The latest stage in the John Paul Lyttle saga is that the Portsmouth diocese have listed him on their website as being on “sabbatical”.
Sabbatical means one thing in the dictionary and the rest of the world and another thing in the RCC.
In the world a sabbatical means a paid period of time off usually after serving in a place like a university for a set number of years.
In the RCC it can mean anything:
1. In hiding after making a woman pregnant.
2. Lying low after the church discovered you fathered a child.
3. A break in between parishes after some money has gone missing.
4. And more regularly these days, time off after being outed for being actively gay; waving you willie at young men on the Internet; discovered attending a gay sauna; found having sex on an altar with a seminarian, etc; etc.
Its very hard to know what sabbatical means in the RCC.
Our JOHN PAUL is on sabbatical after:
1. Inviting a young police man for dinner and 3 bottles of wine at his parish in Reading.
2. Asking the police man to stay over telling him the PP was away.
3. Telling the police man that he himself is ” always horny, wanks and watches gay porn”.
4. The young policeman, who was contemplating a vocation, was shocked and reported the incident to the diocese.
The diocese and its bishop, Egan, then sent him to live in another parish and said he was doing “research”.
The people copped on to where he was and then he left there.
Now we hear he is on sabbatical.
JP had had “issues” for years.
He was active in Belfast seminary.
He was active in Oscott.
He was dismissed by Bishop Hollis of Portsmouth.
He was taken back in by the new bishop and ordained in a hurry and in quasi secrecy compared to most ordinations.
He fell from the balcony of a priests house and nearly died.
Denver Newsroom, Oct 1, 2020 / 10:48 pm MT (CNA).-
On October 6, 2018, the Holy See announced a review of its files and archives pertaining to Theodore McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Washington, D.C, who is now laicized and living in disgrace, a known sexual abuser who has offered no public words of repentance.
— A global pandemic swept across the globe, locked down nations for months, crippled economies, and killed more than 1 million people. In the same timeframe, here’s what has not happened: The publication of the Vatican’s report on Theodore McCarrick, his rise to power, those who aided him, those who looked the other way, and those he harmed.
The report, by many accounts, is completed. It has been rumored frequently to be on the verge of publication. But it remains unpublished.
This means that if clerics in Rome or the United States were complicit in McCarrick’s misdeeds, their complicity goes apparently unacknowledged and unaccounted for.
That if there are as yet unrecognized victims of McCarrick, they might be still unheard, or God forbid, or unhelped.
That if there are lessons to be learned from McCarrick’s 63 years of priestly and episcopal ministry, behind which were hidden lies, deceptions, and abuses, they have gone as yet unspoken and unheeded.
Still, that the McCarrick report is unpublished does not mean nothing has been done to address clericalism, abuses of power, and episcopal misconduct or negligence since the investigation began.
The Holy See has developed new policies and procedures. So has the U.S. bishops’ conference.
Even a few diocesan bishops have begun reforms of the particular diocesan law that sets standards on clerical conduct.
And investigations into several bishops accused of malfeasance have begun.
One ended with the resignation of a diocesan bishop. One ended with the resignation of an auxiliary bishop who failed to disclose allegations of priestly sexual misconduct, although, in fairness, that auxiliary bishop remains a priest in good standing.
Other investigations continue. The investigation of a Minnesota bishop began, and was eventually concluded by the Holy See with a call for more investigation, which, as of now, remains ongoing.
In some dioceses, laity have been given a greater role in assisting bishops to address allegations of clerical misconduct with adults. That comes with mixed reviews.
While in some dioceses, it is clear that lay expertise has proven a helpful tool, in other dioceses, priests and some Catholics conclude the pendulum has swung too far, and the rights of due process and a fair hearing have been jettisoned in the name of “transparency” by bishops hoping to prove they take seriously what McCarrick’s superiors apparently did not.
In some places, priests have told CNA, that amounts to lay boards with near absolute power over how a priest accused of misconduct will be treated, regardless of his rights in canon law.
