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IS THE CLERICAL COLLAR NOW A SYMBOL OF PAEDOPHILIA?

tHE ,ORE

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The more priests, bishops and cardinals that are accused and prosecuted for child sexual abuse the more danger there is that the clerical collar becomes a symbol of paedophilia.

I wear my clerical collar every day for two reasons:

As a sign of Christianity and Jesus Christ.

As an invite to anyone who wants to approach me to do so.

However I am aware that more and more priests are not wearing the collar in public out of a fear of being called a paedophile or even being attacked.

I have only been abused on the street twice – and called a paedophile – and both instances happened in Dublin.

I have never been verbally abused for being a priest in Belfast or any where in Northern Ireland.

Maybe that is because religion matters more in Northern Ireland than it does in the Republic?

Ireland is fast becoming anti religion and anti clerical.

And who can blame the people – given the fact that we clerics are most often in the news these days for abuse and abuse cover up.

There is an old story of the time that Napoleon Bonaparte met a cardinal. He tld that cardinal that he was going to destroy the church. The cardinal answered: “You have no chance. We priests have been trying to do that for hundreds of years.

Currently the Roman Church is being destroyed. And it is not being destroyed by secularism, materialism or pluralism.

It is being destroyed by priests and bishops and by rampant clericalism.

George Pell is the latest, big, nail in the coffin!

HOLY COMMUNIONS, CONFIRMATIONS AND A WEDDING IN PORTLAOISE

I am in Portlaoise yesterday and today.

Yesterday I had a ceremony in which some local children received their First Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Today I am celebrating a Catholic marriage ceremony for a young couple and meeting other couples who wish to marry in the future.

Portlaoise is home territory for me. I am a Midlands man and was born in nearby Tullamore.

98 replies on “IS THE CLERICAL COLLAR NOW A SYMBOL OF PAEDOPHILIA?”

“IS THE CLERICAL COLLAR NOW A SYMBOL OF PAEDOPHILIA?”
Not really, Bp Pat, it usually just means your a dirty priest.

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9:32
I like the allusion to ‘dirty mac’.
Yes, the Roman collar is today’s ‘dirty mac’. And Roman Catholic priests, then, could be called the ‘dirty mac brigade’?
The above cartoon expresses it perfectly: the paedo priest. 😅

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No it hasn’t you total idiotic fool. In your eyes only it has. You don’t speak for the vast majority.

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I don’t think it’s fair to say that the clerical collar is now a symbol of paedophilia. However the clerical collar is now viewed with great suspicion and rightly so. Where as before the collar was respected, that collar no longer carries that weight of respect due to the actions of many who wore it. Clerics need to realise that we have opened our eyes and can see through their collar. It , on its own, does not give clerics respectability nor acceptability

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I truly (and I’m not being sychophantic) wish that ALL Roman Catholic priests were as compassionate, as sympathetic, as practically helpful as Pat Buckley. But they can’t be, since they gave away their freefom to do so on the dishonourable day they were ordained…to a Roman Catholic bishop.😕

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1.18: Magna, what an utterly hypocritical and self serving comment. Pat is not the owner of greater qualities than other clerics. Absolutely not. He is a good person – but, awkward at times, nasty, vengeful and vindictive – and he has his reasons for being like this. I have encountered many, many priests and religious who live very generous and selfless lives for the good of others and their communities. They do so without the necessity of screaming and shoutung against the institution. Their witness of dedication, integrity, sacrifice and lovely Christian living touches, inspires and helps hundreds, if not thousands. So spare me your usual sound byte nastiness and bizarre comment suggesting that I and other clerics are unfree to be honest, just, caring, kind and fair because of ordination. You need to get out a little more from your hiding place. I thank God each day for the wonderful opportunities given to me each day to make a difference to many people, all thriugh his grace. I think your nasty, narrow, cynical, vicious world view is narcissistic and very selfish. Yes, Pat deserves credit but so do many, many other clerics.

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And yet, you vowed obedience, not to Christ, but to a mitred Christ-betrayer.😕
I’m afraid there is no squaring this with your self-praise, because you willingly chose to serve another.
No wonder Roman Catholic priesthood today is associated with moral corruption, including tha sexual abuse of the most vulnerable.
You won’t ‘get’ this, will you? Because it is clericalism in action, that traitorous vow, right from the get-go, the day of your ordination. And the bloody great elephant in this particular room.😆

