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SEX AND FINANCE SCANDALS AT SILVERSTREAM MONASTERY IN MEATH.

A scandal has broken out at Silverstream Monastery in Co. Meath according to a Meath diocesan priest.

According to my Meath priest informant the Gardai are investigating an alleged sexual assault and whether or not funds have been misappropriated.

The person allegedly sexually assaulted was another monk, and thankfully not a minor.

All involved have provided signed statements to the Gardai.

The prior, Dom Kirby has “taken sick leave”.

The monks with Deenihan.
Michael Smith blessing the monastery.

Here is the ON SICK LEAVE man speaking

Silverstream is a diocesan monastery – under the control of the diocesan bishop.

Bishop Smith never conducted a VISITATION in all ten years of its existence.

Deenihan is out of his depth and has appointed an investigatory team to go in consisting of:

Dom Brendan Coffey abbot of Glenstal

Dom Richard Purcell of Mount Mellary

Monsignor Gearoid Dullea of Cork

Abbot Coffey has been made the interim abbot by Deenihan.

UPDATE

The blog has learned that Silverstream is under investigation by the CDF in Rome – Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

204 replies on “SEX AND FINANCE SCANDALS AT SILVERSTREAM MONASTERY IN MEATH.”

Mr Peter Littleton is a mass of issues. Priesthood is just a veneer. Same for all of the Romanist-cum-moochers, but not all of them dress up like cheap Christmas Trees and draw attention to themselves. If only they were all perfect like me 🤧🤧🤧

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The spin in the Silverstream newsletter cited in the above link is really remarkable. There it’s presented as something normal and routine … yet, as Bp. Pat notes, it is the first one that has ever been done in their entire existence (2012-2020)! Not only that, but the totally normal visitation seems to have resulted in the removal of the charismatic founder of the priory and his temporary replacement by the abbot of the (very non-trad!) Glenstal Abbey. “Move along, nothing to see here, folks!”

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I see Fr Martin Browne OSB commented on that tweet. Remind me, what was Fr Martin Browne before becoming a monk? Was he An alumnus of Shannon College or is that another one?

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Martin Browne’s twitter account says he is headmaster of Glenstal. What happened to the woman they appointed head with great fanfare as the first lay and first female head of the school? Apparently not having monks in the schools affects enrolment as that is their unique selling point for the monastic schools.

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They’ve been raising money for a new monastic church. They don’t take in aspirants aged 35 or older and most of their vocations come from homeschooled trads, who are probably not worldly wise and vulnerable.

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The place puts on a good Benedictine show, with loads of young handsome smiling monks, but it’s little more than a personality cult. Yes indeed, when you are a monk of this place, your abbot is for all intents and purposes infallible. Why?
Kirby authored the best-selling anonymous (LOL!) *In Sinu Jesu* which purports to contain private messages whispered from the tabernacle directly to Kirby by Jesus Himself. Imagine! For only the price of a paperback, you too can be initiated into the mystic communications!
(Oh, yes, and the book sports an imprimatur from Bishop Emeritus Smith. And a nihil obstat from from someone with no church mandate as a theologian, and who also happens to be the father of one of the monks, to boot! So, don’t worry, it’s all good!)

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I remember James Bradley causing a stir in Oscott. He was just out of Anglican egg-sucking class, and was all of a sudden ordained an RC priest in that weird gay cult they call the Ordinariate. All the blokes are gay but they all have wives. Poor gals. They mustn’t be getting it up ‘em very much. Oh, have I said too much?

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Father James returned tp britain to become parish priest of Holy Family, Southampton. What was a normal parish with a 1970s building on a Southampton council estate. Now it’s a traditionalist paradise with Latin Masses, no hymns only plainsong, back to the people and a high number of visiting clergy (inc. Fr Peter Littleton)
It no longer serves the local community but instead serves a very small mi nority of traditionalist. It’s a very anglican approach for people to pick a parish that suits their preferences and isn’t our culture. The parishioners of Holy Family haven’t gone to another parish as Fr James would like to believe…. they’ve just gone!

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There cannot be a Mrs B. In the Ordinariate if you are unmarried before ordination you cannot marry after it. That is also the discipline in the permanent diaconate in the West, and in the diaconate and priesthood in the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches too.