Some priests tell CNA that because bishops “messed up,” their priests pay the price. One priest, who says he was denounced as an abuser even while he was cleared of wrongdoing, has sued his archdiocese, and his archbishop, for more than 2 million dollars.
One priest told CNA that bishops who failed in the past to punish abusers made the mistake of substituting their judgment for the law of the Church; bishops who now fail to afford due process to the accused, he said, make the same mistake.
On the other hand, one change regarded almost universally as positive is that in the two years since the McCarrick investigation began, the voices of victims have begun to be heard more clearly.
Groups like Spirit Fire, and Catholics like Teresa Pitt Green and Luis Torres have helped the entire Church to understand how profoundly destructive clerical sexual abuse can be.
Still, the report remains unpublished.
Theories about its absence abound. Some have speculated, morbidly, that the Holy See is waiting for the deaths of senior Vatican and U.S. figures at whose feet blame can be laid.
Others suggest, cynically, that the Holy See may be waiting until litigation windows close, or even until the conclusion of capital campaigns.
Still others theorize that the investigations of attorneys general in New York and New Jersey has slowed the release of the report.
Any of those might be true, or the reason might be something completely different. Pope Francis has often indicated that he will not be rushed on matters of this kind, and in some cases, though not all, his deliberative pace has led to positive resolutions.
When it comes, the report will probably not be easy reading for most Catholics. It will likely contain genuine scandal. It may well plunge Catholics back into the frustration, despair, and anger they experienced in June 2018, when news of McCarrick first emerged.
But until it comes, it is for many Catholics a kind of scandal in abeyance, an ominous absence they do not understand.
It is clear that the publication of the McCarrick report will not be a deus ex machina moment that sets to right all problems in the Church.
It is as likely to cause new problems as to solve old ones.
But after two years of waiting for the Vatican’s report, many Catholics are eager to move forward, regardless of what the report might contain.
PAT SAYS
The delay in the publication of the McCarrick report is a total disgrace.
The delay is totally down to Francis.
The finished report has been on his desk for ages.
He is personally delaying it.
It shows him up primarily – for overturning Benedict’s ban on McCarrick.
It will also, if its telling the truth, be critical of many cardinals, bishops and others on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Matt Talbot Adolescent Service treats 200 young addicts a year in Munster — but an ongoing HSE review may jeopardise its funding and its work, says Michael Clifford.
Patrick Relihan
MICHAEL CLIFFORD The Irish Examiner.
The Matt Talbot Adolescent Service treats 200 young addicts a year in Munster — but an ongoing HSE review may jeopardise its funding and its work, says Michael Clifford.
The treatment of addiction is highly complex, and doubly so when the addiction afflicts young people.
To that extent, the Matt Talbot Adolescent Service does invaluable work in the Munster region. The MTAS treats over 200 teenagers and young adults every year for addiction and related problems.
The service includes day care and educational facilities, and a residential centre that is one of the very few in the country to provide a service for adolescents.
Outwardly, the organisation has attracted many plaudits. Behind the walls of its three centres in Cork City and West Cork however, there has been much unhappiness from a growing number of employees about culture, practice and the effect this is having on clients.
The MTAS mission statement lays out its priorities. “Our belief is that the welfare of the young person in paramount; and in the dignity of all young people urges us to embrace a holistic approach and to seek to realise their full intellectual, spiritual, emotional, social, cultural, and physical potential.
“We endeavour to ensure that the welfare of staff is paramount in relation to their working environment.”
An investigation by the Irish Examiner has established that a number of staff in MTAS, HSE personnel, and others aware of the workings of the agency are deeply unhappy with its current environment.
It should be stressed that there have been no findings against anybody in MTAS and a HSE “review” has not yet delivered its report.
However, the HSE has been in receipt of at least four protected disclosures from staff in recent months.
The allegations in the disclosures include:
Financial mismanagement;.
Safety concerns for clients;.
Clinical mismanagement;.
Bullying.
Another person is under long-term suspension in MTAS in highly unusual circumstances. And a crucial internal review, conducted by MTAS in 2016, was not furnished to the HSE over a two-year period despite repeated requests for it.
