
When I had my conversation with Abbot General Eamon Fitzgerald about the allegations against Richard Purcell he asked my advice as to what he should do.
I advised him to take the following steps:
1. Inform Richard Purcell of the allegations against him.
2. Ask Richard Purcell to step aside pending the outcome of the investigation.
3. According to OCSO rules- contact the Father Immediate of Mount Mellary – Abbot Andre Barbeau of Canada and ask him to begin his investigation and report back to the Abbot General and his council in Rome.

Of course, none of this would be necessary if Purcell did the honourable thing and resigned.
At present the OCSO’s seem to have taken no action and as far as I know Purcell is still in place.
I do know, from a monk contact, that the Cistercians are talking among themselves and saying that they are not taking the accusations seriously because they came from me.
Thats the easy thing to do – shoot the messenger and ignore the message.
But how does that fit in with the Cistercian 900 years of devotion to God, the truth, justice, poverty, chastity and obedience?
Must we now come to the conclusion that the Cistercians are just as corrupt as the rest of them?
If that is true – it makes me sad.
If enclosed monks are just as bad as the rest of then there is no hope.
AND
The Abbot General knows about and told me about Purcell’s sexual activity in Roscrea. He said to me: “We were hoping that incident was a one off”.
Now he knows it is not.
The RCC tells us they have learned the lessons of abuse and cover up.
Yet they continue the abuse and cover up?
The only commandment the RCC believes in in the 11 th:
“Thou shalt not be caught”.
And Purcell along with the Dominicans, Redemptorists the diocesans and all the others will continue to patronise gay saunas and have sex basically, with anything that moves, including anal sex with priests at midnight in a monastery kitchen.
When a monk behaves like that at midnight how does he feel for hours later praying the first office of the day in choir?
Is he remorseful?
Does he not give a damn?
Or, or, is he an atheist?
BALLS AN ELLA

From our Westminster correspondent
“Westminster Archdiocese has its very own version of “Gorgeous George” in this newly minted member of the clerical club, Fr Alex Balzanella. Truth is that he has set many a heart aflutter, both male and female, clerical and lay, for many years since first coming to notice as Elsie’s Communication’s officer in Archbishop’s House.

That’s where it all began, and his office could often be found being stalked by the same litany of characters – mostly old queens, who hung around the young buck like a bad smell.
Talking of “hung” his choice of tight-fitting chino’s left very little to the imagination – no doubt causing several of the sisterhood to reach for the blood pressure tablets, as well as enjoy the view. Mother Carmel was deputed by His Eminence Elsie to have a quiet word about his “inadvertently” being an “occasion of sin”.

His ascent has been effortless since those lowly days and there is no doubt in the diocese that once finished his “further studies in Rome”, the papal diplomatic college is the next stop, his being too good for parish work. The question is though, will it make him as happy as he was before signing on the dotted line? Let’s hope so. “
140 replies on “THE CISTERCIAN RESPONSE TO THE PURCELL SCANDAL.”
I have to agree with you, Pat, that if enclosed Cistercian monks are at it there in no earthly hope. It’s endemic and everywhere, even in places previously thought to be immune.
As for that twink Balzanella, he’s got himself a good number. He should have offered himself to his home diocese of Northampton, but I suppose a curacy in Aylesbury is a bit demeaning for the likes of him. He has been a perpetual student, successively in York, Bristol, Heythrop and the Angelicum, and presumably it’s the Ecclesiastical Academy next.
He did well getting on that ridiculous Catholic Parliamentary internship scheme, which is bankrolled by the Catholic Union (motto: “No Micks”). Scandalously, an effete chaplain at the Catholic Chaplaincy in Gower Street agreed that the interns could have accommodation in the chaplaincy, thereby depriving real students of places. Alex then, in his dilettante way, got a job doing comms in Archbishop’s House despite no media background, again depriving a media studies/journalism of a coveted opening. With free lodgings in Gower Street he was set up for another installment in his perpetual student life, courtesy of Westminster diocese.
I don’t begrudge pretty boys pushing their way to the top and flirting with Westminster’s old queens, but let’s not pretend that it’s anything other than about what is good for the pretty boys, with the needs of the laity an irrelevance. Alex has never had the smell of the sheep and never will.
LikeLike
Wow, pretty hard-hitting at 11:07pm but I rally think you have nailed it. Apart from all the other points you correctly made, the whole “further studies” malarkey is an absolute disgrace. Those who are sent to do Theology degrees at prestigious universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and London do not in my experience internalize the fruits of their scholarship – if that’s what they were really doing – but seem to exercise the same cognitive dissonance which leads them to condemn birth control or homosexuality. They certainly do not pass on the fruits of their learning to the faithful, as anybody who has ever heard any Catholic sermon preached anywhere surely knows. And don’t bother mentioning those learning-by-rote Roman degrees. A self-perpetuating racket from start to finish. We are all wondering how long the twink will last.