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Well said @9:08 am. The model for the RCC in England is now the failed Anglican experiment. Each parish does its own thing. So you have what in the C of E would have been described as broad church – i.e. nothing much at all really – staffed by washed-out products of post-Vatican II seminaries, and hot-houses of Latin, incense and lace Catholicism run by the very ex-Anglicans who jumped ship when they realized finally they could no longer quietly do their own thing lest their bishop turned out to be that most dreaded and feared creature – a woman! These latter characters occupy their days by bussing each other’s tiny parish groups from one Solemn High Mass to another, followed by a fork lunch in the company of a bogus bishop.

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Re @10:52, yes, I am afraid that busybodies doing a headcount and marshalling parishioners is very much part of the “Anglican Patrimony”.

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The headcount thing must be a hangover from the electoral roll thing the Anglicans have for General Synod but a headcount has no function in the Catholic Church, I think.

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9.56pm what rubbish to say that all the Ordinariate priests are gay. Your calling it a weird gay cult shows your prejudices. How many Ordinariate clergy have you met or has your view been informed by nasty gossip, tittle tattle and untruths?

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Look at the leader of the Ordinariate and you will realise what a joke you are. A pretend bishop running around in a mitre and living in luxury. Pompous buffon.

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You really do need to be a bit more careful with your comments about the Ordinariate clergy. Many of them are married with children and some of them are working barristers. Indeed, one permanent deacon is a high court judge.
You might want to look at Father Ed Tomlinson’s web site. A very nice, pleasant blog. no personal attacks. Father Ed is also a rugby player.

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Fr James Bradley OLW and Fr Peter Littleton of Southwark Archdiocese, both recent subjects of this blog are frequent visitors according to Silverstream’s own newsletter.

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The prior is definitely gay. It reminds me of Farnborough, where there is one older monk in charge, with no other monks his age, but surrounded by young men.

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Once again we have the misuse of power – I take your point about the home schooled trads. Unfortunately these places take on people like that knowing that legally they are not vulnerable and there will never be any come back, unless the family is wealthy enough to start a civil case in which case the church just stuffs their mouth with money. This has already happened at Farnborough as long ago as the nineties, gossip has it.
These clergy who like young men are real ticking time bombs because they can flirt with eighteen year olds with no vulnerability with no legal repercussions but the instant one of their victims is a week off 18 but says they’re 18 it’s literally only time.
Watch out for more monastic scandals to come…

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@11:01pm I’m no supporter of the current F’bro regime but your comment is not wholly true. Dom Thomas would surely be older than Abbot Cuthbert Brogan and Dom Gregory would likely be a contemporary. I suspect Silverstreams chance of a genuine visitation are fractionally higher than that of F’bro, in other words, some chance, rather than no chance…and that was before Brogan himself was made province visitor!

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One is reminded of that joke about the neighbour going to complain at the monastery about all the noise. The abbot was most apologetic: “I’m awfully sorry but we are holding a monk’s ball”, he said; to which the neighbour replied, “well would you mind letting it go so I can get some sleep”.

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Gearoid Dullea, one the priests leading the visitation, was on the staff of Maynooth until a few years ago, so should know his way round houses in crisis.

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Fr Dullea was not on the staff of Maynooth. He lived there as secretary and returned to Cork at the end of his tenure.

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I had a dream. Yes, I had a dream that one day on dame street leading to the George, the sons of priestly ministers and the sons of former priestly ministers will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. Yes, I had a dream that one day Grindr will reduce those awful monthly subscription charges that many often forget they are signed up to until it appears on their bank statement. Yes, I had a dream.
I’m Canon Matt Hep and I’m running for Archbishop of Dublin.
#Hep2020 #MakeDublinGreatAgain #ADrinkNeverHurtAnyone #XFactorBishop

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Hep, or whatever your real name is, you need help! I suspect you’re another disgruntled former cleric, quite likely a seminary reject. Grow up man for God’s sake,

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8.48am Totally agree. So many rejects on here and you can spot them at an instant when they start talking their usual shite.

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@8:48 – You don’t actually believe Hepp is a serious candidate or even a real character? Its light entertainment in what is often a very dark world. But I suppose you’re the kind who sits indoors, and runs to the window twitching the curtains as soon as a furniture van arrives at your neighbours. Lighten up! get a life! and have a laugh! Jaysus! 🤦🏼‍♂️🙄

P.S: Best wishes to Hepp. I doubt you”ll be sitting in the bishops palace but stranger things have happened

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8:48, Hi Father. Did the canon hit a nerve? did he remind you to cancel your Grindr subscription or did you not realise grindr shows up on your bank statements

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a seminary reject? I can assure you the Canon is no such thing !!!!!! Is that you Tighty-Tighe? Liffey-Leahy? You won’t distract this campaign despite all your attempts. There will be one man and one man only walking through the big gates in Drumcondra – with a lay secretary who wears an alb – and that’s the good Canon. Now P*ss off !

