CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD - SHOULD YOUNG MEN JOIN?

CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD - SHOULD YOUNG MEN JOIN?

Would I advise any young man in 2016 to join the Catholic priesthood?

That is an interesting and complex question.

The first question we need to ask ourselves when answering this question is: "What is the Catholic priesthood meant to be"?

The second question is: "What is the Catholic priesthood like today as things stand"?

And then we can answer that question: "Would I (we) advise a young man of today to join that priesthood"?

1. WHAT IS THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD MEANT TO BE?

The answer to this question is simple. A Catholic priest is meant to be "another Jesus" or as we used to say in the old days - an alter Christus.

By being another Jesus I DO NOT mean that a Catholic priest is meant to be "godly" or indeed "sinless". No purely human being can be this day. Only Jesus, we Christians believe, was 100% God and 100% man. 

The rest of us are only 100% human.

But there were some very distinguishing things about Jesus - The Priest - that we human priests must be if we want to be genuine priests.

Jesus was a man of faith - absolute faith in His Heavenly Father. Priests, more than ever before must have a strong faith and a strong belief.

It may surprise some people to know that there are a great number of priests who DO NOT have faith - who are virtual agnostics or atheists. Some of them went into the priesthood for the wrong reasons - to please Mammy; to have a reasonably well paid and secure job with stability; to achieve community status etc. 

In the course of my 40 years in the priesthood and 46 years in the Church I have met quite a number of priests who have told me that they have no faith or that they have lost their faith and are only staying in the priesthood because they have nowhere else to go!

This situation leads to a sterile and useless priesthood and such men are doing both themselves and their communities intense harm. Quite simply they do not belong in the priesthood. They are like policemen who no longer believe in the law.

PRAYER: Jesus - The Priest - built his life and ministry around prayer. He would often sneak away from the crowds to be alone with the Father. 

A priest MUST BE a man of prayer.

Again I have met many priests who have told me that they do not pray. Of course if you no longer believe why would you pray?

COMPASSIONATE SERVICE: A priest - a good priest - should see himself fundamentally as a SERVANT. Essentially a priest is not the centre figure in a community or the leader of the community. He MUST BE a SERVANT of that community.

And that means 24/7 service. 

The modern Catholic priesthood has morphed into a "profession" - like law or medicine.

Essentially the priesthood is NOT a profession. It is, as they would say in Downton Abbey - "going into service". 

Priests should gravitate to and be surrounded by the world's outcasts - as Jesus was - the poor, the non respectable, the prostitutes, the tax collectors and the "sinners".

I challenge you to call on any modern Catholic presbytery or rectory today and you'll find a distinct lack of outcasts about the place and a real presence pf the blue rinse brigade.  

As a retreat master said of many priests: "HE WENT OUT TO DO GOOD - AND HE DID WELL".

2. WHAT HAS CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD BECOME?

The Catholic priesthood has become in too many respects a middle class "profession".

The priest has become the lord and master and not the servant.

Over the 20 centuries the Church has moved away from being the Family of God and the Community of Believers to being a multinational with bishops are area managers and priests as branch managers. 

What used to be about service has now become about power, control, money and property. 

The priest is part of the establishment that controls the people and no longer a servant of the people. 

The priesthood has been severely infected with worldliness, cynicism, careerism, capitalism and "professional advancement".

3. PERSON-HOOD AND SEXUALITY:

The modern Catholic priesthood is skewed by the Church's medieval approach to sexuality and by the imposition of a compulsory celibacy that is not working.

This has turned many priests into "deviants" - that is - being one thing in private and pretending to be a totally different thing in public.

This brings its own type of spiritual and psychological schizophrenia with it.  Many, if not most priests are sexually and emotionally immature people who are being forced to live double lives. This situation is destructive of mature person-hood.

As a result priests become involved in illicit relationships with women and men. They abuse power. They drink or gamble too much. They become addicted to golf. And a very small percentage of them sexually abuse women, men and children. 