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Magna @ 1.18: Perhaps it’s the late night drinking that clouds yiur brain but your comment is utterly silly. You attribute being a priest from the moment if ordination (denied to you) as the reason for forfeiting their freedom – nonsense. I didn’t give my freedom to anyone except Christ. The day of my ordination was a most “honourable” day for me and my family (a joy denied to you) and it gave me a greater freedom to at least try to live the ideals of the gospel, difficult as it is. Yes, I have failed, I have often been caught up in clericalism, I haven’t been as dedicated as I should be. I am aware of my failings and I know when to honestly search my heart and soul. I know that if I didn’t stop, reflect and pray about all that’s happening in the Church I could very easily become a very selfish person. I try not to fall into that cup de sac. Just wondering what happened to you to make you such a selfish, crazy, nasty human being? Is it vicarious traumas from your past, unresolved anger issues, or the hurt of being rejected from the seminary (which we know still affects you)? Please elucidate the reasons for YOUR abusive behaviour instead of playing God or pseudo psychology with the lives of others…..And be honest.

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Stop, ‘Father’ dear. You’ll have me dissolved in tears with your long, self-abasing mea culpa (of course, with its oily hint of moral self-lionisation, ‘but I’m really not such a bad person after all’).

You remind me of the priestly type that likes to bellow his false humility to others: ‘Ah, sure I’m the greatest sinner here, so I am.’ Pat mentioned this type of priest recently here. And not at all favourably.👎

Your cruel sneering at me (or adolescent attempt at it) proves my point: Roman Catholic priests do not serve Christ, but their own egos, and they make this apparent almost every time they respond to my posts critical of them (hence proving my point about them, again and again.So thank you for that. Turkeys, it seems, do sometimes vote for Christmas.😅)

I am not going to address your sneers directly. I addressed similar sneers for the last time a few blogs back. If you are a regular reader here, you’ll know the existential calibre of those sneers, and the fact that you are a liar. So thanks again, ‘Father’ for proving my point about Roman Catholic priests and whom they really serve.😅

😆

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Well said, 9:55. Is one of the people behind the collective nom de plume called Stephen? People here seem to think as much. If Stephen is one of those being sent out to bat today he’s at the lower end of the group. Not that there’s much on offer at the other end either. The only weapons in today’s arsenal are the throwing around of deplorable epithets like child abuser. That’s unfortunately more likely to fit many more in society than Stephen’s target. A very sad reality. And it’s still going on.

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Even after ignoring the spelling/grammatical errors, I find this comment, to say the least, vacuous.
‘nuf said!
MMM

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It is very difficult to change ones psyche once an idea has been concreted. The relevance of this church is non-existant. Let us continue to set the captives free from an outdated and dangerous instituition.

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Those who blame so called clericalism, are part of the problem. The Philadelphia report talked about the elephant in the room, and which was completely off the agenda at the recent useless Vatican summit.

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Hi there… Good article from your counterpart Wee Jamie ‘Likes to be heard and seen’ McConnell. God love and bless his little soul and head!

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Magna darling, is this why you went to that vicars and tarts party as a tart instead of a vicar?

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That’s like saying a wedding ring is a symbol, as children are far more at risk in families. I’m a layman, btw, before anyone claims that I’m a defensive priest.

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And how are children far more at risk in families? What are you criteria for making such a judgement? (By the way, hunches don’t count as objective standards of measurement.😆)
The incidence of child-sexual abuse in such a relatively low demographic as Roman Catholic priests us astonishingly high, which suggests something objectively disordered (like the phrasing?) about Roman Catholic priesthood.

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Pat, your claim that the current crisis is the result of clericalism is far too facile.
Clericalism, yes, is one component; but when a priest sexually abuses anyone, whether they be a minor or vulnerable adult – lust, pride, sacrilege, abuse of sacred trust and duplicity are also manifested in an eminent degree.
Please, Pat, do not start speaking like Cupich and the rest of the diversion artists in the Vatican.
Ultimately, plain old human sin and fallen nature is rampant among the ranks of the clergy.

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You don’t ask deep, incisive questions, do you?

You’d make a poor surgical registrar: not bold enough.

Let me be bold for you.

WHY IS PLAIN OLD HUMAN SIN AND FALLEN NATURE RAMPANT AMONG THE CLERGY? What’s present in this, er, petrie dish that’s cultivating these insidious moral bacteria?

CLERICALISM, you fool!😆

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Portlaoise Paddy Go on ya boy ya but. Is there any follow up care for these people once they have their spiritual inoculations but. The collar is a uniform these days and brings back bad memories for some and bigotry for some. Maybe the mission is to save a collar this lent hi

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Hello again fly hi, begorra fly, I think yer on to sometin hi fly; save a collar for lent, cause, I don’t know what the collar has come to at all at all hi. Fly, did the good Lord wear a collar cause if He did its gone missin ‘ . Maybe that’s the mission for lent, what’s become of the collar hi fly. Missin in action.Go kind it! Hi… By hi fly😇

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11.10 Jesus didnt wear a collar but got collared by the stiff shirts and suits of the world hi. Portlaoise Paddy might be on to something by providing ongoing pastoral care to the people he and Th Oratory minister to. This is the schtuff we need to see in print. Save a collar for lent. Cut down on plastic pollution in th environment hi.

