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ABBOT RICHARD PURCELL – UPDATE.

With Phonsie

The Abbot General of the Cistercian order – Dom Eamon Fitzgerald – has arrived in Ireland and is staying at Mount Mellary.

ABBOT GENERAL

Dom Richard Purcell was away from Mount Mellary for the weekend and was expected to return there yesterday.

The Abbot General and the papal nuncio, Archbishop Okolo, are in receipt of a formal complaint against Dom Purcell and have been asked to investigate.

Every Cistercian monastery has a “Father Immediate”.

“In accordance with the Charter of Charity, Cistercian communities are autonomous but united in a communion implemented by the institutions of the Father Immediate, the Regular Visitation, and the General Chapter. The Father Immediate is the abbot of another monastery, whose responsibilities include a formal visit to the community every two years. The purpose of this “Regular Visitation” is to strengthen and supplement the pastoral action of the local superior, to correct where necessary, and to renew the nuns’ or monks’ spiritual fervor.

The Father Immediate of Mount Melleray is Abbot Andre Barbeau of Val Notre Dame in Quebec, Canada.

It seems to me that an investigation into a complaint against Richard Purcell would in the first place, be conducted by Abbot Barbeau.

OCSO

CONSTITUTIONS
OF THE MONK

C. 40 Resignation from Office

For a just cause an abbot may submit his resignation to the General Chapter.

When the General Chapter is not in session, he presents his resignation to the
Abbot General who acts as vicar of the Chapter in this matter.

ST 40.A

An abbot is to tender his resignation of his own accord when he reaches 75 years
of age.

ST 40.A.

The abbot having been postulated at an age beyond 75 and whose postulation
has been confirmed shall spontaneously offer his resignation at the next General
Chapter (Decision of the 2014 General Chapter, vote 49.)

ST 40.B
When an abbot offers his resignation the Father Immediate is always consulted.

Careful inquiry is made, if the matter demands it, into the views of the
community. Neighbouring superiors also are to be consulted, if appropriate.

ST 40.B.

If because of an infirmity or other reason (such as imprisonment, banishment or
exile – cf. Can 412 CIC) it is impossible either physically or psychologically for
an abbot to exercise his pastoral function, it is for the Father Immediate, having
consulted experts and obtained the consent of the conventual chapter, to
investigate and verify the matter. If the impossibility is evident he immediately
informs the Abbot General, who with the consent of his council, can remove the
abbot from office.

PREVIOUS COMPLAINT AGAINST RICHARD PURCELL.

I have learned from a totally reliable source that the Cistercians have on file a previous sexally related complaint from his time in Roscrea monastery.

Given this, it is rather shocking that he went on to become an abbot!

Considering all of this I believe that Richard Purcell needs to do the honourable thing and resign as abbot of Mount Melleray to avoid further scandal.

COMMENT PLACED ON RICHARD PURCELL’S FACEBOOK PAGE TODAY.

146 replies on “ABBOT RICHARD PURCELL – UPDATE.”

‘Given this, it is rather shocking that he went on to become an abbot!’

Not so shocking Pat, same with Cuthbert Brogan…

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I hear Portglenone are getting ready for a visitation by the General. +Noel is having talks with him there so I presume that it is also Abbot related.

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I know exactly who you are and what your problem is. Might be a good idea to end this hate campaign and try sort your life out?

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The stalker is the looper who applied to be a sem for Paisley and they told him to feck off. Now he seeks revenge. Time for the police to intervene, I think.

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9.33pm Will you ever fck off with yourself. Nobody is interested in your crap. We are discussing an entirely different issue here. You always seem to kick off each night like last night on the blog with your obsession. Get lost and do one.

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Presumably he is on damage limitation. But I’m afraid the horse has already bolted.

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By Post Author

If it is anything like France make a complaint to a monastery about anything , and it will be ignored .You will be met by weeks of silence , and then get a note basically telling you that you are not welcome there any more . And have none of your questions or issues responded to .

