. There is a vacancy in Dromore which could be your entry point back into reality, and having to deal with the tens of thousands of souls who Bishop McAreavey ministered to .. instead of boxing yourself into a bedroom in Larne and behaving like a spoilt child .. Step up to the mark Pat and support us, we are not the earthenware jars containing the sacred mysteries as Paul put it so eloquently, we are ALL fragile weak clay pots.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Mainstream Catholicism'? Roman Catholicism was never mainstream anything...not since it ceased to ignore the sacredness of every human being.😆

      Delete
    2. More to the point, when is the Clogher vacancy being filled by Joe McGuinness? Why does it take the Vatican so long to make such a patently obvious selection? Fewer siestas, more bishops please. Are you getting that, Vatican City?

      Delete
    3. At 21:31 - now now, Joe. As my granny used to say, “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip”. Lol

      Delete
  19. The CofI (sic, lol) is a house divided against itself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Justify your post.😆

      Delete
    2. High church low church, evangelicals who might as well belong to different churches and flying bishops, for starters.

      Delete
  20. It's not even the CofNI, where the Catholics are the biggest religious grouping, followed by the Presbyterians, then the CofI (lol) and the Methodists bringing up the rear of the four larger groupings. Then you have the various small Protestant churches such as the Plymouth Brethren and my favourite, the Cooneyites, which like the Free Presbyterians is indigenous to Ulster.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Seems the media are starting to turn up the heat on Stevenson.

    https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2018/03/08/news/priest-in-charge-of-dromore-was-involved-in-church-service-with-paedophile-fr-malachy-finegan-1273028/

    ReplyDelete
  22. I really think the Irish temperament is most compatible with the other one true church, the Orthodox Church. After all didn’t our ancestors sell their pigs using Greek? Also, I remember reading in one of Granpa’s histories, O’Haverty mayhap, that some wandering Irish monks joined in with the monks of an Eastern monastery and sang the office in Greek.

    Kick out all the Western Hereticks! Go Orthodox!

    Seraphim+

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All the talk of the various religions in Ireland, and not a word about the most enchanting church in Christendom. Right now it is an immigrant affair in Ireland, but who knows what the future will bring? ( Not to say that they are problem free but they are not boring, IMHO)

      Delete
  23. Bartlett is a shoe in for Meath.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @ 22.33

      You say "Bartlett is a shoe" I am sure he will save his sole then..

      Delete
    2. A shoe in the behind is what parish-dodger TB needs.

      Delete
  24. Really why are people so concerned about religion?
    And about getting bishops for Clogher etc.
    Surely all we should be concerned about is being the best christians that we can be.
    Do you honestly think that us Catholics will get into heaven any sooner than Pat or Sean or any other from another religion.
    Surely all any of us has to do is to live to please god.....and let others do their thing, whatever that is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What, like Satanists and their indistinguishable cell-mates Abolish the 8th advocates?

      Delete
  25. 21.31...are you for real.
    Bishops...what for...to prance around and look important.
    Sheeeeeesssshhhhhh....yawnnnnnnnnnnn

    ReplyDelete
  26. These posts make me want to puke.
    You clergy going on out who u want for bishops.
    Men...such gossips...and this is women’s day.
    Think some of you are worse than those rugby men

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any word on Joe McGuinness for Clogher? He's been Diocesan Administrator since October 2016. That's far too long a wait for him and the diocese. It's like Chinese torture.

      Delete
    2. The Bollotino disappointed again this week.

      Delete
  27. Just a friendly warning to all you good folks.

    A few us were ambling back from Ye Olde Deane Inn earlier on Prince Albert St and noticed some strange goings on, up at the old Carta place, up on the hill.

    Lots of flashing lights and distant sound of highly enraged shouting.

    Aul Maw Carta does her best but the one they call Magna must be having one of his episodes. Lock up your blog doors and blog windows.

    If you are in a pub, be careful if you are approached by a strange looking bloke, wreaking of cheap vodka and sulphur.

    His modus operandi is to approach the unsuspecting punter and introduce himself as follows: “HOWDY. ME MAGNA. ME BE YOU FREN”.

    Bolt for the door. If you don’t. you will be stuck with him for the night and go home with an empty wallet.

    If it gets really bad, tell the Bar Keep to send for Big Lily.

    He’s afeard of her. She shut him in her handbeg once and wouldn’t let him out for two days.

    ReplyDelete
  28. So do posters think Finnegan just turned up at that mass the cannon was in
    Did Finnegan come early and was robed up when the cannon arrived
    Lol lol sure that’s how it happened alright.

    ReplyDelete
  29. One thing is certain, parish-dodger and episcopal wannabe Bartlett hasn’t worn out the soles of any of his shoes in the vital business of priestly ministry and service!

    His tongue though they say is pretty worn thin with licking the arses of prelates, worthies and VIPs since his first day in the seminary.

    “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world (in Timo’s case a diocese) and suffer the loss of his own soul”.

    Middle-aged Bartlett is a petit-fonctionnaire who longs to be like the masters he has long served. What a sad waste of a life and a priesthood.

    ReplyDelete
  30. No bishopric for Timo - out to a few parishes for a few decades and less of the ass licking

    ReplyDelete
  31. Bartlett’s eyesight must have improved. He wore glasses in Maynooth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My recollection of Bartlett in Maynooth was his appetite for gossip and his capacity for intrigue. I suspect he hasn’t changed in that respect. He was also a nuisance of a prankster.

      Delete
  32. Senior priest, D&C10 March 2018 at 00:30

    He had eye operations to correct short-sightedness in a private clinic in Dublin. €1,600 per eye with a six-month gap between each op.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And yet he’s as myopic as ever isn’t he? All he can see is himself - his needs and wants - his drives and ambitions - his yearning for power. All he can see is a mitre. That is not - and never was - a vocation to the priesthood.

      Bartlett’s cunning is to make himself indispensable to the likes of a big gombeen like Brady. Now he’s waiting for his “reward” of a diocese.

      Priest novelist Fr William King has written a novel about here, Dublin diocese, “A Lost Tribe”. Bartlett is recognisable in two characters - Damien Irwin and later in the novel, Oisin O’Rourke.

      A good novel. An interesting read.

      Delete
    2. Correct. Timo an expert at ingratiating himself through sycophancy and unctuous flattery. A slick and smooth operator. His nickname in seminary was “extreme unction”.

      Delete
  33. Brady was and is a big gombeen. Neither a scholar nor a saint and notoriously lacking in people skills, this Kilmore culchie rose through the ranks via the Irish College. He refuses to retire and Amy is under his shadow until Sean Baptist dies. Brady is still the back seat driver of Armagh and the wider Irish Episcopal Conference.

    ReplyDelete