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What about all those young priests ordained in the last ten years? They even sleep in the collar! They’re obviously oblivious to the collar being a symbol of pain and shame in the eyes of many people today. Or are they just so arrogant and self-righteous that they see the collar as a symbol of their “power” and “authority”. We have several of them in Clogher.

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Pat is obviously oblivious to the collar that he wears everyday being a symbol of pain and shame according to your weird logic @ 11.32am. It might be this symbol to you alone but don’t speak for everyone please.

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I hope you put them in their place…at YOUR feet, for they are intended by Jesus to be servants and subject, therefore, to YOUR authority.
Remind them of this, frequently. And start by not addressing them as ‘Father’, but so so respectfully. If they react sniffily to this, then you will know that they are caught up more in clerical position, power, and status than they are in Jesus Christ. In which case avoid them altogether, since they are incapable of doing anything other than spiritual harm.
And, most important of all, keep your kids, or grandkids, away from them. Just in case.

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9:25 & 12:09
No response yet, Bros. Why not? Is it because the clerical fraternity comes first? 👼

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12:09
If you are a Priest, and I assume so, tell us what the clerical collar does signify? The ‘bad apples” excuse has worn very thin, to the point, that the barrel contains so many ‘bad apples’, the barrel itself is beginning to rot. 🍎👿🍏

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Pat do not post this comment. Mullaney is closely connected to McCarrick from his fundraising in the States. Mullaney did attend the famous Jersey Shore house where McCarrick would organise seminarians to come over for sleepovers.

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10.37: Magna, the nasty, cynical, hating giant has emerged from his night slumber pouring out his hatred. You, Magna, just don’t ever listen to anyone; you love only the image you see in the mirror, always was and always will be the same; you deserve all negative criticism; you are an odious piece of humanity; your capacity for any human empathy is zero. The remembrance of you from college days hasn’t changed – if anything, you have grown deeper into a self righteous, nasty, vicious person. Your musings on this blog are evidence of your self indulgence and pathological state of mind. YOU are the one who constantly sneers at and mocks others; you are the monster who verbally abuses almost everyone on this blog apart from MMM and Pat; you, Magna, are the vicious one who incites hatred of clerics; you are the abuser of others with your language. You are delusional, out of touch with your reality (as a nasty person); you, Magna, portray only one image of yourself – a crazy, boorish, mixed up individual, carrying boulders of anger, jealousy, the hurt of rejection and vindictiveness causing you to be the offensive, pathetic person you are. If you throw out dirt at others and are such a nasty piece, expect the same in return or otherwise be a real man and take it! Didn’t Jesus say – “The measure you give out is the measure you will be given back.” So stop giving out your venom. Of course Jesus was talking about the measure of love, mercy and compassion we give to others – qualities which are alien to you!

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2.59…..Poor Magna. When confronted by criticisms he goes into self protection, so blind he can’t recognise his moral and spiritual poverty. Thank God he was never ordained. Just thank God as there would be many wounded people in his wake. This man’s arrogance is unending. Magna, learn the reality of your hatred and shortcomings.

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I think it the duty of every person, Christian or otherwise, to rattle Roman Catholic clerical/clericalist cages, because these parasites force poor families to feed, clothe, and house them through canonical obligation. Most of these men are not needed for full time ministry and therefore could and should be in paid employmen; but they prefer to be ‘gentlemen of leisure’. Those that are needed for full-time ministry (precious few) receive government salaries anyway and therefore should not be supported by poor families. Such ministries as hospital chaplaincy, miliary chaplaincy, prison chaplaincy…all are government salaried. (Ask that model of priestly vice, Ciaran Dallat.😅)
I’ve just found out from Crux that British actor, Rupert Everett has described the medieval RCC as the ISIS of its time. Everit is playing inquisitor Bernardo Gui, Dominican friar, in an Italian tv series. The plot is based on Umberto Eco’s novel, ‘The Name of the Rose’, and is set in 13th or 14th century Italy.
Everett said he watched as Roman Catholic priests in Rome ordered five-course meals, money he thought should have been given to the poor.
Everit despises the RCC institution. I wonder why.😅

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4:23
When Magna is ‘confronted with criticisms’, he goes into… prayer mode! Does this surprise you? It doesn’t Jesus, since he knows Magna always prays for his enemies.😇
😆

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10.37: Magna, why don’t you address your own constant sneering at others: why don’t you stop inciting hatred against priests? I think you need to seriously address your own moral, spiritual and human sins, major failings and imperfections. You are, par excellence, the chief sneerer on this blog – and regularly condescend, abuse and condemn others, all in an obnoxious manner. You express comments on this blog in a way you wouldn’t publicly do. So, come out of your cave and be brave on a public stage! I guess you are a coward…..Magna, grow up.