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Should not Richard Purcell step aside as Abbot while he is being investigated according to safeguarding procedures ?Secondly how can Purcell be investigating the goings on at
Silverstream while he is himself subject to a complaint , and under investigation ?

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Yep, if all that is the case, then it does seem very strange. I have for some time picked up strange signals about this Abbot Purcell, and thought that everything cannot be rosy in his garden. Perhaps they were hoping that this would all stay quiet, but I don’t think it will for much longer. So, better that he step aside and let others review things. Mind you, that Brogan fella in Farnborough seems to endless be able to ride out all sorts of strange doings and goings on……

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There’s no issue with safeguarding here at 11.24.
Are you (deliberately) attempting to conflate same-sex attraction and pedophilia?

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3.00

Don’t be shy. Your comment suggests that there is indeed a link.

So what have you to say for heterosexuals who rape, and otherwise molest, little girls?

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Are you the same person who has the obsession with Father Peter Littleton?
What is your problem? Are you mentally ill? No offence but you come across as somebody who is mentally unstable. That’s why no one is taking your posts seriously. I’ll pray for you.

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Interestingly, Cistercian College, Roscrea is the last Cistercian school left in the world, and even its future is uncertain.
Though it is beyond me why parents anywhere want to send their children to any boarding school. Perhaps it’s no different to the career women who want the two kids and then put them into childcare when the babies are only a few months old and still in nappies.

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It’s the woman who gives birth. If her children are less important than work, why have them? I’m not referring to lone parents, or those who need to work from financial necessity. I am thinking of wealthy businesswomen and politicians. I know plenty of women who don’t need the money but who go back to work when their babies are very young because the mother is bored or wants to advance in her career. It’s the children who suffer.

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9.26 and 8.45 – Why can’t the father take over the childcare of his children? Or are we still in the 1950s?

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The guy who is clearly obsessed with McNamara is troubled. If you had someone trolling you on a blog every day, would you not suspend your social media ? It’s obvious that this is a personal vendetta and a destructive one at that.
I am surprised at you, Pat. You have facilitated this bullying and harassment. Your response, I imagine, will be based on the need to allow truth and honesty to prevail. You can only offer that defence when facts and reality are being offered; not gossip, obvious personal antipathy and obsessive behaviour. I would be very careful if I were you, Pat, in what you are perpetuating.

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Sounds like that other loon who keeps going on about Liverpool. It always astounds me the few loo lahs on here who just use the blog for their own selfish agendas.

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It seems that being gay is almost universal in the clergy. With gay bishops, abbots, vocations directors and formators in charge, only hot gay sems and novices are selected and the straights are turned away, and so the pattern is entrenched.

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That must be why they introduce age limits. In society at large people are marrying later. In these orders the opposite is happening. They want younger recruits. Now it is clear why.

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Yes, and the young priests and sems are far better looking than their were in the past. Bishops, abbots etc pick eye candy for their jaded palates.

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At 8:58am – no they are not “far better looking than their (sic) were in the past”. What utter nonsense. They’re exactly the same as they always were except far fewer in number.

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Monasticism is a perennial vocation in the church, in fact predates Christianity. While it has had its ups and downs you would expect it to be something which continues. Yet as far as I can see monastic life in Ireland is in as bad a state as every other church institution. When you hear about communities electing a man whose mind isn’t on it, as abbot, you know that community is in real trouble and it’s not likely to improve under the abbot.
Farnborough is a striking parallel but there are other monasteries in England with similar problems. Abbot Manahan of Buckfast went to prison as did Abbot Soper of Ealing. The last abbot of Downside left completely and a letter of his, talking about a gay clique running the abbey, came out in IICSA.
It’s just dire.

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Bellenger of Downside shocked everyone when he shacked up with his beard, and don’t forget Hargreaves of Prinknash who swanned off to Rome when he was found out in the papers to be predatory and then returned when things quietened, and Charlesworth of Buckfast who lives with his young man being abbot of an anglican church.