LikeLike
Ah yes, the learning-by-rote Roman degrees, wherevthe lectures are given in Italian to international students whose knowledge of Italian doesn’t go much beyond ordering a gelato. The English-speaking sems use lecture notes from North American College sems that have been handed down over the years. It’s a bit of a farce, but as you say, it makes no difference to the typical Catholic sermon, which is of the Radio 4 “Thought for the day” variety and which betrays no sign of scholarship.
LikeLike
I know some religious orders that opened up ‘come and see’ places in London with free accommodation etc. for students. I think the students were more clued in that the clergy and recognised the golden opportunity presented by free lodging, and only having to turn up a few times a week for some prayers and a community meal. I think most of them have closed now, clergy having seen the light and not wanting to continue being a free meal ticket. Very few of these students went to seminary or convent.
LikeLike
My expectations of the OCSO response were low, and they have confirmed them. The good thing is that they have no vocations and will be a thing of the past.
LikeLike
Every bishop has his own Gorgeous.
LikeLike
Especially Paisley’s +Turpin! Allowing his own gorgeous to disappear off the face off the earth and ignoring the outside world. Still no sign of him in the Scottie college.
LikeLike
You still going? Away and get a life mate
LikeLike
Why, then, were threats made against you when you broke this story?
LikeLike
Richard Hawker, Lead Sacristan at Westminster Cathedral is very close friends with Alex.
LikeLike
Poor Alex. He will have to please an awful lot of old horney clerics for 20 plus years. What a sentence 😪
LikeLike
If he lasts that long.
LikeLike
Whereas MJB has many demonstrable qualities such as courage and kindness, what does this one have to offer apart from the obvious?
LikeLike
Moanin’ Mary McAleese is on BBC1NI tonight, doing what she does best: moanin’
Her latest wheeze is complaining about sexism. It didn’t seem to hold her back, plus she’s back on her hobby horses of the Church’s apparently endless failings, including towards gays and Jews, topics on which she was silent when she was seeking the views of the Holy Water Hens.
LikeLike
Mary your son is gay, just accept it. The Catholic Church don’t like gays, accept that. They ain’t going to change the rules just to suit you. You’re making an eejit out of yourself.
LikeLike
@9:38
Well, you could fool me, dear. Alex looks quite queenie to me… and what about +Amy Turtle? They’re both good wee actresses.
LikeLike
Mary McAleese speaks clearly and loudly against the cruelty of the church to gays. Shifty clerics who mock her could learn from her honesty.
LikeLike
Meant “seeking the votes”. Fecking autocorrect.
LikeLike
As far as they are concerned, Bp Pat, you’re just a nuisance, a molehill mountaineer, constantly and relentlessly taking the tiniest little thing, and blowing it way out of proportion.
All this sausage-jockey has probably done is slipped away a few times to a gay sauna for a bit, maybe even an act of group sex, e.g., a sausage-link, and suddenly he is the notorious “Boiler House Monk” and plastered all over the blog.
LikeLike
Very sad concerning the Cistercians.
Many unanswered questions. Are they simply in denial? Groupthink?
No wonder the Catholic Church is self destructing, imploding from within.
LikeLike
Father Alex Balzanella: If Alex is to have any credibility for the future, whoever is making decisions on what he gets up to over the next few years needs to make sure that he comes back to his diocese and spends a minimum of 5 years working at the coal face, not in Archbishop’s House, or in the Cathedral, or in one of the swanky parishes in central London, but out in the sticks – Slough, Watford, somewhere like that. Only then will he be taken seriously and earn some respect and credibility. Then, and only then, should he be considered for other things. Catapulting him off to Rome and some nice job there would be a disservice to him. He should be given a chance outside the cosseted and self-admiring world of the Venerable English College Rome and the corridors of Archbishop’s House, and disappear form the headlines and get down to some real work. I’ll come back in 5 years and look at what has happened. However, 5 years is a long time down the road for a newly ordained priest, and so many of them don’t make it that far once they are ordained and out of seminary, and his the hard asphalt of the ministerial, pastoral, parish road. I suppose he has transferrable skills that he can fall back on, like modelling chino trousers. How’s he look in 501s ?! Or are 501s a bit rough for his preppy look ?
LikeLike
Slough is not in Westminster diocese, God help anyone that gets a posting there. I don’t think 501’s are fashionable Alex. You definately need custody of the eyes when he wears lycra. Donkey and hung spring to mind.