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2:06
‘Chief sneerer’, eh? Magna?
I didn’t know it was Awards Night.😅
Thank you for the accolade. I’ll wear it humbly.😆
Oh! And I don’t need to incite hatred of Roman Catholic priests, even if I wanted to: they are doing a fine job of that on there own.
Now, I’m orf to Mommie Dearest’s for afternoon tea. Cheerio.😆

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3.06: Someone getting thriugh to you Magna? 2.06 is right. You are forever mocking, insulting and abusing others in your comments. You have no capacity for self insight, no awareness of your tyranny of abuse through words. Waken up to reality. Leave your nastiness in the bottles you empty through drink.

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3.06…..are you a priest?
Are these words that a priest would use?
If you are….I’m truly shocked

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4:12

To choke on Mommie Dearest’s cookies would be an unpardonable breach of etiqutte!😲

Have you even the remotest idea how much she shells out for these things in Aldi’s!

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9:47
Exactly Fr.
They are NOT the words a Priest would use. And that’s only a minor sample of the shocking, appalling, carry on from some of these individuals. They are discrediting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and destroying the Church.

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1:31;
Aye… hi fly, begorra, I though so and collared the good Lord gott, so he did, butt, portlaoise paddy aka ‘the Bish’ might be onto sometin, fly hi , so he might, hi; cause the good Lord didn’t take too kind to the stiff shirts and suits of the world, aye fly, so I’ll go lookin for a clean collar durin length, so I will, hi. I’m off the gong hi fly , lickety split, fly and I’m on the wacky spirit backy called el dopa. Aye,…have ye tried it, fly hi? You’ll be flyin higher if you do!!
Bye for now, hi fly. I’m off…! 😇🌱

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Magna at 3.06: You are the supreme hater of clerics. The deep sense of past rejection and inability to form neaningful relationshios have seriously wounded you for life. Solution: see a psychiatrist or psychoanalyst. You are mendable, I think!!!

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6:20 @ 4:15;
The typical clerical ‘Christian’ response; gaslight and abuse. Do unto others means nothing.

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Two questions Pat.
Is homosexuality the main source of scandal and evil in the church?
Portlaoise, was that for the travelling community?

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4:15
‘Supreme hater of clerics’? Magna? It is extremely kind of you to commend me so, but I must decline the accolade as I should think that the little ones abused by you sickening perverts are much-more deserving of such an epithet.😆

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5:17pm. What a bloody stupid post asking if someone called Stephen is behind the nom de plume Magna. What does it matter? Magna is well entitled to go under this nom de plume regardless of who the person is. Instead of trying to ‘out’ who Magna is you would be better spending your time trying to “out” the abusive clerics still out there. Whatever you think of Magna, at least he puts forward salient experienced based posts

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8:39
One of those Muppets, told me, a few weeks ago, he knew who I was and was after complaining me to the Bishop, again, and I was to leave him alone or he’d tell the Bishop on me again. This was during Bishop Pats visit to Kerry. He assumed I was a Priest. Some of these guys, on this blog are, what I call, ‘clerical cowboys’. They’re in it for the position, perks and their ‘jollies’. Christlike! They no more know who Magna is than I do. And I don’t. These cowboys are a fifth column, destroying the Church from within.

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9.11: Kool Kat: Go and eat a KitKat chocolate. You are blind to many realities. You can scream all you like and denounce priests ad infinitum. Your hatred flows off me like water off a duck’s back. I know my reality. I know that I try my best to do what Christ expects of me. I know my integrity and my commitment to the gospel. It may be very incomplete at times but I have my focus correct in the circumstances we are in as a Church, which presently is to care for and help parishioners both pastorally and spiritually. I remain as dedicated to that task since my ordination 45 years ago. I have long since learned that trying to engage rationally with critics like you is futile. You only have one narrative which is not resonant with my personal commitment. God knows me better than any critic. I stay focused on what I have to do and hopefully make some impact for the better, however minimal, on others. I am as saddened and outraged as you are about the Church but I cannot spend my energy jumping up and down complaining. I prefer to act in a more positive way in the given situation of my life each day.

