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VERY IMPRESSED WITH DIARMUID MARTIN’S GDPR OPERATION.

A FEW WEEKS AGO I APPLIED TO THE ARCHDIOCESE OF DUBLIN’S DATA PROTECTION OFFICE FOR FULL DISCLOSURE OF EVERYTHING ON FILE ABOUT ME SINCE 1970 WHEN I ENTERED CLONLIFFE SEMINARY.

A few days ago I was very impressed with the arrival of everything they had on me – 200 – 300 pages of it

I was particularly interested in the report the president of Clonliffe wrote about me after my expulsion from Clonliffe in 1973.

The report written on July 7th 1973 said that I was:

1. Morally beyond reproach

2. Intellectually average.

3. Over pious.

4. Clericalised.

5. Deserving of a second chance in another seminary.

All in all, I felt it was a fair report. Not the one I might write. But fair

And “no man can be the judge in his own cause”.

And of course the report blows out of the water, the accusations of my detractors, that I was sexually active in Clonliffe – a total lie.

My experience with this GDPR report confirms in my my opinion that Diarmuid Martin is the best of the current lot of Irish bishops and that he runs a fairly open and transparent operation, whatever else his faults may be.

I would also like to commend the Dublin archivist/ data officer Ms Noelle Dowling for her total professionalism.

I know that some of the Dublin clergy are keen to see the back of DM.

But, depending on who replaces him they may chant in the future: “Come back Diarmuid. All is forgiven”.

I could easily cope with DM as my bishop.

Imagine a Phonsie, a Brady or an Amy Martin!

Oh, and a priest friend of mine recently applied to Cashel and Emly for their GDPR data and got short shrift.

I have also applied to Down and Connor for my file. The initial response was frosty.

These Roman Don’s dont like openness and transparency.

They have lived on secrecy and the Omerta code for a thousand years plus.

TRANSPARENCY must be our catchcry.

INFORMATION is POWER!

Folks, priests, seminarians, apply for your GDPR data.

101 replies on “VERY IMPRESSED WITH DIARMUID MARTIN’S GDPR OPERATION.”

I applied to both Maynooth and my diocese for my records. A few weeks ago a know-it-all who commented here rubbished rudely the idea of asking Maynooth, saying that everything was sent to the diocese. He could not have been more wrong. Although there was some overlap, Maynooth and the diocese held different sents of info, so it’s as well to apply to both for copies of records.

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Pat, I would have been surprised if you got any other response from DM. While he may not enjoy favour among the Diocesan priests, he has proved to be by far the best Leader in responding to the abuse crisis. Had other bishops taken his example we’d have reclaimed much of our lost trust, credibility and respect. I hope you will frame the info. How could there be 3-400 pages?

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The Vatican might want Cardinal Kevin Farrell DM’s replacement.
His age means that he’d only be in the post for a few year,s but having a hard man like him on site would assist them if they want to ram through any reorganisation of the dioceses.

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You’re right, + Pat. They don’t like openness, transparency and accountability.
They don’t want to bring matters into the light, particularly matters highlighting badly them and the institution.
A code of omerta, a grapevine among priests and religious, along with toxic secrecy, has helped maintain power, but is now crumbling causing a collapse like never before. It’s back to basics, i.e. the Gospel, and NOT an accommodating version of the Gospel.

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Let’s not get into the usial list of names. It’s bit I g and usually it’s someone else not listed that gets it.

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Pat, the most bonkers thing you have ever mentioned about the church is not being given this report in the first place, or at least told what was in it. How does it make sense not to disclose its contents to its subject? In any university or college at this time you would have been told what was in a report about you.
And it is not just seminaries that took or take this barmy approach. When my mother had her first marriage annulled in the fifties the tribunal told her they thought her husband was homosexual but told her not to tell him!

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In my first year in Maynooth I didn’t see any of the reports about me. In second year the Junior Dean read my Winter and Summer reports out to me, without letting me hold the document and read it myself. In Middle Division Niall Ahern would mostly let you read your report, though he’d withold it on occasion.

In Maynooth a student guilty of a serious breach of the rule would be dismissed summarily or if the matter was more minor he would be called before the Administrative Council, consisting of the President, the two Vice-Presidents and the three Deans.

When it met for disciplinary hearings (I’m talking the mid to late 1980s) the Council sat in the Stoyte House Boardroom on a Monday morning and the accused appeared in soutane and collar and had to stand throughout.