CONCLUSION:

The modern Catholic priesthood is like a packet of cigarettes and should carry the following health warning:

"PRIESTHOOD CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH".

It would take a very grounded, very mature, very strong young man to resist all the pitfalls of the modern Catholic priesthood.

Maybe, if they are not super strong, they should think of the following:

FIND ANOTHER WAY TO BELIEVE.

FIND ANOTHER WAY TO PRAY.

FIND ANOTHER WAY TO SERVE.

THE CHURCH AND HOMOSEXUALS

Pope Francis has said that the Roman Catholic Church should apologise to gay people for the way it has treated them.

He told reporters that the Church had no right to judge the gay community, and should show them respect.

The pontiff also said the Church should seek forgiveness from other people it had marginalised - women, the poor, and children forced into labour.

The Pope has been hailed by many in the gay community for his positive attitude towards homosexuals.

But some conservative Catholics have criticised him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality.

Speaking to reporters on his plane returning from Armenia, the Pope said: "I will repeat what the catechism of the Church says, that they [homosexuals] should not be discriminated against, that they should be respected, accompanied pastorally."

Pope Francis said the Church should seek forgiveness from those whom it had marginalised.

PAT SAYS:

Its good that Pope Francis says that the Church should apologise to homosexual people for the sufferings the Church has caused them for 2000 years.

But saying sorry is not enough!

The Church needs a complete change of attitude in relationship to homosexual love, sexually expressed.

The Church needs to stop calling homosexuality A GRAVE DISORDER.

The Church also needs to return to an earlier practice in the Church when homosexual love was respected and homosexual couples received blessings.

I do not expect the Church to change its teachings on the Sacrament of Marriage.

But I do expect them to love and respect people who are born homosexual and who want to express their natural nature in committed, loving relationships.

If we are truly sorry for our past - we need to make our future different !!!

A Kiev art museum contains a curious icon from St Catherine's monastery on Mount Sinai. It shows two robed Christian saints. Between them is a traditional Roman pronubus (best man) overseeing what in a standard Roman icon would be the wedding of a husband and wife. In the icon, Christ is the pronubus. Only one thing is unusual. The "husband and wife" are in fact two men.

 

Is the icon suggesting that a homosexual "marriage" is one sanctified by Christ? The very idea initially seems shocking. The full answer comes from other sources about the two men featured, St Serge and St Bacchus, two Roman soldiers who became Christian martyrs.

 

While the pairing of saints, particularly in the early Church, was not unusual, the association of these two men was regarded as particularly close. Severus of Antioch in the sixth century explained that "we should not separate in speech [Serge and Bacchus] who were joined in life". More bluntly, in the definitive 10th century Greek account of their lives, St Serge is openly described as the "sweet companion and lover" of St Bacchus.

 

In other words, it confirms what the earlier icon implies, that they were a homosexual couple. Unusually their orientation and relationship was openly accepted by early Christian writers. Furthermore, in an image that to some modern Christian eyes might border on blasphemy, the icon has Christ himself as their pronubus, their best man overseeing their "marriage".

 

The very idea of a Christian homosexual marriage seems incredible. Yet after a 12-year search of Catholic and Orthodox church archives Yale history professor John Boswell has discovered that a type of Christian homosexual "marriage" did exist as late as the 18th century.

 

Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has evolved both as a concept and as a ritual. Prof Boswell discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient church liturgical documents (and clearly separate from other types of non-marital blessings such as blessings of adopted children or land) were ceremonies called, among other titles, the "Office of Same Sex Union" (10th and 11th century Greek) or the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).

 

These ceremonies had all the contemporary symbols of a marriage: a community gathered in church, a blessing of the couple before the altar, their right hands joined as at heterosexual marriages, the participation of a priest, the taking of the Eucharist, a wedding banquet afterwards. All of which are shown in contemporary drawings of the same sex union of Byzantine Emperor Basil I (867-886) and his companion John. Such homosexual unions also took place in Ireland in the late 12th/early 13th century, as the chronicler Gerald of Wales (Geraldus Cambrensis) has recorded.