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The link clearly says he *was* a member and now isn’t. His title is given as Dr not RT Rev Dom.
Why the hell he is still using a picture in a habit though…

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He left and moved in with a woman to cover up his campery before releasing his statement about how he tried “so hard” to deal with the troubles at Downside.

A beard is a woman that a gay man dates or marries to put people off the scent, it makes them look more manly.

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Wasn’t the beard a nurse in the school? Aidan Bellenger told the Inquiry that he was seeking dispensation to leave the monastic life.

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‘Corrupt, and riddled with corruption.’ ( Historian Dr David Starkey on the institutional Roman Catholic Church)

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Disgraced? Nonsense. The man is a brilliant historian, and a national treasure.
And speaking of agendas, that of the RCC is far, far longer than that of Southend Pier, and far less innocuous. 😃

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Can someone please explain why all the Irish abbeys seem to have only around 7 monks each, no novices, they are as old as tea apart from Purcell, yet Vatican II renewed religious life and was supposed to usher in a New Springtime, a New Pentecost?

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9:35am

Vatican II renewed religious life and was supposed to usher in a New Springtime and a New Pentecost. Just look at what it has done, it has destroyed religious life and there is certainly been no New Springtime or New Pentecost. The exact opposite has happened clear for all to see, by their fruits shall ye know them.

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9.18
A rather superficial and facile analysis.
Your weakness is confusing post hoc with propter hoc.
Any reputable sociologically-informed opinion will reveal that decline in religious practice had well preceded the 1960s by at least half a century – certainly since 1918.

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9.44

And guess why the decline set in (or did so very largely)? The existence of two world wars, which the ‘Church’ morally approved.

The ‘Church’ here exposed its (to borrow that Churchillian phrase) moral ‘soft underbelly’, i.e. it did not consider human life sacred at all. Incidentally, this could only have facilitated support for intentional abortion: after all, if killing millions of human beings outside the womb is morally acceptable, then it is a short intellectual step to reasoning likewise for such lives in the womb.

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9.18

‘By their fruits shall ye know them.’ Indeed, Bella.We know your fruits alright.

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No surprise that the chronically peevish poster at 3.49 blames the Church for the World Wars.

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6.07
Learn to read what is printed on the page and not what appears in your fascile imagination.
No one blamed the ‘Church’ for both world wars, but for morally approving them. Which it did, in both cases, proving the lie that it regards human life as sacred, including unborn life.
The sacredness of life in utero cannot reasonably be upheld while denying it ex utero. Even you could understand this.

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I suspect that people are wise enough to want the spiritual journey without the institution. There are more contemplative outside the monastery.

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Does anyone have the Westminster Moves list?
The secret changes are being drip fed online. It’s odd that rcdow doesn’t make a proper announcement.
Two Cathedral chaplains are being sent to parishes as assistant priests, with a knock-on effect of other AP moves. No news on PP changes though.

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Any news of Monti in the Westminster changes? He is due a move. Which Cathedral chaplains are being booted out into parishes where they should be in the first place.

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It looks like Monti is being spared yet another move and is still in post in South Harrow and Northolt.
Fr Julio Albornoz – Cathedral to Sudbury
Fr Rajiv Michael – Cathedral to Brook Green (from November)
Fr Mark Dunglinson – Brook Green to Willesden Green (from November)

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The Westminster changes are being released on a “need to know” basis and the readers of this blog don’t need to know.

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9:44a

There is nothing superficial about the evidence which is absolutely clear, before that dreadful council vocations to the Priesthood and religious life were at an all time high. We don’t need any sociological-informed opinion to tell us, the evidence is quite clear to any one who wants to compare then and now. No new Springtime or New Pentecost, religious vacations at an all time low and we just have to read this blog to see how bad things are. We must have hope as Our Blessed Lady said “In the end My Immaculate Heart shall Triumph!” and we look forward to The Great Return.