LikeLike
Though I am not happy hounding this young man, it does appear that his career has been facilitated by the usual queer clerical club, and even Elsie has thrown caution to the winds leaving her successor to deal with the almost inevitable fall-out. I don’t think he can be chided for his looks or his dress code, even though I’m sure he knows exactly the effect he has, but I do think we need to go back the original question posed by CTS regarding his sexuality. Whether he is gay or used to enjoy gay bars is not the issue – in fact, good for him, and I’m sure a jolly time was had by all. What should concern us is his statement that he now accepts the Church’s teaching on homosexuality; in which case he is either dissembling or he has had a very unconvincing change of heart and mind. That he now believes and intends to promote a teaching which everybody else – including most Catholics – rightly consider to be both fraudulent and perverse raises disturbing questions over his own moral and intellectual integrity. That most of his fellow priests do in fact live in that state of cognitive dissonance is borne out by the relentless tsunami of scandals, of which the Boiler House monk is only one of the latest. Silly boy – he could do better than this with his life.
LikeLike
I hope the don’t send him to Slough – because that means they would have chucked him out of the diocese.
LikeLike
Slough is in Alex’s home diocese of Northampton (he’s from Towcester), so going there on loan would do him the world of good.
LikeLike
So, does Alex Balsachino have a gay past ? Do tell ! And if he does, and if he still has an interest in extra curricular activities, then he is going to find himself living that dysfunctional, parallel, double, dishonest life that so many of his brother priests live, and that will not be good for him in the long term nor for the Church. As for the lycra, surely he’s not been wandering around the VEC or Archbishop’s House dressed like that ?
LikeLike
10.17
You’ve been too benign: there is no cognitive dissonance here; just hypocrisy.
LikeLike
What’s ‘sauce for the goose is sauce for all the little ganders.’
If ‘anything goes’ in the Vatican, ‘anything goes’, anywhere….
LikeLike
Anything Goes – Cole Porter – Lyrics – Fallout 3
LikeLike
The Redemptorists do not frequent gay saunas. Yes, they have gay priests who are active in ministry, parish missions, novenas and school retreats. At times they are outspoken, but they’re heart is in the right place.
LikeLike
Really ?! Oh well, let’s wait until lock down is over and the saunas are back open, and I’ll send you a list of CSsRs that traipse through these places ! Get real !
LikeLike
Why do you have to wait if you know who the Reds are? Full of nonsensical noise. And if you go to the sauna, remember what’s on tour stays on your. It is purely their business, and it is their conscience.
LikeLike
Redemptorists don’t have any students in training in Ireland. To best of my knowledge they have 3 priests under 50, and two of them are straight
LikeLike
9:44 I’m now suspicious of the Redemptorists.
LikeLike
The Reds are kaput.
LikeLike
10.21: Pervert, are you disappointed that with the Reds, you have little choice for young men?? You pervert!
LikeLike
Alex’s non-stop studying, at huge cost, raises the question of why Catholic seminary training is so long. Other denominations don’t take that long and it’s as if the Church takes the canonical age for ordination of 25 and works back to 18.
Trent required lengthy training to combat clerical ignorance and to equip priests for disputes with heretics during the Counter-Reformation. With the sem course in Maynooth and sems not having good enough grades to do degrees it is arguable that ignorance is back.
As for disputes with heretics, quite apart that with Vatican II, the Protestants won, the age of apologetics is over and most clergy would not give a defence of the faith that is within them, even if they wanted to. Protestant clergy sermons are more learned than Catholic ones.
Even the courses priests do are of limited utility. Amy’s first degree in Maynooth was in maths and physics. All well and good, but he could have done that as a lay student first. Why does Alex and co need further studies?
The answer is that seminaries are prolonged and costly homoerotic periods of retreat, psychoanalysis and a pretent student experience in a neo-Gothic, Upstairs, Downstairs environment with a bit of light study and overseas postings to hot places, strung out for years. Often the course of study is longer than the years in ministry. It is unsustainable.
LikeLike
So Alex’s crime is to be reasonably good-looking, and the creepy queens here presume he must be gay.
LikeLike
Is the sub-text of comments today that twinks cannot have vocations? That seems a bit harsh.
LikeLike
There have been stunningly handsome guys who turned out to be stunningly good pastoral ministers. The negativity on display today is horrible. Self-hating and misogynistic gays gravitate to this website
LikeLike
Mary McAleese was on the radio this morning, and FFS, can she talk, endlessly ! Poor Jenni Murray couldn’t get a word in. And, all in that harsh, raucous, angry NI tone. She definitely has not got a gentle brogue. A lot of what she says is right and true, and I admire her for calling it out, but they way she says it, well, it’s hard on the ear !