MTAS was established in 1999. It grew out of an organisation affiliated with the Catholic Church that provided services for troubled teenagers.
Through its first decade in existence it established a reputation for working with youths with addiction problems.
The seven-person board is chaired by Christy Cooney, former president of the GAA. He joined the board in October 2014 and took over as chair in June 2015. He is also a member of the board of the aid agency, Goal.
From the late 2000s until 2014, the CEO of the organisation was John Beasley, an experienced manager who had worked in the corporate world up until his retirement when he took up the role in MTAS. He was well regarded inside and outside the organisation and fulfilled the CEO role on a part-time basis three days a week.
His successor was appointed in May 2015 following an open competition for the job. Patrick Relihan is a former priest who left the priesthood the year before his appointment.
He had been a school chaplain inthe Cloyne diocese. According to his LinkedIn page, he has a diploma in applied chemistry and acquired a batchelor in theology degree, the latter from a university in Rome. Since his appointment he has also acquired a diploma in management in 2016.
Mr Relihan’s appointment coincided with plans to expand the organisation and attempt to source funding outside of the traditional funders, principally the HSE.
Attempts to contact Mr Relihan for comment about the HSE review proved unsuccessful.
Relihan as priest.
The health body contributes in the region of €1.25m per annum to MTAS, accounting for over two-thirds of total funding.
In pursuit of these plans, Mr Relihan was appointed CEO on a full-time basis, rather than the part-time status of his predecessor.
Six months after the new CEO was appointed, an organisational review of MTAS was conducted.
Among the recommendations from this was for a clinical review of the services.
The Irish Examiner understands that the individual who was involved in the former was also appointed to conduct the latter review.
One issue that the HSE is examining is whether there was a tender for the clinical review.
_______________________
MON, 14 SEP, 2020 – MICHAEL CLIFFORD Irish Examiner
Staff at a Cork addiction treatment facility for teenagers which is due to close have called for the publication of a HSE investigation into the company running the facility.
A delegation of staff from the Cara Lodge facility in Enniskeane, West Cork, met with local Independent TD Michael Collins yesterday to voice their anger at how they had been treated and the manner in which the facility has been run in recent years.
At least 25 jobs are to go with the closure. The facility has been operating for nearly 20 years and was one of only a handful in the State to provide residential treatment to teenagers experiencing addiction problems.
It was run by the Matt Talbot Adolescent Service (MTAS), which has been mired in controversy in recent years and funded largely by the HSE.
“The life has been drained out of that place gradually,” Mr Collins said. “The staff were given false hope that a new model of service would be provided from there but then they were just told during the week that it was closing.
“A report into the centre was done and I and the staff want to know why that hasn’t been published. They can’t turn around now and say that people today aren’t having the same problems.
In a statement issued by the HSE and the MTAS to the Irish Examiner last week, it was noted that referrals to the centre had “decreased by over 50% between 2015 and 2019.
“Any reduction in the referrals of children to residential services is to be welcomed,” the statement said.
However, according to separate sources working in the area, the fall-off in referrals had nothing to do with demand but was a result of reluctance to refer to MTAS due to controversies around the charity. At least four protected disclosures from staff and former staff had been submitted to the HSE, alleging mismanagement in various ways.
An investigation undertaken by the HSE into these and other aspects of the running of the charity was due to be published last November but will not now be published in any form.
PAT SAYS
We remember Patrick Relihan from his dsys in the Irish College in Rome and his days as assistant vocations director of Cloyne.
He was a protege of Bishop John Magee.
Apparently, he is also looked on with favour by the current bishop Willie Crean.
He certainly landed on his feet after he left the priesthood and was looked after by the church.
He married an older lady teacher from the school where he was chaplain.
I think Patrick is the possessor of much information. He knows where the bodies are buried.
These are startling allegations against the charity.