 

Boswell's book, The Marriage of Likeness: Same Sex Unions in Pre- Modern Europe, lists in detail some same sex union ceremonies found in ancient church liturgical documents. One Greek 13th century "Order for Solemnisation of Same Sex Union" having invoked St Serge and St Bacchus, called on God to "vouchsafe unto these thy servants [N and N] grace to love one another and to abide unhated and not a cause of scandal all the days of their lives, with the help of the Holy Mother of God and all thy saints." The ceremony concludes: "And they shall kiss the Holy Gospel and each other, and it shall be concluded."

 

Another 14th century Serbian Slavonic "Office of Same Sex Union", uniting two men or two women, had the couple having their right hands laid on the Gospel while having a cross placed in their left hands. Having kissed the Gospel, the couple were then required to kiss each other, after which the priest, having raised up the Eucharist, would give them both communion.

 

Boswell found records of same-sex unions in such diverse archives as those in the Vatican, in St Petersburg, in Paris, Istanbul, and in Sinai, covering a period from the 8th to the 18th centuries. Nor is he the first to make such a discovery. The Dominican Jacques Goar (1601-1653) includes such ceremonies in a printed collection of Greek prayer books.

 

While homosexuality was technically illegal from late Roman times, it was only from about the 14th century that anti-homosexual feelings swept western Europe. Yet same sex union ceremonies continued to take place.

 

At St John Lateran in Rome (traditionally the Pope's parish Church) in 1578 as many as 13 couples were "married" at Mass with the apparent co-operation of the local clergy, "taking Communion together, using the same nuptial Scripture, after which they slept and ate together", according to a contemporary report.

 

Another woman-to-woman union is recorded in Dalmatia in the 18th century. Many questionable historical claims about the church have been made by some recent writers in this newspaper.

 

Boswell's academic study however is so well researched and sourced as to pose fundamental questions for both modern church leaders and heterosexual Christians about their attitude towards homosexuality.

 

FOR the Church to ignore the evidence in its own archives would be a cowardly cop-out. That evidence shows convincingly that what the modern church claims has been its constant unchanging attitude towards homosexuality is in fact nothing of the sort.

 

It proves that for much of the last two millennia, in parish churches and cathedrals throughout Christendom from Ireland to Istanbul and in the heart of Rome itself, homosexual relationships were accepted as valid expressions of a God-given ability to love and commit to another person, a love that could be celebrated, honoured and blessed both in the name of, and through the Eucharist in the presence of Jesus Christ.

ST MALACHY'S BELFAST - AND ABUSE

SAINT MALACHY'S BELFAST - ABUSE 

Regularly on this blog people have talked about St Malachy's College, Belfast as a place where abusive things happened - both on the secondary school side and on the seminary side called THE WING.

In the context of the secondary school the abuse complained of was the mental, emotional and physical abuse that went on in the context of corporal punishment.

Two former priest presidents who were fond of corporal punishment have been mentioned - Canon Walter Larkin and Canon Patrick Walsh - who later became the bishop.

CANON WALTER LARKIN was president from  1960 until 1970 and by all accounts he was a cruel "illegitimate".

Walter Larkin

Walter was my parish priest in Kilkeel during 1983 and 1984. He was still a bully then and my fellow curate, Denis Newberry, who was a former head boy of St Malachy's lived in total fear of Walter and always called him "Canon".

I, on the other hand, never had Walter as a teacher or headmaster had absolutely no fear of him at all and I stood up to him from Day One and simply called him "Walter". 

He told me he respected me? But whether he did or not I never let him away with either speaking to me or acting towards me in a negative way. He was therefore very nice to me and actually sent for me when he was on his death bed.

I think that Walter was a very troubled man especially in later life. I think he was haunted by the things he did in life and maybe haunted by the thoughts of how cruel he was in St Malachy's.