LikeLike
Her voice is like two cheese graters having sex.
LikeLike
Has Moaning Mary got a book out? Why is she doing a round of interviews all of a sudden?
LikeLike
Pat, do you know who the Killaloe priest is? Is he still in ministry?
LikeLike
The priest victim is not still on ministry.
LikeLike
Ok, thanks for replying, Pat. Meanwhile the Abbot sails on as if nothing has happened. Prospective novices, if they ever have any, should be warned. It is dreadful to think that all the OCSO hopes in Ireland rest on Richard.
I imagine that Phonsie (what a ridiculous name for a bishop) reads the blog, so I suspect that Phonsie will distance himself and there’ll be no more joint jollies to America.
LikeLike
11.14
‘Priest victim’?
Was this male rape?
LikeLike
Bishop you mentioned something about monks having sex in a monastic kitchen? That appears to be a new revelation. Would you like to expand?
LikeLike
Fancy that old dried up prune, +Elsie, expecting that young, virile, roarer to commit to a life of celibacy.
He will probably end up a “travelling salesman” like JPL.
LikeLike
Alex was Secretary of the LGBT Committee of York University Student’s Union when he was an undergrad there. I wounder if he mentioned it to Dandy Nichols?
https://nouse.co.uk/2009/11/23/17939
LikeLike
+Mrs Alf Garnett (nee Nichols).
LikeLike
And I have no problem with that. It is his later adoption of the Church’s position on homosexuality as intrinsically disordered which bothers me. Elsie, of course, having accepted so many dishonest and women-hating ex-Anglicans into his diocese presumably has no problem with that. However, his own reputation as a competent manager succeeding his blundering predecessor has been shot to bits.
LikeLike
Get a life moron. It was a long time ago! Leave him alone. another failed sem?
LikeLike
Good for him, but why oh why did he get mixed up with the toxic RCC?
LikeLike
I used to go to Uni with Alex. Saw him in the gym a few times too. Beautiful guy in and out – leave him alone.
LikeLike
@12:42 says it was a long time ago. They must have prayed away the gay.
Is there an LGBT Committee in the VEC?
LikeLike
Okay, but didn’t Pope Benedict XVI – famous scourge of homosexuals – make it clear that gay men should not be admitted into seminaries? Moreover Pope Francis even reaffirmed this teaching. So, given that Alex’s homosexuality is a matter of public record, how on earth could he have been admitted? Surely, it is right and proper for Elsie, as shepherd of the faithful in Westminster, to explain to the sheep how and why she could have ordained such a man? Personally, I do not accept this crap for a moment, and am happy to accept Matthew Boland’s somewhat breathless affidavit that Alex is a “beautiful guy in and out” – do you have evidence of this contention, Matthew? – but “leaving the guy alone” is not an option. This is an evasion of reality, so gay men – active or not – live a double life in the Church where they are supported by their fellow clerics – including Elsie, it seems – but preach a very different message of bigotry and intolerance to the sheep, who – unlike the clergy – are forbidden to receive the sacraments. “Leave the guy alone”, so you can get on with your corrupt and compromised system of abuse? No way!
LikeLike
Well, quite, knowing what we know these days, that’s the whole point. I don’t know Alex, and have absolutely nothing against him, but the objection raised by the nice lady from CTS seems irrefutable, regardless of one’s own views. In answer to the question posed at 11:16 am, my understanding from Alex’s own posts is that he was a happy normal integrated participant in gay life in Bristol, but in order to get himself ordained has performed a complete volte-face – no, dear, that is not what you think it means, you saucy minx. So yes, the probabilities listed at 11:16 am are very real concerns, which Elsie and the nun have decided to ignore. Whether they too got an eyeful of the lycra is outside my range of competence. Possibly the Chaplain to the University of Cambridge, who has reprised a regular column in the Westminster Oremus mag ( not to be confused with Uranus ), can advise; he, like Nathanael ( John 1:47 ) is known to be a man without guile.
LikeLike
At Matthew Boland – “a beautiful guy in and out”? You’ve obviously been “in” Alex then?
LikeLike
isn’t the correct spelling “liars”, not “lyers”? but worse than illiteracy is the sheer misogyny shown in calling men “she” with vicious intent.
LikeLike
Honestly what is the matter with people? The position should always be that when you meet an RC priest you should assume that he is having his end away, doesn’t believe what he preaches, and has his hand in the takings, until proved otherwise.
How many scandals do you people need to realise that any priest or religious who humbly gets on with it is the exception not the rule.