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#HepandPonsieForPresidancy2020.
#DreamTeam.2020.
#ArchDublin.2020.
#HepTheManYesHeCan.2020

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Canon, my dear, I actually feel your talents are better suited elsewhere. I feel a quick run through vows would obviously lead you to Abbot of Silverstream!

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Pat, I am shocked but perhaps shouldn’t be. I’ve visited a couple of times just for prayer and only received kindness and welcome. I hope it is not a disturbing case but any abuse is totally unacceptable. My good God- what next?

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The Church of Rome continues to act with the usual inconsistency.
The truly surprising fact here is that people continue to give their allegiance to this utterly dysfunctional and degenerate institution. Satan, and his mates, must be amused that Catholic clerics have saved them so much effort. 😅

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Who is the former Redemptorist of Galway? What ever happened to the Galway priest who liked the beach at Salthill?

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R Mc N, now of Parish M, has caused hell everywhere he has gone, a dangerous narcissist who makes it his business to fabricate lies about every priest he works with and others and then, along with his housekeeper, dump them in it to the bishop or anyone else gullible enough to listen. Because he comes from a so-called wealthy family with legal eagles, the hierarchy do him homage. The Reds were glad to be shut of him. Their gain is Galway’s loss. The priest who liked the beach was forcibly laicised.

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What’s the attraction of the 1962 missal? Alarm bells ringing straight away. None of those explanation on the clip sounds authentic or wholesome. The whole thing has ‘fraud’ written all over it. The sooner it’s closed the better.

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Oh Pat, you are so slow, or maybe just stupid. What Dublin priest owns the lodge, the old gate house, at Silverstream. Follow the pictures, follow auld William and follow the pictures/photos.

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The last time I was in the area there was a lovely, friendly elderly couple living in the gate house?

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O dear ! They were German, were they not? They made me a nice cup of coffee.

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By Post Author

One of the comment makers confuses what is called “The Gatehouse” (the monastery shop) with the actual original gatehouse of the property, which is down the road a bit from the priory. ​ At some point the Visitation nuns previously at Silverstream chopped it off and sold it.

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Let the Gardai deal with this if they have the info. A frustrated willie wired up to unrealistic and fantasy prone mind can probably cause a mighty kaaaboooom hi

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Well, Huddleston was indulged on all sides, both as an Establishment figure – I once saw him in purple socks on Pall Mall on his way to his club – and as an icon of the anti-apartheid movement. Stuff was appearing in Private Eye in the seventies and “it” featured in their hilarious Bishop of the Month series in the early eighties, when the reason for his being packed off to the Indian Ocean was made explicit. The ever insightful AN Wilson wrote of Huddleston in his biography of John Betjeman that he was obsessed by the C of E’s lack of appreciation of him, social justice and boys.

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Morning Bishop Pat! Is it true that bishop Deenihan has a new house in Mullingar? That the Bishop’s house on Dublin Rd is no longer his residence? Also that the retired bishop is living in a new (?) house on the grounds of the old house?

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That’s surprising that they have an ex-Maynooth sem. Their vocations page says that they don’t like to take on retreads.
That is usually an excellent policy, in my view, because ex-sems are restless people flitting from place to place and total melters (as someone pointed out on the blog recently).
However, it may be more sinister in this instance, if the aim is to have a community entirely of the young and niave who will listen uncritically to the claptrap of seer Kirkby.

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Anon at 9:25, Coffey is not a monk of Silverstream but the Abbot of Glenstal, who has just been made interim superior of Silverstream.

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9.25
You are a slow-learner. It takes time for things to sink in. Your views reflect that. Look before you leap. Engage the brain before opening the mouth.

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@5:07, fair enough. I respect that. Of course, when I knew him, he was very young. He always seemed very sincere at that time. Perhaps, like many, sadly, positions of leadership bring out less pleasant qualities. The church seems to be a master in this regard.

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Bishop Smith’s use of the JPII style crooked cross staff (pictured) would not have gone down well with those monks.

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The Silverstream Monastery looks lovely after much renovation and seemed an attractive place for men looking for a contemplative lifestyle. I think we should wait for all facts before jumping to definitive conclusions. This blog, led by Pat is all too ready to jump in, judge and condemn by hearsay, gossip and speculation. Pat most certainly is not a model of sanctity or moral probity. His spirituality often eschews the true gospel of Christ. I hope Silverstream will get thriugh this trying time. I will be praying for all the community. Christian charity asks such.