He and I had a cup of tea together every second Saturday after confessions at 1 pm in his very poorly decorated kitchen and every time we had that cup of tea, and as he chain smoked, he asked me to comfort him and reassure him that he was not going to Hell after he died.  For some reason he believed that he would lose his soul.

I think perhaps that he was full of regret and guilt about his "sadism" during his priestly life and his time in St Malachy's. It was really pitiful to see him. 

God knows what he had on his conscience. I told him to tell God that he was sorry for any harm he had ever done and to try and also apologise to anybody he had hurt. 

He was one of the most unhappy old men and old priests I have ever met.

CANON PATRICK WALSH followed Walter and was president of St Malachy's from 1970 until he became the auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor in 1983. 

Paddy's nickname among the students and seminarians was: THE ICE QUEEN!

PADDY - "THE ICE QUEEN"

From all reports Paddy Walsh was every bit as brutal as Walter Larkin. 

I will leave it to former students to tell us about Paddy and his fondness for the "birch".

I believe that Paddy was - and remained - a sadist. Even as the Bishop of Down and Connor he was cruel to priests - even at times like a priest's parent's death. 

His side kick was the former president of Garron Tower - Monsignor Tom Bartley. Bartley ran around after Paddy and Paddy loved to poke fun at him and humiliate him. I suppose every "sadist" needs a companion "masochist"?

If I was Paddy I would be at least as worried about meeting my maker as old Walter was.

THE WING:

The Wing in St Malachy's was that part of the college that housed the seminarians during their first three years of seminary training and as they attended Queen's University.

The Wing had its own forms of abuse especially emotional and mental abuse. 

Father James Donaghy of HMP Maghaberry used to go there to sexually seduce at least one seminarian. 

Father Paul Symonds was the spiritual director and he had hos own problems.

Father John McManus when he was in charge there was hardly the epitome of kindness. 

Father Donal (now bishop) McKeown left a lot to be desired. 

All in all St Malachy's was a place of immense emotional suffering for many people and I imagine that it succeeded in destroying the faith of most of its students and seminarians better than any atheist, communist or secularist did. 

Some of the former seminarians I have talked to have spoken of being scarred for life.

The motto of St Malachy's was and is:

GLORIA AB INTUS

(GLORY FROM WITHIN)

What an absolute contradictory motto for a place responsible for so much human suffering!

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

THE THIRD WAY

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Today the Blog brings to you a thought provoking, 40 minute film on the theme: HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

I was sent this film by a blog reader. 

I DO NOT LIKE THIS FILM.

I DO NOT ACCEPT THE DOCTRINE THAT THE FILM PROMOTES.

I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE LOVE BETWEEN TWO GAY PEOPLE, SEXUALLY EXPRESSED, IS A SIN OR A DISORDER.

I DID NOT WANT TO PUBLISH THIS FILM ON MY BLOG.

I WANTED TO DELETE IT AND FORGET IT.

I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, AS AN INSTITUTION IS A GOOD CHURCH.

I BELIEVE THAT THE CATHOLIC INSTITUTION IS ABSOLUTELY CORRUPT.

BUT I AM PUBLISHING THIS BLOG AS I HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED TO AND I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN YOUR VIEWS..

I BELIEVE THAT THIS FILM IS A FORM OF SUBTLE HOMOPHOBIA

PLEASE SPARE THE TIME TO WATCH IT AND COMMENT

BISHOP KEVIN DORAN - THE TWAT

The Roman Catholic bishop of Sligo is one of the biggest "twats" you'll find.

"twat"

1. a person regarded as stupid or obnoxious.

During the Gay Marriage Referendum in the Republic last year he said that being gay was like having Down's Syndrome - managing to offend both the gay and Down's Syndrome community at the same time!

This week Kevin Doran put his two big feet in it once again when he gave an interview to the Irish Independent newspaper. In that interview he said a number of twattish things:

1. That the Catholic Church had gone too far in apologising to the victims of its sex abuse!

2. That the Irish had lost the spirit of volunteerism and were allowing state intervention instead.

3. That he himself would love to go down to the local refugee centre as a volunteer but if he went there he would be seen as special as a bishop!.