There is a sure way to tell what a religious community is about. If it is a permanent vocation in the church (such as monastic life and not something like nursing sisters whose raison d’ etre has passed in Europe) and they are a few doddering old ones, you know there is something wrong in the way they live their life. Permanent vocations in the church such as Cistercians will always get vocations and will keep them if they are living the life.
LikeLike
1:50pm
What a disgusting pervert you are, you shouldn’t judge everybody to be like yourself.
LikeLike
As long as they are not like you, Bella.
LikeLike
Re: 11:12 am, if Alex hails from Towcester, is not that in Clifton diocese? Whatever, his links with Westminster seem tenuous, other than that he thought he would shine in Westminster. He was certainly right about that, so what does that say about the state of the diocese under Vincent, Cardinal Nichols? Answers on a postcard.
LikeLike
Towcester is definitely in Northampton diocese.
LikeLike
Thanks for the info. So Alex was in Northampton diocese, and while at York in Middlesborough diocese, and in Bristol obviously in Clifton diocese, so what drew him to Westminster? I am reminded of the late great Mrs Merton asking some bimbo what it was that had attracted her to multi-millionaire Paul Daniels.
LikeLike
4:15pm
I hope that comment wasn’t from you Patsy, You not exactly a paragon of virtue like me, are you?
LikeLike
4:48. Bella, any thoughts on the Mt. Melleray matter?
LikeLike
Seminarian Stipend
What’s the current stipend for a UK diocesan seminarian and have they taken a reduction like the clergy?
LikeLike
It was reduced from 17,500. to 13,750. and the Seminarians in Rome have to now pay for flights to and from Rome and their nearest UK airport. However there is a separate meal and book allowance which was not reduced to the best of my knowledge
LikeLike
5:41pm You ask if I have any thoughts on Mt. Melleray, I contributed for years to the Shrine of St Philomena at Mt. Melleray and visited the shrine but it’s been may years since I was last their. So if what we read is true it’s heartbreaking to any faithful Catholic. If what is being said is correct there is no alternative but to close it down and dismiss the lot of them, what else is there to say it’s truly sickening. I’d love it not to be true.
LikeLike
7:32 pm
Bella, thanks for your honest answer. Surely Mt. Melleray need not close even if what is said is true. Is closing the Monastery just and fair on Monks in the community who have not brought Mt. Melleray into disrepute?
LikeLike
Here we go again: the plea to “leave alone” a priest or seminarian about whom the faithful – who foot the bill and have to accept the guy whether they like it or not – have legitimate concerns. In what other walk of life or profession – and there are clerics who demand to be treated and paid as “professionals” – would this lack of accountability be acceptable? The poster @12:42, rather than owning the legitimate point made @12:14, states “get a life, moron”.That you dismiss the reasonable question of whether somebody who was gay in 2009 has somehow “prayed the gay away” in order to get himself ordained – is that what you did, by the way? – as something which can only have been raised by an embittered “ex-sem” rather begs the question as to what moral and intellectual compromises have to be made by someone, such as yourself, in order to get through the system. Is Lycra enough? I wonder.
LikeLike
Alex maybe had conversion therapy.
LikeLike
It’s pretty obvious by now that the “intrinsically disordered” teaching applies to the laity only. A gay man cannot get married in church, but he can get ordained.
Consider Chris Butler, deacon for Leeds diocese and a student in Beda College Rome, who is due to be ordained a priest soon. He refers often to his late civil partner. That was a registry office do with no church blessing, yet Chris will have an ordination ceremony, contrary to the ruling from Francis and Benedict that gay men are not to be admitted to seminaries, though has there ever been a less well-observed Vatican instruction than that one?
LikeLike
the HOLY PRIESTS are not plaing the field when they become PRIEDTS they become HOLY too the HOLY GOD gives the men this grace at ordinstion so they cannot sin agsin GOD BLESS OUR HOLY PRIESTS Amen
LikeLike
1.08, I think you are missing the main point; he is likely to get chewed up & spat out (I’ve seen it done to non “gays” also). AB is long on naivety and short on cynicism.
LikeLike
4:11 pm
Back on the wacky baccy! 😳
LikeLike
“legitimate concerns” meaning that the man is handsome and may be gay? this is the new inquisition.
LikeLike
8:04pm
You are right it would not be fair to close the Monastery if their are enough monks who have kept true to their vows to carry on,please God there are.
LikeLike
Oh, I’m bored with Alex Ballsalevis, he’s just a pretty boy (well, getting on a bit now and evidently using the face cream treatments), and he will probably disappear in to the corridors of the Vatican so won’t worry us back here. For more interest and light relief, what is happening with Power Bottom JPL ? How’s the extended study and special assignment going ? Also, has Littlemaniple been posting any liturgically suspect videos and prissy sermons ? We will keep a watching brief on Alex B, but I don’t think he’s going to provide us with enough material for our delectation. And, finally, surely + Vin is on his way out in a couple of months ? 75 and all that, although he might be asked to hang on for a while, but I think it would be better if he shuffled off to Chiswick. Alex could base himself there during this holidays from Rome ?