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9.30: That’s ok Pat. If there is something amiss at Silverstream, that should be thoroughly investigated. I feel sorry for the community as I’m sure these men are genuine in searching for a contemplative community. Also these monks have done so much renovation to make this place welcoming and hospitable. Let’s pray for them.

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UPDATE

The blog has learned that Silverstream is under investigation by the CDF in Rome – Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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If it is being investigated by Rome they are finished. Francis hates trad communities and has suppressed many of them during his pontificate. Expect the appointment of an Apostolic Visitor shortly. Fear of that papal policy is one of the reasons the SSPX won’t fully reconcile.

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No surprise there then. Now I am getting on a bit, I wonder how different my life would have been, had I too – albeit tangentially – not been caught up in religion. The late Rabbi Lionel Blue observed that he had spent much of his ministry trying to undo the harm imposed by his colleagues. Even before the balloon went up, the alarm bells at Silverstream must have been screaming. I particularly feared for the good-looking very serious young man in white shirt and black shoes and trousers, who at one point is shown tied by a rope to a candlestick on the floor of the chapel. Does anybody know what happened to him and whether he got out safely? As for Dawn Eden Goldstein – streuth! Couldn’t she have found another interest? She may be sticking the boot into the likes of Old Mother Burke now, but her own trajectory seems to have all over the place. “The Thrill of the Chaste” for f**k’s sake – where can I buy a remained copy?

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@4:13pm & 9:42am Robin was known as Dom Robert at Farnborough. His tweet ‘ Would appreciate a chat, have some very confidential info about the odd prior of silverstream priory who wrote that ghastly book In Sinu Jesu so beloved of + Egan etc.’ Whatever the failings of Prior Kirby, Robin should seriously examine his own conscience and make reparation for his own failings before shining the spotlight on others! Though perhaps I am being hasty? Perhaps this is a part of a process of reparation? I would not have expected him to highlight +Egan so explicitly, after all, the bishop is great friends with Abbot Cuthbert Brogan. Perhaps those Robin has hurt can expect apologies to follow in quick order and then we can welcome him sharing what he knows with regard to Prior Kirby and Abbot Cuthbert Brogan et al so that justice may at last be served, church renewal furthered and friendships restored in fraternal love and peace.

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From the Mid-Louth Independent: THE Most Rev’d Dr Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath, in­au­gu­rated the con­struc­tion of a new monas­tic church at Sil­ver­stream Pri­ory in Sta­mullen … Among the clergy in at­ten­dance were the Very Rev’d Michael Cahill, PP of John­stown; the Very Rev’d John Ho­gan, PP of Mul­ty­farn­ham; the Very Rev’d Ger­ard Deighan of Dublin; Fr Kevin Heery of Na­van, Fr Paul Mur­phy, and Fr Colm O’Ma­hony, OSA, both of Drogheda

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NO ONE OVER 35 !

If the prior, Kirby, is 69 why can no man over 35 enter?
What about a man of 40, with a genuine vocation who is capable of giving another 40 years to the monastery?
Very strange!

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Age discrimination laws obviously do not apply.

Older entrants are much less pliable, and less able to be taken advantage of. They can also be more disruptive and perhaps the prior thinks that the young will bond better. There does not seem to be a sub-prior or any other wise owls – just the prior and the junior monks. I think that the prior is the only priest there. It’s a strange set up, altogether.

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There is at least one other priest who came from an American diocese. He was formerly the personal secretary to none other than Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. Real trad credentials!

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You also need a dowry:
“Once accepted, postulants are required to furnish a sum of money sufficient to cover any unusual expenses that may arise during the postulancy, and sufficient to pay travel expenses should one be dismissed by the Prior, or choose not to pursue life in our community.”

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Here are their entry requirements:
Where Do You Fit In?
Experience has shown that after one’s mid thirties, it is difficult to adapt to monastic life, to submit to the process by which one yields to the demands of life “under a Rule and an Abbot” (Rule of Saint Benedict 1:13). Similarly, men with a previous experience of religious life, find it hard to embrace a new experience with the freshness, sense of wonderment, and discovery that should characterize those taking their first steps in a monastery.
MONASTIC FORMATION
Postulancy – 5–6 months
Novitiate – 18 months
Temporary Vows – 3 years
Monastic Consecration after 5 years
Requirements:
between 18 and 35 years of age.
successful completion of a course of study or mastery of a manual skill.
unmarried and living a chaste life.
not belonging to another Religious Institute.
free of debt.
not trying to evade the challenges and responsibilities of life in the world.
without a criminal record.
free of incurable or contagious diseases.
not responsible for the support of aged parents.
free of addictions to tobacco, alcohol, stimulants.