1. TOO FAR IN APOLOGISING?

Only an out and out twat would say that the Church had gone too far in apologising for its sexual abuse.

How can a person or an institution APOLOGISE TOO MUCH for the sexual abuse of innocent little children and vulnerable adults?

How can the Church - which is supposed to represent God - apologise TOO MUCH for the fact that in its abuse it was more the servant of Satan than of God?

How can the Church apologise too much to the little boys and girls that Father Brendan and other priests raped?

SORRY FOR APOLOGISING TO MUCH FOR YOU BRENDAN !!!

How can the Church apologise too much for burying hundreds of little children in the disused sewerage tanks of convents.

Having allowed what the Church allowed to happen - and cover up - the Church should be on its knees apologising - not just for decades and centuries - but for eternity!

Doran's stupid and twat statement is further proof that there are many in the Catholic Church who have NO REAL SORROW OR REMORSE for the evil deeds that it did and the evil bastards that it protected.

SHAME ON YOU DORAN for saying that the church has apologised too much!!! 

2. THE IRISH NOT VOLUNTEERING?

What planet are you living on Kevin Doran? Do you not know about all the thousands of men and women that are volunteers in all kinds of organisations the length and breath of Ireland.

- men and women in the scouts and girl guides movements

- men and women in health charities.

- men and women in community work.

- men and women in addiction organisations.

- men and women on school boards.

- men and women in sports clubs.

Kevin Foran, are you trying to tell me that there is a shortage of volunteers in Sligo in the GAA, the Hospice, the scouts, the girl guides, cancer charities, the Legion of Mary, the St Vincent de Paul.

No Kevin. The volunteers are there. But you do not see them. And none of them are getting the salary and expenses you are getting for your role as a catholic bishop. 

3. DORAN CANNOT VOLUNTEER?

Kevin why can you not volunteer. Just take that collar off from around your neck and that mitre off your head, put on a pair of jeans and a tea shirt and head down to the refugee centre and volunteer  as plain Kevin. Then start cooking or serving food or start scrubbing floors. 

All that's stopping you is this sense of being a bishop that you are hiding behind. 

As a young priest I volunteered in a homeless centre in Dublin and after saying Mass at 9 am I spent the rest of the day making beds, washing floors, cooking and serving food.

The fact that I was a priest never got in my way - in my mind or anybody's else's mind.

When I was in Divis Flats in the early 1980's I had no problem going out to clean the streets with a brush and a mop

Nowadays I am a bishop too and every Friday I take off my collar and put on a charity tea shirt and spend the afternoon volunteering in an end of life unit.

At other times in the month I use my own car to drive people to the unit for their chemotherapy.

Kevin, you and I know each other since we were both 17/18 and entered the same seminary on the same day.

As your equal (at least) I am telling you to get up off your episcopal arse and do something good and practical for the community in which you live.

A bit more activity might stop you uttering stupid and twattish things too.

Its what Jesus would do and its what he would want you to do.

Over and out..............................

FATHER CHARLIE AGNEW - A PAEDOPHILE?

FATHER CHARLIE AGNEW - A PAEDOPHILE

GARRON TOWER

FATHER CHARLIE AGNEW was the bursar of Garron Tower boarding school for boys and later became the parish priest of the parish of St Michael The Archangel in Andersonstown, Belfast.

St Michaels, Belfast.

This Blog received the following contribution in the past few days:

"I came across this blog by chance in the last few days. 

Fifty five ears ago Father Agnew subjected me to genital fondling. To my mind he was a paedophile. 

I was a boarder in Garron Tower when he took me to his room for the abuse. I was not the only one to be brought to Charlies room.

To me it is no coincidence that the paedophile James Donaghy abused people when he was Charlie's curate. 

Surely the housekeeper say what was going on? Charlie Agnew was a paedophile! Even at this late stage I intend going to the proper authorities".