LikeLike
@1:14 pm asks whether there is an LGBTQ committee at the VEC. So who so you think would NOT be on it? LOL
LikeLike
The elections to the VEC LGBTQ Committee would be a dirtier fight than the US elections.
LikeLike
So because he was LGBT Secretary 10 years ago at Uni means he is gay? I go to pubs and don’t drink alcohol.
LikeLike
I bet you’re not a member of CAMRA though.
LikeLike
Do carnivores become secretaries of university vegan societies?
LikeLike
homophobia is the fundamental passion of this website
LikeLike
3:40
Read the remit of the blog : abuse, corruption and crime within the Institutional Roman Catholic Church.
LikeLike
Most days commenters here will comment on Bishop Buckley and others ‘hatred’ of the church and imply that they are bad or wrong in some way. Those comments of course fail to take account of the effect of abusive experiences from churches and this guy’s comments about the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches, of which he used to be a minister, are an interesting parallel:
https://brucegerencser.net/2020/03/is-it-possible-to-reform-the-ifb-church-movement/
He hopes he is there when the denomination dies because of the harm it has done in people’s lives. Failure to realise that this is how church abuse leaves you, merely indicates that the Buckley-haters have no empathy at all.
LikeLike
2:40 pm Good comment.
Yes, people speaking up on a safe blog-space will inevitably have some not very nice things to say at times, and this can often be the effects of various kinds of abuse in itself– including the covering up of this abuse.
I imagine you will get some people who may find it genuenly difficult to understand these basic various human emotions re abuse, and /or genuine disbelief that a priest could even do such a thing: but ironically, that is what makes abuse committed by a priest all that life shattering for victims: if a priest commits serious abuse, it somehow transpires the victim’s faith in God, Christ and His /our universal Church is not as it seemed beforehand.
A bit little like finding the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, or something like that. — Sorry if that is a bad analogy, but I think you get what I’m trying to say.
The victim not only has to wrestle with the effects of the abuse, but also sometimes with their world- their faith- being shattered.
It can, and often is, simply devestating: and then there are the effects on family and friends.
On a sensitive note: this can be the case for both families of the victim and perpetrator too.
People are different, and how they deal with things will be different to others: this doesn’t mean that some are stronger or weaker; that is not a healthy objective view to hold or voice. All victims of abuse are brave and strong!
Some victims- or even just people who hear of a priest commiting abuse- are not fully able to comprehend this in terms of with their faith, both in God and the instruction.
But don’t forget, our Christian faith is one where our Lord Himself was abused by those he trusted, by the authorities and the Sanhedrin: today known as the closed Civil County Court’s…
Bishop Pat, your blog is a light which shines in the darkness. A lighthouse for those lost at see (that is the correct spelling!).
God bless
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
The LGBT Society was the only student society in York in which he held office. He wasn’t an office-holder in the Catholic student society (CaSSoc), for instance.
LikeLike
Few are called but many are chosen
LikeLike
Is the OCSO AG setting himself up as a hostage to fortune through inaction?
LikeLike
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! That priest sitting facing the Bishop is friggin’ gorgeous!
Shiver me the timbers! 😂
I’d be at Mass every single Sunday, saw ribs or no saw ribs!
I hope Judge Graham doesn’t see this 🙄 lol
LikeLike
Bishop Pat, How would you advise a sinner in confession who said he had published scandalous truths about a cleric on a blog? Supposing the comments he had made were true-had he sinned? He had not slandered the man. If his intention had been to call the man to conversion he could not be guilty of malice, He may well have caused scandal and insulted the scruples of weak brethren. But if his intention had been to call out a dishonest and dangerous criminal and to demand a change in the transparency and culture of an organisation that protects this cleric, would you consider this to be a necessary action and
the consequence of lesser evil? But there again “who are you to judge?” A mere bishop!
LikeLike
Bishop Buckley has wisely not answered your obvious trap question so far.
However he has repeatedly pointed out that attempts to reform the church through the ‘appropriate channels’ are consistently ignored.
You will find that Catholic tradition includes a duty to raise problems of clergy – naturally to his face or to his superior would be the natural first place.
Many are those who have tried that in the past with abusive priests and been assured something would be done.