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It’s all balderdash.

Br Charles de Foucauld was a soldier and lived a very outrageous life until he was nearly 30.

Then he came back to faith, joined the Cistercians and ministered for decades to the desert nomads.

Under Kirby’s requirements he would be rejected.

And Kirby himself has been a wandering monk all his life.

There is something very big and verv bad going on here.

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Pat, the following is all taken from Dawn Eden Goldstein’s articles about Prior Kirby. Despite the Benedictine vow of stability he has been going from place to place. Did Meath diocese not do due diligence checks?
Dawn wrote:
Father Mark Daniel Kirby was born in Connecticut in 1952. He began his experience of religious life at the age of twenty in a traditional Benedictine monastery. At a certain point, however, he forsook that cloister in favor of a small monastic community that had nightly Eucharistic adoration, the Brothers of Jesus Crucified of Providence, Rhode Island.
Eventually the community was absorbed by the Cistercian Abbey of Notre Dame de Nazareth in Rougemont, Québec, and it was for that abbey that Kirby was ordained a priest on November 16, 1986.
At some point after ordination, Kirby suffered health issues as well as what he describes as “burnouts” that led him to modify his monastic observances. He writes, “This led to a prolonged absence from the abbey of my profession and, eventually, to my attachment to the Abbey of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome.”
“These were ‘desert years,’” Kirby adds, “full of uncertainties and trials.”
He taught for a brief time and was permitted to serve as chaplain to the nuns of the Monastery of the Glorious Cross in Branford, Connecticut where he could be close to friends and family.
Beginning a Benedictine Life in Tulsa
Late 2007 also saw Kirby enter into discussion with then-Bishop of Tulsa Edward Slattery, sharing his desire, as he would later put it, “to live my monastic vocation in daily Eucharistic adoration and reparation, while offering spiritual support to my brother priests.” The bishop responded in February 2008 with an invitation to live in the diocese, and in July of that year Kirby received permission from the Holy See to be released from the Cistercian order so as to incardinate into the Diocese of Tulsa and renew his monastic vows under Slattery’s authority.
Kirby’s renewal of his Benedictine vows under Bishop Slattery took place on April 2, 2009, in preparation for what would be, in his words, “the foundation of a monastery of diocesan right, dedicated to Eucharistic adoration and to the spiritual care of the clergy: the Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle.”
Although Father Mark Kirby enjoyed the support of Bishop Edward Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, the monk was unable to find a suitable property in the diocese for his nascent monastery. A new opportunity opened up in October 2011 when, having located a rent-to-buy property in the Diocese of Meath, Ireland, he received approbation from the local ordinary, Bishop Michael Smith, to found a monastery there.
Silverstream Priory in Stamullen, County Meath, had only one member besides Kirby when it opened in late February 2012, but that would soon change. By June 2014, it was reported that the monastery had “far too many young monks (plus interested young men) for their meager means.” In the meantime, Kirby’s friend and chief fundraiser David Craig worked to raise the funds so that the monks could purchase the property.

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A priest friend of mine was asked by his bishop to make an informal observation of Mark Kirby’s community since he was sympathetic with tradition. Father told me that they were pious folks, a bit baroque in their spirituality, but okay. The only odd thing he observed was Kirby kissing his monks on their tonsure after compline.
The bishop ordered him to cease that practice. Which he did.
I do hope that Father K’s current problems are not too serious because so many folks will be disillusioned.

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The current Regent of Studies of the Irish Dominicans Fr Joseph Mary Dineen appears in the photograph with Fr Deighan.

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All I can say after hearing disturbing stories about the Cistercians at Porglenone is don’t get sick and ill after you’ve entered a Monastery community.

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The young international Sister Adorers are thriving since they moved to St Augustine’s convent, Preston, at the request of Bishop Campbell in 2017. Fully veiled walking through the town to Mass every day. icksp.org.uk Latin Mass is big in Preston, Shrewsbury and New Brighton.