The main reason that I give credibility to this story is that a friend of mine had a very bad experience with Father Agnew in St. Michael's. 

My friend went to confession to Father Agnew and confessed that he had masturbated. After confession Father Agnew brought my then 17/18 year old friend over to the presbytery where he insisted he remove his jeans and underpants so that he could examine him to make sure that he had "done himself no harm" while masturbating. After the examination Father Agnew reassured my friend that all was well!

This was a very traumatic experience for my friend as he had also being abused as a child by a neighbour.

I have heard that when Charlie was bursar in Garron Tower he liked to punish boys by removing their trousers and spanking them on the bare bottom. I imagine that some fondling too place during these punish sessions. 

Garron Tower was a boarding school for boys and a number of the priests there engaged in the savage beating of those boys. 

Below are some of the comments I have found on other blogs about Garron Tower:

1. "People probably will not believe this next story that I am going to relate but it really did happen. It was your photo of the road down to the dormitories (with St Mary's on the left) that reminded me. To put it in some wierd context it must be noted that this was in 1977 and the troubles were at their worst. Fr O'Neill (aka Sheen the Dean) used to wonder around with an uncocked shotgun over his shoulder (yes a priest did used to behave like this) and there was an empty crisp (potato chips) bag lying just beside that black rubbish bin on the lawn on the left. I was standing just were the photo was taken and Sheen was just to the right of the bin. He took the shotgun from off his shoulder, cocked it and fired a round at the crisp bag.....needless to say the bag was obliterated. "Now on your way boyo"...... As Martin Sheen says at the end of Apocalypse Now  - The Horror"

2. "Father O'Neill - jeez he was a psycho. Some of the beatings he handed out had to be seen to be believed. I was there in the 70's and after one year I escaped to Ballymena academy. But to this day I still remember the awfulness of Garron Tower. I cannot recall one good things about it"

3. I too was a a border and yes it wasn't called The Tower for nothing. Worst and most traumatic experience of my life. I still have the nightmares...

4. "Some priests had very unhealthy relationships with boys. Most of us were confined to The Tower at the weekend. But some priests drove boys home to see their parents at the weekend.

One of my classmates - a certain priest's favourite actually spent the summer travelling Europe with the priest and no one even questioned it"

It seems to me that Garron Tower was a very unhealthy place.

The only information on sexual abuse in Garron Tower are the stories of Father Agnew's genital fondling.

But it is also obvious that some other priests engaged in emotional, mental and physical abuse and torture.

There are still priests alive who taught at Garron Tower. But as members of the Clerical Club I do not expect them to spill the beans.

Has Garron Tower ever being investigated?

Any abuse there should be exposed and if former pupils need help they should get it.

Recently, the Papal Nuncio recently visited The Tower, which is now called St Kilians's college:

Archbishop Brown was joined on altar by Bishop Noel Treanor, Fr Tim Bartlett (chairman of the Board of Governors) and a number of former students of Garron Tower including Frs David Delargy, Martin and Eugene O’Hagan (aka The Priests) and Fr Dermot McKay and Fr Darren Brennan from the Parish of Ballymena.

I think that people, even at this late stage should go to the police about any abuse they experienced.

They can do this by calling the PSNI and asking for the local Public Protection Unit - PPU.

HAS ANYONE OUT THERE A PICTURE OF CHARLIE AGNEW?

DRUMBO PARISH - AN UPDATE

DRUMBO PARISH - AN UPDATE

Today in Drumbo and Carryduff parish the pariah priest - Father Martin Kelly - is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his ordination. He is joined by family, friends and fellow priests.

Martin

Also present is the former Bishop of Down and Connor - Paddy Walsh and the former Auxiliary Bishop - Tony Farquhar.

Paddy Walsh

As the Mass began I wondered why the current bishop - Noel Treanor - was not present. The priest delivering the homily said that it was because Bishop Treanor was conducting the annual pilgrimage in Saul in County Down.

I hope that was the reason and that the Saul pilgrimage was not just a convenient excuse for Bishop Treanor not to be there. The talk in the diocese is that Noel Treanor and Martin Kelly are not friends?