Faithful Catholics are fed up to the back teeth of unrestrained scandal, liturgical abuse, deviant sexual activity and even criminality among the clergy. We are no longer in a position where the things I have named are single occurrences, which we can know thanks to the internet. In this environment the faithful are going to begin to see revealing these things as ways of actually defending the church from its deviant pastors.
You will find somewhere online an article titled The Internet is Killing the Church. The point it makes is that cover ups are very difficult now. Because it’s not the internet killing the church, it’s the clergy.
LikeLike
There is no authentic forum within the RCC for raising problems and complaints.
Hence the dirty linen has be be washed in public.
Thank God for the modern media and the Internet.
LikeLike
Months ago I sent a polite email to Archbishop Martin of Armagh, with my name and address, alerting him to something I had witnessed involving two priests in his diocese. I had no response.
LikeLike
Thats typical.
LikeLike
4:52 pm
Exactly.
The clergy are killing the church.
It is going on worldwide. It comes from the top.
Uncle Ted is a prime example of a corrupt cleric.
LikeLike
Elsie will be delighted Boris had his child baptised a Catholic at Westninster Cathedral.
LikeLike
5:02
It is very typical.
No respect, no accountability, no courtesy, nothing but protecting their own.
LikeLike
The situation in Mount Melleray is extremely sad. I believe there are only 7or8 monks there at present and obviously none capable of taking on the job of Abbot hence they had to go to Roscrea to co opt Richard. I can see that they are slow to dismiss him as he has done great work in the short time he has been there and there is no one there to replace him. It could bring the eventual closure of the monastery that much closer which would be heartbreaking as over the years it has been a wonderful place to visit so welcoming and uplifting. .Unfortunately most of the monks I knew there have either passed away or are in nursing homes. I have visited all the Cistercian houses in Ireland and have been blessed with the friendship of many of the truly holy men who lived in them but Melleray is very special and it breaks my heart to see it become the centre of this kind of attention
LikeLike
Natural enough and I am sorry you have had this experience.
However you must also remember that these monasteries have got themselves to the point where there are only half a dozen monks and the perfect example is we know for a fact there were concerns about Purcell’s sexual behaviour and they proceeded to elect him abbot.
The monks you spoke to may have mentioned the monastic tradition that monasteries die and rise again but none of them will have said to you that their own monastery was dying.
LikeLike
4:36 pm
I’m curious to know what great work Dom Richard has done since his appointment as Abbot of Mt. Melleray?
LikeLike
the Dom Richard is a HOLY PRIEST abd his example of HOLINESS is whst is done
LikeLike
I don’t think Dick should step aside, Bp Pat, but the one at Silverstream should, I think. Have you also discussed Kathy with the Abbot General?
LikeLike
Kathy is a Benedictine. The Abbot General is a Cistercian. No connection.
LikeLike
Thank you for clarifying that, BpPat, sometimes I can’t keep up with all the cummings and goings with all these queens.
LikeLike
The Elsie/Alex thing is easily explained.
Birds of a feather flock together. I mean, look at Elsie: cold, calculating, distant, only values other people for their worth to him, and will throw you under the bus as soon as look at you.
Now look at Alex’s expression again!
LikeLike
Yes + Elsie is a cold, calculating fish, with only his own interest at heart. He’s not able to disguise it completely with his folksy, moderated, Scouse accent. I remember speaking to him when I wasn’t really of any real value to him, and he was just constantly looking over my shoulder at who else was around that would be of more value. Mind you, I had told him ‘no’ a while before and not taken up his invitation to do various things for him. So, I did on that occasion get the cold shoulder treatment, I suppose. Hell hath no fury like + Elsie’s wrath. Don’t get on the wrong side of him if you don’t want to end up in one of the nicer bits of his diocese. Or it definitely will be Watford.
LikeLike
Ah, but a a previous poster said that he was beautiful inside and out.
LikeLike
I decided to leave seminary 2 years ago after meeting someone. I had the pleasure of knowing Fr Alex. I agree that he is beautiful in and out. Saw him naked on a few occasions in the gym showers. Lovely body, slightly hairy but trimmed. Very toned and beautiful peachy bum. Never once saw him
acting inappropriately. He was very prayerful. I wish him well!
LikeLike
Wow. Lucky thing. Tell us more!
LikeLike
The Paisley rampant is back living with +Turpin. Looking after him after all that’s went on. What’s going on there?
LikeLike
You are clearly mentally unwell
LikeLike
RE: Roscrea and the Cistercians. Didn’t Fr Gerry Magee/Fr Aelred spend a short time there while a Cistercian? It might have been just before he left Portglenone to become chaplain at QUB where he was hardworking, popular with recognised leadership skills. Much as he was when teaching in St. Malachy’s College.
I believe he has returned to Portglenone, So there are some younger Cistercians who could lead monasteries in Ireland and revive monastic life.