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How do you judge thriving ? Their convent is in the former presbytery of a now demolished church which has been turned into a sports hall of a catholic comprehensive which was itself originally a convent school and today must have a tiny minority of Catholics.The priests and nuns are doing a good job in very difficult circumstances with two huge gothic churches and no Catholics to fill them anymore. Bishop Campbell played a nasty trick on them getting them to restore churches he couldn’t close he is the one at fault not them, Preston – priests town – is more like Mecca than Lourdes

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I agree that Bishop Campbell sold them a pup, two pups, actually, in giving churches that he was too embarrassed to close, will cost a fortune to maintain, and have no congregation. There is the same carry on in Birkenhead with the Dome.

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Hi Bishop Pat, the sun is cracking the flags here in Liverpool, it was very warm and humid yesterday. However today the atmosphere seems to be somewhat more balanced and the skies alot fairer.
Yesteryear’s mist has begun its gradual ascent.
——–
I spoke with my solicitor’s pa yesterday, and this is what she said to me: “… [Daisy], this is the part where we now take over from the Police.will now be acting on your behalf.”
I have the feeling that what has been going in in the background is of a very and sensitive nature.
I pray to God there are not kids involved, because if there are, I will not be held responsible for my actio

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Did somebody mention ‘Canonical visitation above’? This video may help shed some light on what one of those are!

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Abbot Coffey is still in Glenstall! You can see him at every Livestream service that is broadcast. He was at Mattins and Mass there today. So it raises the question with
all this mess to sort out who is there day to day as Superiore in Silverstream?

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Bishop Pat call me stupid by how the hell is Abbot Coffey going to be interim abbot while still living at Glenstall ????? It does not add up .He can not be in two places at once!

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Abbot Brendan can leave Glenstal in the care of the Glenstal prior while living some or all of the week in Silverstream, perhaps?
Glenstal does not seem a natural fit with Silverstream, but as it is the only other male OSB in the RoI they may have had no choice. They could have approached Rostrevor in NI but it too is a new, youngish community with a dominant founder and head.

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“Abbot Brendan” Coffey wouldn’t be into any pomp at all. Joe Coffey as he was before his elevation to Abbacy was a grand lad and the son of a garage mechanic in Ennis I think when he was in Maynooth. He wouldn’t be into any nonsense at all, an ordinary working class priest with no pretension. Hard to come by nowadays

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@6:08 Wealthy Irish families sent their sons to be educated by the Benedictines in the UK. So alumni of Glenstal who joined the Abbey were already on the back foot!

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Pat, do you know what you should do for next year – organise a group holiday and book as a large group for cheaper rates. A nice one or two weeks in Benidorm. And we could all pay so much every week.

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That sounds a wonderful idea!
I could do with a holiday after all the gardening I have been doing lately.
You see, every time I am illegally and imorraly threatened to attend a closed court, without being legally represented, I become agitated and somewhat anxious.
However, and on the flipside, my love and passion for gardening is what soothes this anxiety. I just cannot get enough of it.
The more anxious I become: the more gardening we get stuck into.
We have another gardening project lined up, and we cannot wait to get stuck in, we are really are looking forward to it.
Alas! Firstly we must finish pruning the Ecclesiastical vine; then the next gardening project: a project me and my family are eagerly awaiting to begin.
——–
I keep my secateurs in immaculate condition, indeed all my tools are kept in pristine condition. Just ask those who borrow them. Gardening is extremely thereapeautic to me,
I find myself snipping here; snipping there! Sometimes I get carried away!
— And burning shrubbery out in the open is no longer allowed, some would demand this is be done in a closed environment.
This means one has to collect all the snippings, bit by bit — then at the end, take them to the skip for correct and thorough disposal. All this to keep our environment safe, and the air clean for our younger generation.
I love it x

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These sex scandals and abuse in traddy foundations, such as the FSSP, SSPX and monasteries will rock the faith of trads. Their belief had been that it was only Novus Ordo priests with their lax formation, poor personal discipline and loss of a sense of sin who were up to no good.
The trad priests, by contrast, were put on a pedestal and thought to be ascetic, discliplined and as believers in mortal sin they would be unlike the other priests. It was all Vatican II’s fault, they said.
Turns out that it’s a bit more complicated.

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odd isn’t it. Young fellas who never went through the Pre-Vatican II period are obsessed with latin and lace. Theres a young fella in England who goes around dressed as a Victorian gentleman because he liked the clothing of the time. Very bizarre. All that trad stuff belongs in a museum. Going around bowing and kissing rings, would they ever cop on.

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“Only Novos Ordo.” As if.
Gullible naive fantasists hankering for the past.
There’s plenty of scandals involving trad priests in America.