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Kool Cat at 8:39. You are 100 per cent right. They are a bunch of saddos who are doing a tremendous job of destroying their church.

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9:32
Thanks. There’s a difference between the Gospel and Institutional Church, regardless of denomination.

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Bp Pat after all the recent scandals, defrocking, and conviction, do you think Miss Amy will dare to make any statements or pronouncements that “go against the grain?” Or will she keep her head below the parapet for the foreseeable future.

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Can you guys, including you too +Pat, please stop referring to individuals by ‘in-house ‘ nicknames. They are an infantile way of denigration and confusing to those ‘outside the loop ‘ of inside familiarity with the terms used.
MMM

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8:39- 9:11
These guys have their Bishops protecting them and their muppetry. You couldn’t make it up! They’d put ‘Fr.Ted” in the halfpenny place. Meanwhile, ‘ good Priests’ are on this blog, defending the likes of these Muppets, because they are members of the clerical fraternity. And the circus continues, ad infinitum. Jesus weep!

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Tony Wilcox…
Still sailing free in Henley…? Was there not an issue with a schoolmaster, very young then, now in Limerick, then made to suffer while Wilcox sailed free ? Computer stuff. Seriously wondering ?
Not everything got to Iccsa .

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Well, steady now….this could be libelous. Wilcox is an interesting character, colorful etc., but that kind of stuff is news to me. Also, I think if there was any whiff of scandal around him, + Elsie would have dropped him years ago. + Elsie is nothing if not self-protective. I believe Tony is well retired now and enjoying the life of Henley. So, better leave him be I think.

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‘Elsie’ — Nichols, was befriended by Anthony Wilcox, as a new young seminarian at the English College Rome, all those years ago. Wilcox was a kind of guide, ‘protector’.
He can have the caravan anytime it’s available.

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Elsie is bound to Wilcox since his (Nichols) first weeks as student at the English College, Rome.

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Glad to hear. Just for the record, Henley is in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, of which Wilcox is a priest, so nothing to do with Elsie since she fulfilled her destiny by getting transferred to Westminster. Doesn’t always follow, of course, as just upstream also in Birmingham Archdiocese is the self-styled (Knights of Malta connections) Mgr Anthony Conlon, who for many years seems to have found life more congenial outside Westminster, of which he is still presumably a priest. He probably finds Norah more indulgent than Elsie.

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Oh, give him 10 years and he will be off with his boyfriend or woman. Inevitable. He shouldn’t be putting himself about so much, he’s setting himself up. If he’s serious, he needs to go off and live his life and ministry quietly. Also, how come he’s in the US rather than Ireland ? They still swallow the whole RC Church stuff there, whereas in Ireland it’s a very different landscape. Anyhow, come back in 10 years and let’s see where this man is. It won’t be in the priesthood, I can tell you that. Sorry !

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Says,”the women of Ireland have also taken to Twitter to share their reactions of the priest from last nights Nationwide.”
They may be barking up the wrong tree there.

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Let’s face it @10:50, you’ve just articulated what we’re all thinking. More importantly, what does he think? To his credit, he’s not trying to pull the girlfriend stunt.

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Looks impressive. I’d like to wish him well, and it looks as if he has given something to people in the Bronx. But the cassock is worrying. He is setting the bar too high: it’s the model of priest as saint and hero, as promoted in the face of reality by JPII with the results we see around us. No disrespect to him, but he looks like one of those priests with film star good looks which the Legionaries of Christ used to market. I fear for him. Even if he turns out to be the real thing, he’ll find himself surrounded by sharks and shirt-lifters within the seminary and among his fellow clergy.

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10:03;
GOOD for you and I suggest, respectfully, remain focused on Christ and your ministery. I’m referring to clerics in
the Priesthood who do the direct opposite; who use the Gospel, use the Priesthood and use people for their
own narcissistic, selfish, self centered, egotistical, pathologically power hunger, unmet and unfilled needs,
for self gratification.
That’s what child sexual abuse, among other abusiveness, is all about, whether in ministry or secular life.
I wish you well in your ministry.
P.S. I prefer a Mars chocolate bar.

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Since you came “on site” on 15th Feb Kool C. I’ve followed your comments: invariably very “on the money”. Keep at it. The site need Kool Heads.
MMM

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Priesthood has lost all credibility all stemmed from its own self destruction.
Sadly our Church is in worldwide meltdown and now the power tier is crumbling. New build is on the horizon but it is in a distance before we see real meaningful healing.
Pat you are really not adding to healing process and as a ‘so called Christian’ I feel we all have to support our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, it is our Christian duty!

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