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Anon@ 11:38: Your comments appear to reflect little understanding of the nature of changes apparent in western society in respect of religious observance over the past 60+ years. And you can’t be blamed or criticised for that, …………unless……. you persist in clinging to a misguided security of your outdated narrow perspective while considering more informed objective analysis as misplaced. I suggest you seek to educate yourself on these matters before commenting further. You should have plenty of time while awaiting “The Great Return.”
MMM

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‘Religious vacation’?
A Freudian slip.
However, you need to improve your literacy skills. No wonder sociology is off limits for you.

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4.59p

No further studies for Monti, as he’s been a very naughty boy! And no late night drinking sessions after his Friday Fast, as he must be available on Saturday mornings with his PP for Spiritual Surgery with parishioners.

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@4.59pm He barely scraped through the mickey mouse course they offer at the Beda. Why would they possibly send Monti for anymore studies?

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6.54p
So Elsie and his VG don’t think RCDOW parishioners need to know where their priests are going! That says it all. I will publish updates on here as it leaks out. Awesome comms strategy Vinny!

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9.08pm. You’ll publish when moves leak out? They were announced by email to anyone who has a diocesan email address. So any of Pat’s Westminster informants should be able to tell him

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Pat, people “out there” delight in yanking your chain and feeding you bullshit. What are the police saying about the “threat” the other day? Your facilitating the online abuse and bullying of that Scottish seminarian and also Fr Littleton is inexcusable.

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1:15pm

O here we go again Polly Queen of Academia commenting if I make a typo there has been plenty of them on here today, haven’t noticed you giving out to Patsy who has a few, funny that. Of course common sense is off limits to you, must be the gargle.

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1:15pm
No Minnie, you’re wrong I understand only too well the nature of the changes that have happened. I loath them! you and other atheists like you think any religious observance is misguided but you are wrong. I consider what you say is more informed analysis is utterly the opposite. I know what is right and what is wrong and what we see now is certainly not right. I have what you don’t, Faith and I don’t mind waiting for “The Great Return” which will come in God’s good time..

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@7:14: “Faith!” A delusional fantasy imprinted on impressionable childhood minds. It regularly mutates into obsessional unthinking adherence to the security of infantile aspirational beliefs.
Moving on from belief in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy marks emergence into mature consideration of evidence and known facts. The same can not be said about religious beliefs, and “faith” in particular, the great fall-back shibboleth position.
MMM

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7.14
You got it wrong…again! 😃 Didn’t you, Bella? 😕
You thought MMM was ‘Polly’ (aka ‘MC’)
Har-har-har 😅😅😅

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8:05pm
No Minnie wrong again Faith is gift from God, you will soon find out when you are called to judgement. When you hear that dread sentence Depart from Me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. It will be too late then to find out just how delusional you were.

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10.02
So why, Bella (heaving with laughter here), didn’t ‘God’ give this gift to everyone?
You, and all Roman Catholics, are actually Calvinists, since you believe, implicitly, in predestinatiin. 😅😅😅

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10.02. It seems you have absolutely no understanding of how misguided and deluded you are!
MMM Give up on this fella! There’s some you can’t even begin to reason with!

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How can an institution like the Catholic Church that is viewed by many to be corrupt investigate itself ? Should they not bring in someoone from the outside to investigate every complaint that is made ?

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Richard is accused of frequenting the Boiler House gay sauna in Dublin, was the subject of a sexual complaint in Roscrea and of being sexually active with priests and others.

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Ok. I wasn’t sure what was going on. Have you contacted the current superior in Roscrea? And have they commented to you?

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11.47
Is that such a big deal in these days of recreational sex between consenting adults?