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If people spent less time leaving bitchy comments speculating about the personal lives of other people and endangering their souls in the process and instead prayed the Rosary daily for the closure of Maynooth, the destruction of liberal theology and converted their own gossipy hearts, the Kingdom of God would be a lot nearer at hand. And Maynooth would be no more.

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FROM SERAPHIM ABIVE

A priest friend of mine was asked by his bishop to make an informal observation of Mark Kirby’s community since he was sympathetic with tradition. Father told me that they were pious folks, a bit baroque in their spirituality, but okay. The only odd thing he observed was Kirby kissing his monks on their tonsure after compline.
The bishop ordered him to cease that practice. Which he did.
I do hope that Father K’s current problems are not too serious because so many folks will be disillusioned.

Why would a Prior/ abbot kiss their young monks tongues?

Weird or what!

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so not tongues. you might want to seek clarification on the message sent to you. words matter

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Tongues? ROFLOL!
Tonsure. The area in the back of the head above the tonsure. Sometimes my love for Horatian brevity causes me trouble.

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The grapevine says that the former nuncio was gay and that he took a shine to the PP of Knock, being a frequent visitor there. Then, there’s the rest of the pack – well, being gay is not the problem – the problem is that someone has them by the ‘goolies’. In fact various people have things on them. My sources tell me that a lot goes back to Rome – and their own student days in Rome – that is, of the ones who spent time in Rome – Smith of Meath, Sean Baptist emertius of Armagh, and emeritus Kerry, and Diarmuid himself. Diarmuid had a strange run-in around Florence when he was young, back in the day, a lost credit card, an Alfa Romeo… ring any bells? And, there’s something very fishy about the old Irish college villa at Gaeta – that goes all the way back to the 1950s when Donal Herlihy was rector in Rome. It’s always been said that Gaeta was closed in the end to bury a whole lot of secrets. Ask some old priests ordained in the 50s about confessions at the Villa – and who the confessors were, and who went to the local PP instead. Ask some of the guys who were there in the 1960s about the swimming activities!

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Sean Baptist is a very vindictive one, even in retirement. He’ll go to any end to punish those he perceives as having slighted him, or acted against him during his time at the college in Rome, or more recently in connection with the apostolic visitation of that place. Seems some of his episcopal stooges have woken up to his vindictive behaviour and don’t want to cooperate in his purges any longer. Of course, Prior being Kilmore and ex Irish college staff, can’t have been a coincidence. Amazed Fleming came unscathed through all this – he’s a cute hoor! He even cam unscathed through the ‘Give it to me Dwayne’ saga back in 2000 in Rome, when those poor D&C prudes were so horrified at the terrible goings-on in the house of horrors that was the Pontifical Irish College. What a howl! The D&C guys listening at the wall, and then feigning shock and horror at what they heard ‘Give it to me D…..’.
Of course, the real horror was among the rest of the college when they discovered who was giving it to who – top and bottom roles didn’t turn out as expected. When the D&C guys went to Des Connell – who through his own bad luck happened to be in town at the time – before Mass on the following morning (Sunday), he told them to go and talk to the proper authorities. They weren’t pleased by that. I think they all left subsequently, apart from the older Armagh guy, who used to egg on the D&C guys. In all this saga, Fleming had the good luck to be in hospital because he broke his arm. Poor old Bergin had to handle the irate D&C brigade and the top and bottom – he was probably just as surprised when he heard the famous line. The two boys were ordained and now one is happily heterosexual, even making babies…. so we can’t rush to judgement too quickly on gay activitiy in the seminary. The other is busy ministering to the faithful!

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If you are a priest and are in one of those “low demand” groups (there are several, each copying the other) you are liable to be asked to undertake abstruse duties that will wear you out then they will neglect you and dump you and mysteriously no diocese is able to help – this is the sort of thing that is emerging. So the anarchy is not just parish by parish, it is group by group, all overlapping and interfering with each other, and no duty of care for welfare.

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Lack of accountability among some of the more vaguely constituted “churches within the churches”, that’s all. Not good coordination. Could put it right if they set their minds to it I’m sure. Probably doesn’t occur to them. (This isn’t about well delineated bodies.)

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Got himself into another bit of a twist, was laicised and is now teaching in China. It’s a shame really. If he had been able to keep his trousers on, he could have been a good priest.

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Pat, The Nuncio to Ireland Okolo visited Elsie in the last few days. He also had a visitation to the Nigeran Chaplaincy on the Balls Pond Road. He did not stay with Elsie as would be expected but did stay at the Goring. What a far cry from visiting the slum that is Dalston.