If it went badly he got a warning, a caveat, in Maynooth lore a “cat”. Two cats and you were out.

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Good luck with getting a full response from down and Connor. The legislation states that every organisation covered by GDPR should be helpful. It is YOUR information not theirs but d and c believe they are a people set apart and can do whatever they want. If you suspect that they are holding back, contact the information commissioner.

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The Rcc is as transparent as a muddy pond.
Shame on those who covered up and those who colluded with the cover up of the criminal morally corrupt abusive rape of children and abuse of vulnerable adults. Countless lives destroyed for the sake of their institution, so that they’d continue to look good. Inhuman behaviour.
There’s NO forgivenesss without justice according to Benedict XVI.

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How DM interacts with you is determined by the fact that it will be published on line. His interests in fair dealing with you is driven by optics and nothing else.
My firsthand experience of him is that he will sit back and ignore if the media/publicity is not involved.

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The only way of ensuring transparency from the Rcc is civil authorities demanding accountability through the law.
The Rcc are unable to police themselves. Knowledge is power. But the Rcc operates from a place of sheer arrogance. They don’t want or like to be transparent, challenged, or made accountable.

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Like your friend, I too applied to Cashel & Emly during my time at the Gulag in Thurles. I had a curt reply saying all files were either destroyed when it closed or was sent to your Bishop!

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Such a response cannot be true. If you applied to return to seminary than Cashel would be obliged to send your file from seminary to seminary. Not only are there no grounds to destroy it there are some very solid legal reasons as to why they ought to have kept it.

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Dairmuid Martin is very fair. Remember what he said about anonymous letters a few years ago in Maynooth? He would have gotten to the bottom of the Tullamore fiasco. He would have announced who wrote the anonymous post on the Parish Facebook page. He would also have found out who wrote the apology on the Parish website. Neither the post on the official Facebook page, nor the apology on the Parish website were signed.

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Well, this isn’t exactly on theme – although it does touch on seminaries and seminarians, so bear with me !
Twice over the Christmas period in the cathedral where I worship, the Dean has subjected the congregation to simpering, fawning, adulation of a newly ordained priest and a just about starting seminarian. You know, introducing them with a story of their vocation journey – in the case of the new seminarian, evidently very short – and getting them to stand up and do ‘special’ things and talk to the congregation.
Now, there are a couple of things a bit wonky with this picture.
1. The fawning, crawling, creeping love fest with seminarians and young priests is, well, just a bit yucky and wants to make me gag. Middle aged, overweight priests metaphorically pawing over the young and lithe. You get the picture ? It’s just not what I want to see or hear when I go to Mass.
2. The inculcation of clergy / seminarian worship, which is part of that special, set apart, ontologically changed clerical club is surely something that we need to move away from. These young men cannot help but be incarnated in to this special club where they feel that they are elevated and held in special esteem, when they are treated and put forward like this. It’s not good for them, it carries on that incestuous self-adoration and aggrandisement of clerics, and is not where we need to be.
3. After all this performance, I am left wondering where these young me might be in a few years ? I wish them well. But, there is no guarantee that they will still be in ministry / seminary in the short term, such is the casualty rate that we have become accustomed to. Is it fair on them to hold them up to public esteem and approval, when there is a good chance that they will fall by the wayside and head off on another track of life – which I don’t begrudge at all, because they need to find their path and be happy ? But, to hold them up in this way is not doing them or us any favours.
4. And finally, at the end of a long Mass, I just want to go home ! I don’t want to have to sit down for another five or ten minutes to listen to this stuff !
5. So, please, can we get away from this self-congratulatory, clerical building up. It doesn’t happen in any other profession or way of life. You just get on with it. You slog away and eventually you are worthy of some reward and praise. Let them come back in 10, 15, 25 years, and then we can all bask in their reflected glory.

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Oh, no ! Very Roman Catholic. Cathedral Administrators of old now call themselves Cathedral Dean.

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Yes, she’s Anglican in spirit, of a certain age, of the librarian/civil servant class, unmarried no doubt.

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2:09 pm
It’s not credible that someone is a dean because they call themself one.
Although the prior of the Institute of Christ the King styles himself Monsignor when in fact he’s not.

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Good Post @ 12:16.
I was at Mass in Dublin recently where the Priest, obviously gay, ( I have no problem with him being gay) was prancing around the altar in a performance, while exaggerating in his use of language. He gave me the creeps.
I couldn’t wait for Mass to end.