I also hope that the Drumbo problem is not causing division between Bishop Treanor and Bishops Walsh and Farquhar?

Tony Farquhar

After all Martin Kelly, Paddy Walsh and Tony Farquhar are all old D&C man and Noel Treanor is not.

Watching the parish webcam I thought that the church should have been more full with parishioners - given that many in the congregation were Kelly family members, people from Martin's native Cavan and people from the parishes in Down and Connor where Martin served.

The truth is that there is a rift in Drumbo and Carryduff parish between those who support Father Kelly and those who do not support him. 

The rift is mainly about finances and about Fr Kelly sacking the 5 man Parish Finance Committee.

There are other issues too. There is the removal of the Parish Secretary from the presbytery to the parish hall. There is the issue of the so called "mysterious woman" who is ever present in the presbytery these days. 

This Blog has received various comments from parish.

- Comments supporting Father Kelly unreservedly.

- Comments questioning Father Kelly.

- Comments from people who have no concerns about parish finances.

- Comments from people - including the dismissed PFC - who want the whole saga investigated.

Then there is a whole question about some church property. The latest comments says:

"As you will see from my last post I fully support the former PFC but we must be fair. The PP has nothing to do with counting the collection. This is done by a group of honest and trustworthy parishioners.

What needs clarified is the property in Newtown Park. This has been rented by the same family for a number of years on a year to year basis. They, some may foolishly say, did improvements to the house on the assumption that they would be staying there for a number of years.

They have now been told that the lease would not be renewed as the house was needed for the PP to retire to!

Surely with all that is going on with the PFC and the mysterious lady the very least Bishop Treanor can do is to insist that Father Kelly leaves the parish when he retires soon. 

How could an incoming PP have any chance of restoring faith within the parish with Father Kelly still living there"?

There is a whole complicated mess in Drumbo just now. We are told that the diocese undertook and independent investigation into everything.

Surely in fairness to the parishioners, the dismissed PFC and indeed Father Kelly himself, the findings of that investigation should be published.

If it is not - rumour and disharmony will continue - the truth will not emerge - and all kinds of people will feel that they have been done an injustice.

Only Bishop Treanor can solve this wound by publishing the findings of the investigation? 

Also - it would be a VERY BAD IDEA to Martin Kelly to retire and reside in a divided parish.

If Bishop Treanor will not make a public statement - why does Father Kelly not make one?

I will publish any statement - UNEDITED - that Fr Kelly sends to this Blog.

CLONARD MONASTERY RECTOR - FATHER NOEL KEHOE

CLONARD MONASTERY BELFAST - RECTOR - FATHER NOEL KEHOE

NOEL KEHOE - BISHOP IN WAITING ?

CONTRIBUTION FROM BLOG READER

"The Clonard Novena has begun and is organised by the Rector of Clonard, Father Noel Kehoe. Fr Kehoe became Rector of Clonard Monastery in 2015. He comes from Newry originally. Both Fr Kehoe and Fr Brendan Mulhall were in training around the same time with the Redemptorists. 

Brendan Mulhall - the MUCH LOVED Adm, Coleraine

Fr Kehoe is known for his flamboyancy, foreign holidays and his taste for expensive restaurants. It is no wonder than that Fr Kehoe has settled in Down and Connor Diocese.

CLONARD

Fr Kehoe is your classical clerical careerist keeping an eye out for any opportunity to climb the hierarchical ladder. While being appointed as Rector of Clonard is seen as an important step forward, Fr Kehoe is also on the three man leadership team for the Redemptorists on the island of Ireland. As part of this three man team he has some responsibility for Redemptorists who have got into hot water with the Vatican. A number of Redemptorists have got into hot water with the Vatican over expressing views which were seen as going against Church teaching. The most well known case is that of Fr Tony Flannery.