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Find that hard to believe. According to the Goring web site they are temporarily closed until 4th September. How would you know that the Nuncio to Ireland has visited Westminster or Balls Pond road in Dalston? By the way there are some nice parts in Dalston. If I lived there I would take exception to you slum remark. There are plenty of professional people in that neck of the woods. Very close to the city for bankers and lawyers.

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Yes you are cotrect @ 8.04pm thel Goring is closed but only to plebs like you. They do make exceptions to a call from the Court of St. James. Big difference. You say there are some nice parts of Dalston but not the Balls Pond Road.

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Lol Pat, Elsie has her spys watching your blog like a hawk like @8.45pm trying to defend him lol. You couldn’t make it up. Okolo was at the UK chaplaincy for Nigerians and last time I heard their hygeine meant an infestation of rats. Fr Albert was chief there but Elsie got him out for further studies. Many Nigerian women callers i hear.

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Nobody said he met the Cardinal. Why stay st tge Goring if Elsie was in redidence. Keep up to date

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Fr Michael Daley was PP of Kingsland parish, Balls Pond Road. Deeply unpopular man. One of Vincent’s chosen few.

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@09.32pm Is that the same Daley who was curate to Jim Curry in Chiswick. Follow the path Pat, CMOC, Curry, Daley, Chiswick, Kensington, Vinny, current odious VG to Vinny – Hayes, follow the path.

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I hear that the good lay folk in Fermanagh are saying Mass now in Clogher diocese. That’s how the locals percieve it. One elderly lady said, “‘She did a lovely Mass”.

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Fermanagh people wouldn’t be the most sophisticated, theologically speaking. “Nice but dim” is what the Clogher priests from co. Monaghan call them.

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Pre-Vatican 2 religious life was often awful – kids were taken in and subjected to other kids’ humiliation and all sorts of weird stuff. After Vatican 2 they tried to reform but they were still often children really and we all know how religious life went.
These guys wanting a trad religious life are in a dream world and actually don’t want the reality of it.
In reality the old monasteries really contained two separate communities, and one very much a servant class. Benedict himself is unlikely to have been a priest and his monks definitely did the work around the place.
That’s the trouble with ‘tradition’ – where do you set as the right time?
If it is in the twentieth century monastic life was in one of its more bizarre times. For example the rule says the monks must not eat before Vespers in Lent so it wasn’t unusual to have the whole office in one go before lunch and spend the afternoon asleep!
These tradunculi almost never talk about what monastic life was like up to the sixties in reality.

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Silverstream still has the ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ distinction between classes of monk. On its vocations page it says that there are:
choir monks dedicated to the integral service of the liturgy and, normally, destined for the priesthood.
monks not destined for the priesthood who, imitating Saint Joseph, dedicate themselves to the ceaseless prayer of the heart in the daily tasks entrusted to them.

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@6:23 indeed all Glenstal are more or less working class now and gone are the days of upper middle class grandees. Most of the intake now would have been lay brothers in olden times and thankfully those days are over. Another couple of years and the last of the genteel monks will be gone.

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Presumably in the past most of the Glenstal monks had been pupils at the school and therefore from wealthy families?

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They are ordaining the brothers there now. One of the brothers was ordained recently after discovering after 30 years in the monastery that he had a vocation to be a priest. Hederman was ordained a priest when they elected him abbot, which seems a loose definition of vocation – would he have sought ordination if he hadn’t been elected abbot?

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Say what you like about Deenihan, Pat. But he’s certainly cleaning up the diocese rudderless diocese he inherited.

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@10.01pm Daley has a penchant for ex Anglicans. He has a very close friendship with the current Pastoral Director of Allen Hall. He also had a very close relationship with Monti – Tom Montgomery.

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That Okolo is a total disgrace. Haven’t heard a squeak from him since he took up his role in Dublin. Seems to keep his trap shut and travel about. I hear he loves luxury.

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Yep. You don’t hear much about him because he’s just getting on with being a priest. Only nasty gossips are trying to cause trouble.

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I agree with Anonymous at 11.27pm. He was very popular in Enfield. He was very caring towards the elderly, the sick and the mentally disadvantaged. he was very popular and much respected.
Nobody goes through this life perfect. Gve the priest a break and let him get on with his ministry.

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I see that Knock Shrine is to be closed on the Assumption, to discourage crowds. Shameful.

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yeah how dare they seek to protect the vulnerable and contribute to the common good. what’s the world coming to

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