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1.37: Perhaps the priest spotted you in the congregation!!! Just sayin’ like…

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At the other end of the priestly spectrum, they are falling like flies – either through death, or through disappearing. There have been two disappearances in the last six months or so in this diocese, both Canons – one from his parish, and not a word said to anyone about why, where, what for etc. (although his presbytery has now been cleared, so I guess that means he’s not coming back there), and the other from being principal of the Maryville Institute. I guess it doesn’t take much cop on to realise, given the suddenness and completeness of their disappearances, that these will in all probability have been the result of some kind of accusations which have resulted in them being sidelined. Whether they will return or not, who knows ? What I do find odd is the deafening silence, no information at all, no courtesy to the people who have supported them and these institutions. It’s not that we want all the gory details, but it would be good if some respect were paid to us, while at the same time respecting the privacy of the priest concerned. Something along the lines of “Father X will be on leave for the foreseeable future for personal reasons, and is being supported by the bishop and diocese; Father X sends his best wishes to you all”. At least we would know that we were not just being treated like idiots, and that they respected the fact that we are concerned for Father X and what he is going through. But no ! Just silence. Treating us like morons. This diocese has many priests who have been sidelined for one reason or another, most of whom have not reached any threshold of criminal behaviour and therefore of no interest to the police. But, any little indiscretion, actual or imagined, these days sees these men pushed to one side and suddenly disappear in to the ether. And we are just kept in the dark. Pay up. Put up. Shut up. That’s what’s expected of us by the clergy and bishops.

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2:23
The deafening silence with no respect shown is par for the course. It speaks volumes.
Imagine the deafening silence with contempt shown to those who were genuinely abused.
It’s ass covering at all angles at this stage.

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@ 5:56
The priest is supposed to pray the Mass, not spend his time spotting people. Just saying like!
Priesthood is going down the toilet rapidly due to the grindr cubs. Just telling it, like! Hypocrites galore!

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You don’t need to know every detail you nosey old busybody. Can just picture you running around like a maid at the market trying to glean tit bits of gossip. Nosey Parker.

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12.16: I agree with you about aggrandizing the concept of priesthood and placing unrealistic expectations on young seminarians by paradingnthem before a congregation. Let the seminarians get on with their training – preferably a few years in the world of work or education before seminary. Thereafter their training should be within a parish context, involved in and interacting with the parish and the necessary pastoral responsibilities. Thank God I wasn’t treated like that in the 70’s: my feet were kept firmly on the ground by my parents, family and friends. I never had any overated sense of importance. In fact I was very reluctant to be treated as more special than anyone else. Thankfully I was helped to keep all in perspective at college and can say in all honesty that it was a reasonably good training over a 7 year period, with manynopportunitues of pastoral assignments and opportunities of a myriad of working experiences during all holidays. Thecreal.learning and formation comes only when you are on the ground at parish level. Almost 40 years on, the learning continues. I do not agree with any seminarian or newly ordained being given a sense that they are “different” – we’re absolutely not and life will quickly teach the important lessons.

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Pat Mullaney is boolin BOOLINNN over yer wan writin in the Irish Times bout the homily and the racist Jesus and Mullaney Pat a teeologian of international standing and yer wan is only an auld wagon who should know her place twas in the Roost Pub it twas and the few drinks in her twas near gettin violent twas Mullaney Pat

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Mullaney’s critic shows some ignorance of Catholic teaching. Jesus is fully human, though sinless. You cannot bluntly say that “since he is God he knows everything and cannot make a mistake or be limited by his culture”. The humanity and the divinity are unmixed and each retains its full integrity, according to the doctrine of Chalcedon.

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a wat, a teeoologian of international standin. sur that means nathin. look at the lad who ended up a guru in americka wasnt he an udder teeoologian of international standing. means feck all.

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I hope Fanny hasn’t had the wee holy prayer card souvenirs of her episcopal ordination printed because any hopes she was entertaining of being crowned with a mitre she can kiss it’s ass goodbyeeee.

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I wish I’d kept a couple of the holy cards she got printed for acolyte. They’d be worth a fortune on ebay but are probably locked away in the Maynooth secret archive, together with an original pair of Paul Prior keks.

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Re: Mullaney’s sermon. I’m a poor, unlettered layman but I thought Jesus was without sin. If he was racist was he was sinful?