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@11:47 no it’s not a big deal. It’s just a big hypocrisy. If you want cock and act on it then clear out of the presbyteries and the monasteries. Otherwise Maynooth and Roscrea and Mount Mellary would be Packed to capacity with active gays who wouldn’t have to bother with saunas

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Anonymoussays:
15th Sep 2020 at 11:36 am -Is that not typical ! The church that inflicts so much abuse
on people is the first to cry out if it feels one of its’ rotten own is being treated badly .

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Any cleric, never mind one who occupies prominence in the Church, must live at deep levels of unreality and dysfunction, if he is frequenting places like gay saunas.
He is certain to be recognised and, in this day and age, could be surreptitiously photographed and that photo sent to various people.
Either way, someone will call their friend with, “you will never believe who I saw in ……!!”
Before you can say “what a gay day”, hey presto, it’s in the hands of someone like Pat Buckley and all over the world.

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Of course nobody would take issue with your well thought out and sensible comment. If I may suggest, though, one edit which would make your comment express the whole problem here, Viz.
‘Any cleric, never mind one who occupies prominence in the Church, must live at deep levels of unreality and dysfunction.’
😂

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My goodness, Bp Pat, only a few days ago she was being mentioned as the future See of Dublin. Now it transpires she may have been, allegedly… well, let’s just say, a dirty girl.

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Frederic Martel exposesd in his ground breaking book: In the Closet of the Vatican – Power, Homosexuality and Hypocrisy said
Cardinal Bertone (Secretary of State) purchased a gay sauna in Rome.
Yes, the Vatican owns a gay sauna.
The sauna in question is: No 40 Via Aureliana, the sauna is the Europa Multiclub one of the most popular gay establishments in Rome.
It is a sport club, cum cruising spot with sauna’s and hammams.
The building which houses the gay sauna was bought by the Vatican for 20 million euros in May 2008. The media picked up on the story ith the headline: ‘Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has bought the biggest gay sauna in Italy.’
What is weird and typical of Vatican building deals – the building had been previously sold for 9 million euros – why did the Vatican pay 20 million euros for it!!
The manager of the Europa Multiclub, Marco Canale said: ‘At the Europa Multiclub we receive lots of priest and even cardinals. And every time’s there’s a jubilee, a synod or conclave, we realize immediately: the sauna is fuller than usual thanks to all the visiting priests.’
I wonder whether the Peter’s Pence collection helped to bank roll the purchase of a building owned by the Vatican which houses the biggest gay sauna in Rome and one of the most popular in Italy!!
The Vatican seems non-plussed (easy cum, easy go) by this brazen and amazing scandal – whilst at the same time condemning homosexuals and ‘homosexual acts’ as ‘intrinsically disordered’ – such dazzling and dizzying hypocrisy takes your breath away and one day (hopefully soon) we will all wake up and say ‘Enough is Enough! Not in our name!’

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2.45: I agree with you – enough is enough… we must shout it very loudly. You say it, I’ve said it as have many other clerics. Where do we begin? Can I test your sincerity and passionate convictions by asking you to organise a public forum for all of us on the same wavelength. Then we’ll see, firstly, your supposed concern and secondly, that of similar minds!! Let us know.

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Germany’s biggest Catholic-owned publishing house has been rocked by disclosures that it has been selling thousands of pornographic novels with titles such as Sluts Boarding School and Lawyer’s Whore with the full assent of the country’s leading bishops.

The revelations made in the publishing-industry newsletter Buchreport concern Weltbild, a company with an annual €1.7bn (£1.5bn) turnover and 6,400 employees. It is Germany’s largest bookseller after Amazon and wholly owned by the Catholic Church.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/revealed-publisher-owned-by-the-catholic-church-sells-pornography-6257572.html

So next time you think you should confess having a wank with a jazz mag, do it to Sluts’ Boarding School and you can move on with a clear conscience and know you have offered it up for the good of Holy Mother Church.