LikeLike
I hear that Blackpool’s Etienne was kicked out of Rome and sent to Oscott. Any scandal there? He does seem very close to Billing the ex Bishops bag carrier of Lancaster?
LikeLike
Dewan, Darling, I got sent away from Oscott to Rome, and it made me ! Oscott or Rome ? No competition there. So, I feel sorry for Etienne being sent in the opposite direction. Perhaps he wasn’t good looking enough to be swishing around the Eternal City ? I was.
LikeLike
Nice try, there’s no scandal so don’t worry you can still keep your standing order to spend on the Golden Mile, Blackpool still a massive dump no change there
LikeLike
Bishop, did the Abbot General mention anything about sex alfresco? It wasn’t all in the Boiler House.
LikeLike
Waiting for that to raise its head, then again I suppose the revelation last week concerned the Boilerhouse as opposed to the fresh air.
LikeLike
Fresh air so much saver in these Covid times he was ahead of his time
LikeLike
4.57pm
I remember Elsie being challenged on Sky news some years about how a victim of chlld abuse had personally delivering a letter to Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, because his letters were being ignored – the journalist put this to + Elsie and he just point blank, to camera, denied receiving any letter. I know of a family going to see an English bishop about a personal family problem and the dad being overwhelmed and weeping and the bishop just laughed at him.
What is it about their training, their group think, their mentality that makes them behave like this? Aren’t they, the clergy, supposed to be ministers of reconcilation>
Maybe one day there will be a Truth and Reconciliation Process/Forum.
T
LikeLike
If there was, they wouldn’t go to it because they would expect everyone else to be reconciled to them. That is why some of us on this blog and other places in the internet keep repeating the simple truth that these men are monsters and their so called church a criminal cult.
It is the only explanation.
LikeLike
On the subject of modern technology and the internet…
Electronic evidence is indesputible, my friends.
Modern technology is a double-edged sword for most people who are evil; firstly, It is can be a trap. Secondly, it is then a platform for exposure- exposure totally within the confines of raising awareness re safeguarding. Not to harasss, alarm or distress: that is not healthy and is totally wring. However, the exposure itself can be upsetting to the abuser, but that is the effect of abuse.
Sure, when an abuser, or enabler, is exposed, they can sometimes kick and scream that they are the “victims.” We all know this is nonsense.
This is highly delusional and raises serious questions re emmotional maturity, a lack and void of empathy or even basic human compassion. Incidentally, these are just some of the characteristics of psychopaths a and sociopaths as outlined in the DSM-5 Manual to psychopaths and sociopaths.
… A psychopath is never wrong!
… The sociopath knows they are wrong, but just doesn’t care!
——-
We ALL have a responsibility to safeguard children and any adults, and even animals which may be even tremotely vulnerable too x
LikeLike
Pat, one of Bergoglio’s henchmen, Cardinal Becciu has resigned and given up the cardinalate:
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1309226562890461184?s=19
LikeLike
He was one of the ringleaders of the defenestration of Pell and the lay auditors when they got too close to revealing the financial wrongdoing at the heart of the Vatican.
LikeLike
Is your monk contact a Cistercian?
LikeLike
Didn’t someone mention a shagfest near Mt. Melleray sometime ago?
LikeLike
Where did that take place inside or outside?
LikeLike
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/13409/pope-accepts-shock-resignation-of-cardinal-becciu?fbclid=IwAR2AERcnWMQzLQBpmEQyhEVew8Cf2bWRThrcCu7axspkc0v-MHNph2HyZag
LikeLike
Heated exchanges.
https://twitter.com/CatholicSat/status/1309221253048344577?s=19
LikeLike
Listen we’d all have turned around the monasteries in Ireland if we were allowed get out hole.we’d all have done great work. Every practicing gay in the country would want to be a monk or Abbot if you could get your hole. Where were all these boilerhouse gay monks and abbots when Dame sex marriage was being discussed?
LikeLike
Pat I hope you’ve noticed that any time you mention what you’ve mentioned in today’s blog there are people purposely ignoring it in comments or trying to steer you off the subject. Keep up the good work exposing the RANK hypocrisy. It’s disgusting.
LikeLike
Bishop have you reported these matters to the Papal Nuncio? Regardless of whether he gets back to you or not, it will be good for Rome to know regardless of whether the in-house reporting structure of the the Cistercians know.
LikeLike
Isn’t there a congregation for religious or some such name. That seems like where this should end up.
LikeLike
“Mistakes of the past can be rectified.”
LikeLike
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-cardinal-angelo-becciu-resigns-from-office-and-rights-of-cardinals-60883
LikeLike