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Getting back to the original topic of the blog today after the diversions by the English moaning minnies, can you request your info from a diocese as opposed to a Seminary? As a poster said earlier, Thurles destroyed it’s files upon closure. How then did Dublin retain its records for Clonliffe upon its closure?

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Did they destroy their files? Is there a legal obligation to retain diocesan files for a specified period?

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I find it incredible that files were destroyed. What’s being covered up here? I hope the people involved will pursue this rather than being fobbed off.

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The prior (& former headmaster) of Downside burnt piles of old files, having transported them by wheelbarrow to a distant place in an orchard. Apparently he was following St Benedict’s injunction to engage in physical work. All perfectly normal behaviour …🤪

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4:31. There are specified times to hold information and the diocese must by law adhere to these. You can request and be granted access to information from anyone who holds information on you. It’s YOUR information not theirs

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Isn’t piety a job requirement for the priesthood? How can one be too pious? That’s the problem, not enough piety.
I do hope the fool who wrote that about you, Bishop Patrick, is now being purged of such Vatican II cult notions, as it were.

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Seraphim, piety is NOT a requirement for contemporary priesthood.
Being adept in using the internet particularly grindr amongst others, is considered a major priestly asset nowadays.
That’s replaced piety.

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The infamous Sr Brid Liston. One of the many ancient nuns who hadn’t seen a nun postulant for decades but who yet decided who’d be a seminarian.

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Darcy is incapable of sitting in the pew at a funeral. However, I do think he was in a pew at a recent funeral.

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Pat, I am intrigued to know if the Dublin Diocese included in your papers the mentions you merited at the College Council meetings? These were extensive!

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No. They did not enclose them? Monsignor JJ Greehy told me years ago I had a powerful enemy on the council who was not the dean, Father Seamus Conway???

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So once again DM is exposed as duplicitous, feigning openness and transparency and in reality hiding the papers most germaine to the truth, which he has read. And you are impressed?? You Amadán!

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Is Dermot Meehan the new archbishop of Tuam? Such a saintly man with a most beautiful singing voice.

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He’s one of the most upright and human people you could ever encounter. There’s no vacancy in Tuam until next year.

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6:20 BP. This is a breach of GDPR. They must release everything including contemporaneous notes. Some people who take notes think that these belong to them and are exempt. WRONG. They are discoverable and must be released. Go back to DM and ask for EVERYTHING. Just because they aren’t held on one file is their problem not yours. I’m afraid the practice of omertà still exists

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And what they don’t wanna share with you they put in the secret archive. Not the now infamous secret archive in the Vatican, but the diocesan secret archive. They wont tell you that they can’t share the records or information because it is kept in the secret archive – no, instead they will tell you that they don’t have the records or information you request well aware that very few outside the church hierarchy knows about the secret archive – which is mandatory in every diocese according to Canon Law::
“Can 489 §1. In the diocesan curia there is also to be a secret archive, or at least in the common archive there is to be a safe or cabinet, completely closed and locked, which cannot be removed; in it documents to be kept secret are to be protected most securely.”
and
“Can. 490 §1. Only the bishop is to have the key to the secret archive.
§2. When a see is vacant, the secret archive or safe is not to be opened except in a case of true necessity by the diocesan administrator himself.
§3. Documents are not to be removed from the secret archive or safe.”

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Not fake news at all, contrary!
Whenever they tell you they have sent you every file and records they have on you and tell you that there is nothing more to be sent (or worse: they tell you that they don’t have any records or files on you) that is most of the times a false statement and a lie. Whatever they dont want to come to the surface is put into the secret archive.
And a lot of lay peoole, seminarians included, are not aware of these secrets archives.

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Yes I have a great idea on how to fulfil that fantasy 11.33pm. Sign yourself in to the St John of God’s, Simple. Don’t call us btw as we will call you.

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Was Fanny drunk the night she preached the racist Jesus sermon? Had she been perchance partaking of the mulled wine? Or is she theologically illiterate? It’s time to close Maynooth. Fanny could maybe get a job in a hairdressers.

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Lol the Cork and Ross Seminarian over dosed in the Boiler hse Sauna, remember and guess who can to the rescue Fr X.

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Fr Brian will be in the pews at Marian Finucane’s funeral today. Ciarán O’Carroll, Éamonn Walsh and the local PP in Kill concelebrating.

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