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Why does anyone still pretend there’s any virtue in this outfit? It’s a matter of time before revelations about drugs and people trafficking come out.
The fact these go right to the top gives the lie to any few rotten apples claims.

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Some “vocations directing” is internationalised. Let’s hope that doesn’t lack calibre . . .

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I wonder whether in reality there used to be lower levels of sexual activity in religious life. I read in Abbot Marmion’s biography that when he was a novice in Maredsous the novice master would regularly spy into their rooms through a Judas in the door. This must have made masturbation, let alone anything more involved, difficult at best.
I also wonder whether the sexual revolution had a part in it. I read Dom Magnus Wilson quoting Dom Bede Griffiths ( both ironically priors of Farnborough) as saying that if he had been born later he would have been a homosexual.
Any ideas anyone?

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He wasn’t a Hindu, he was a lead figure in the Christian Ashram movement which was a response to the Second Vatican Council’s call to the Church to be open to enculturation.
Dom Bede Griffiths led a Benedictine Monastery in India which did not seek to impose western colonialism upon the Indian nation, but rather to be a genuinely Indian Benedictine community.

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Sorry to bang on about this point but I feel the need to educate the anonymous poster who tried to belittle Dom Bede Griffith’s ministry, possibly out of a complete misunderstanding of Indian culture and its history with Christianity. The colonial Christian missionaries inflicted their faith upon the Indians by desecrating Hindu Temples. Claudius Buchanan was one Missionary who did such a thing and as a result Hindus were very suspect of Christianity. Dialogue was certainly not possible.
Dom Bede instituted a Hindu-Christian dialogue by respectfully observing Hindu practices and having an openness to learn. Colonial Missionaries enforced western styles of worship upon the Indians, but we know that the idea of enculturation is nothing new in the Church, for the Jesuits in China adopted Chinese styles of dress in their worship.
Dom Bede adopted the mannerisms and style of a Indian Guru but was grounded very deeply in his Catholic Faith.

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10:21pm.
Might I point you to the hypocrisy of your statement in that you’re engaging on the blog of a non Roman Catholic bishop and so you are having something to do with what you would define as ‘false religion’.
Not my definition but yours

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I always have a quick look around 11 pm just in case there is any new… well, let’s just say, d’étranges choses sales se passent.

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Any word on how the poor sem from Paisley is doing? I see from the above he has taken his social media down. I would have done exactly the same.

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He is fine and seems to be coping. I seen he was reading in his parish this morning. Whoever it is that is after him need to give up eventually.

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His social media isn’t down. He’s just blocked the nutter who is stalking him. Thanks

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I couldn’t care less about the moral / ethical / sexual aspects of what Purcell had been up to. What I am astounded at is the level of stupidity, crass irresponsibility and just plain arrogance of a man in his position who takes himself off to a gay sauna in Dublin which is a small world and expects that he wouldn’t be noticed / found out / rumbled. What a twit. It shows a complete lack of cop on and common sense. And this is a man with immense responsibility for others and institutions. How come he was ever thought suitable for abbot ? You couldn’t make it up ! If any of this is true his position is untenable. And spare me any narrative about him being damaged, wounded, victim. He’s just fucking stupid !

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@7.35pm Totally agree. One word you use which is appropriate and central to all this clergy hanky panky is the word ‘arrogance’. It’s as if these odious clerics think they are untouchable or maybe it’s part of the risk/thrill. I think Pat touched on this arrogance in reference to McCamleys lack of contrition and sorrow for showing his member online. Equally another poster highlighted the same arrogance shown by Eamon Martin for allowing said McCamley back into parishes in Armagh. On the subject of that See, it was the arrogance of Sean Brady in refusing to stand down after his knowledge of historical abuse. The list of course can continue but the common thread serms to be arrogance along with stupidity and the thrill of the risks involved.

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Was there an Armagh priest somewhere recently who insisted on being called, “Father”? Is that not also clericalism and arrogance.