TONY FLANNERY - "SILENCED" RED

The Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown. who is believed to have had a special interest in cases such as Fr Flannery and their continued suspension, has been invited by Fr Kehoe to preach at the Clonard Novena - TODAY JUNE 19TH 2016 at 7.30pm. 

Youth Session (with Mass) Sunday 19th June at 7:30pm with Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown

Fr Kehoe is certainly working the progression route on this one given that the Papal Nuncio has a key role in the appointment of Bishops in Ireland. 

Will the Papal Nuncio ask Fr Kehoe about the US based LGBT who came on pilgrimage to Ireland earlier this year and had a private Mass in Clonard?

US LGBT AT DUBLIN - HAD MASS IN CLONARD

Fr Kehoe is demonstrating his capacity to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds".

PAT SAYS:

I have never met Noel Kehoe and needless to say he has not invited me to the Clonard Novena :-)

I have heard various reports about him - and those reports suggest to me that he and I would have nothing in common.

I am not sure where flamboyancy, foreign holidays and expensive restaurants fit in with the Solemn Vow of Poverty a Redemptorist takes? 

Its interesting to note that our contributor today thinks that Noel Kehoe wants to be a bishop. 

If he does having a good relationship with the Papal Nuncio will not work against that ambition. 

I doubt if Noel Kehoe will regale the Nuncio with the wonderful stories of the US LGBT Mass at Clonard.  

Do other readers have opinions on the Rector of Clonard?

MAYNOOTH - NEW RESIGNATION SHOCK

MAYNOOTH - NEW RESIGNATION SHOCK

Father David Marsden

MAYNOOTH SEMINARY has announced another priestly resignation in the wake of the ongoing gay scandal sweeping the national seminary.

The Director of Vocational Growth for seminarians has suddenly submitted his resignation as of immediate effect.

The Maynooth website gives the following information about Father Marsden:

Fr. David Marsden SCJ, is a native of the city of Liverpool and a member of the Sacred Heart Fathers. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2002. He graduated from the Institute of Psychology at the Gregorian University, Rome in 2007. He has been working at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth as a Vocational Growth Counsellor since 2009.

Father Marsden was seen by the seminarians as a very spiritual man with their spiritual and vocational growth very much at the heart of his ministry.

However seminarians and others have told this Blog that Father Marsden was disliked by other priest members of staff for his truthfulness and integrity.

One said in an email to this Blog:

"The only true authentic Priest in Maynooth has resigned because of the gay scandal. Staff hated him for his commitment to the truth".

THE IRISH CATHOLIC newspaper - which is pro bishop - carried the sanitised version of the story as follows:

"A senior member of staff at Maynooth has resigned, reportedly over differences with colleagues about the future direction of the seminary.

Fr David Marsden – who as vocational growth counsellor was a key member of staff charged with helping seminarians discern a vocation to the priesthood – is a trained psychologist specialising in priestly formation.

A British-born member of the Sacred Heart Fathers, he had worked in Maynooth since 2009 and is described as a popular member of staff amongst seminarians.

It is understood that Fr Marsden had concerns about the direction of the formation programmes.

Fr Marsden was unavailable for comment. However, a spokesman for St Patrick’s College, Maynooth told The Irish Catholic “I can confirm that Fr Marsden has stepped down from his role”.

Father Marsden during a radio interview

But other sources claim that Father Marsden's departure was absolutely connected to the current gay scandal at Maynooth and the dismissal of whistle blower seminarians who were opposed to Maynooth's gay sub culture.

Either way the loss of Father Marsden is a great loss to Maynooth and is a clear sign that the current "strange" regime is fully in charge and goes unchallenged by the Irish Catholic bishops. 

Father Marsden's resignation follows the sudden stepping aside of the college president, Monsignor Hugh Connolly - whom we are told is going on one of those wonderfully convenient "sabbaticals". 

Hugh "Sabbatical" Connolly

Do the Irish Catholic Bishops not care that Maynooth is quickly going down the chute?

As far as I am concerned future seminarians and their parents and families should be very worried about allowing their sons to go into Maynooth at this time.