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Just to get back to Downside … the last Abbot severed his connections and took up a position at the University of Cambridge. Fair enough: Downside in its glory days had produced a Regius Professor, but is it true that Dom Aidan had now shacked up with a former school nurse at … Downside …. where they might …. possibly … have met?

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It’s a small world. Michael Hurt, brother of the actor John Hurt, was a monk of Downside who was booted out after he got a police caution for the usual. He left in 1971 and married twice, failing to tell his wives about his brush with law.
Many years later he decided to have another go at the monastic melarky, this time in Glenstal, where he is still a member of the community, with the name Brother Anselm. Downside didn’t mention his past. Aidan Bellenger let it slip out at the Inquiry.
Back in Glenstal, they were hearing of this for the first time. Michael Hurt/Bro Anselm was the abbey cook, but he had a link to the school in that he ran the chess club there. The abbot put a stop to that, and Anselm sails on.

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Abbott of this & Abbot of that where will it all end. The truth can set free but sometimes it can cause people to regress into a semi reality world that can be stiffening Thing is hi, is this reality powered by the cross and resurrection of Jesus or an overpowering fascination and worship of Sir Willie Mc Wonka and all that he allegedly stands for. Trousers lads Keep them up up up hi

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Pat. Etienne and Billing from Lancaster travelled to Oscott yesterday for a very rotund Deacon’s ordination. In group photos with no masks on. Should they be reported to the Police for breaking Covid regs? I hear that these 2 Priests are very very close 😉

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Is there any similarities between Dickie Pursie and Kathy Kirby, Bp Pat? For example, is she incommunicado.

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8.05: MMM, It’s a pity you don’t accord respect and some civility to those of a faith/religious nature. Your condescension represents, sadly, a new orthodoxy, which is becoming increasingly illiberal, intolerant and merciless. I respect your changed and changing understanding of the evolution of life, intelligence, science and rational thought processes, but I would never dare to dismiss or smash your beliefs to pieces. Surely, respect and tolerance are the hallmarks of fully understanding the mind set of one another, where, once our beliefs do not consciously abuse, harm or dehumanize others, must inspire us all to work for the welfare if all and create a more just, caring and compassionate world. In this great endeavour, believers and non believers have a duty to respect one another. Why the need for condescending sarcasm?

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Anon@10:52, I struggle to believe that you really believe that your “beliefs do not consciously abuse, harm or dehumanise others.”
These bracketed words referring to religious beliefs are yours.
Historians and scholars much better informed than I can produce abundant evidence of world wide abuses done in the name of religious beliefs, and I don’t need to elaborate here. How can I have respect for a continuation of such a travesty?
In refusing to respect relious beliefs per se, I do not personally criticise those genuinely either holding religious belief or as clerics, promoting them, just so long as they practise considerate ethical behaviour.
I happen to think religious believers, for the greater part, are very misguided in simply and blindly relying on religion for guidance, but also that there is a substantial number of clerics, who know it’s all a sham, albeit a comfortable niche lifestyle of prestige and privilege. How else does one explain widespread abusive clerical behaviour?
And claims of the good, or charitable works of religion cuts no ice whatsoever!
MMM

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6.52pm. I hope you don’t mind if I decline your very kind suggestion of organizing a public forum so that you and your colleagues/clerics/us/ can access/judge the degree/extent of my supposed concern and others regarding, I imagine, a myriad of issues (the Vatican owning the largest gay sauna in Rome, among them).
Honestly, trust me, a public forum isn’t necessary because, to paraphrase Lonergan, ‘a priesthood in decline digs its own grave with a relentless efficiency.’
And in any event Bishop Buckley’s on-line public forum is doing such a fantastic job – I mean 10,000 hits every day, isn’t that amazing – and who very kindly affords his visitors the dignity and option of complete anonymity – and finally and in any event, thankfully, I don’t need to prove my sincerity or passion or even my concern to you or anybody else – indeed, especially so if your a cleric!!

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