By Wayne Flower, Melbourne Correspondent08:56 05 Oct 2020, updated 08:56 05 Oct 2020
Former cardinal has been accused of using Vatican funds to bribe witnesses
Giovanni Angelo Becciu is suspected of wiring the cash to recipients in Australia
Becciu
Cardinal Becciu issued a strongly worded denial of the reports in Italian paper
Cardinal Pell was accused of molesting choir boys in Melbourne in the 1990s
Cardinal Pell returned to Rome last month after 13 months in jail and acquittal
A former cardinal has denied using £600,000 of Vatican funds to bribe witnesses and secure a sex abuse conviction against Cardinal George Pell. Cardinal Pell spent more than 400 days behind bars after being convicted of abusing two 13-year-old choir boys in the 1990s, before the verdict was overturned on appeal.
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who last month was accused by the Vatican of misusing funds, was reportedly a strong rival of Cardinal Pell at the time he was brought to trial.
Cardinal Pell had served as finance minister at the Vatican, where he was tasked with cleaning up the Catholic Church’s accounting practices.
Pope Francis appoints Giovanni Angelo Becciu as Cardinal during a consistory ceremony to create 14 new cardinals at St. Peters Basilica in 2018 in Vatican City.
Cardinal George Pell is escorted in handcuffs from the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on August 21, 2019.
Cardinal George Pell arrives at his residence in Rome, Italy, on September 30
In explosive allegations appearing in the Italian press, it was reported Cardinal Becciu was suspected of wiring the cash to recipients in Australia who helped to ensure hostile testimony against Cardinal Pell at his County Court of Victoria trial.
Cardinal Becciu has strongly denied the reports, stating: ‘I categorically deny interfering in any way in the trial of Cardinal Pell’.
The Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera reported Vatican investigators suspected that Cardinal Becciu hoped to stop Pell from exposing his allegedly corrupt management of Vatican cash.
Cardinal Becciu resigned last month amid accusations he misappropriated Catholic funds while working as the deputy secretary of state between 2011 and 2018.
Among a raft of suspicions – all denied by Cardinal Becciu – are claims he may have funnelled Vatican cash to charities and businesses run by his three brothers.
Cardinal Becciu’s supposed feud with Cardinal Pell goes back to 2016 when Pell ordered an audit of Vatican finances by an external accountancy firm.
Cardinal George Pell returned to Rome last month after spending more than 400 days in jailCardinal George Pell is seen having dinner on October 4 in Vatican CityCardinal George Pell waves as he arrives at Rome’s international airport in Fiumicino last month
That audit was quickly blocked by Cardinal Becciu. The Corriere della Sera report alleged Cardinal Becciu often used journalists and contacts to discredit his rivals.
‘It is precisely in this vein that the payment in Australia would have been made, possibly in connection with Pell’s trial,’ the article claimed. The former choirboy who accused Cardinal Pell of abuse has denied any knowledge of bribes allegedly being paid to witnesses against Pell.
PAT SAYS
I have always said that I believed the men who were interviewed from Balarat about their childhood abuse by Fr Pell.
With regard the choir boys I have never seen them interviewed.
In any event the courts have decided that Pell is not guilty of what he was charged with.
If the allegations above are proven then it will quite clear that Pell was set up by Vatican bastardos like Becciu.
This would be a most serious matter and would require Becciu dismissed from the clerical state and put on trial for matters like conspiracy to interfere with the course of justice.
He should be tried for this in Australia and suffer the consequences.
If Cardinal Pell was shown to be totally innocent and a true victim of a conspiracy I personally would feel morally obliged to write to him and apologise for my misjudgement of him.
We await the outcome of the Becciu investigations.
NOTE: I DO NOT AGREE WITH MOST OF THE THINGS ROBERT ROYAL SAYS.
BUT IN THE PIECE BELOW HE HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD.
Robert Royal
Robert Royal – The Catholic Thing.
“For the past half-century or so our clerical leaders have on the whole done a remarkably ineffective job at keeping Catholics, especially young Catholics, in the fold.
Our people are drifting away from the religion, and drifting not toward a rival version of Christianity, but in the direction of a complete rejection of Christianity, and even a rejection of God; and our leaders seem to have no clue as to how to stop the drift.
When I speak of a “drift toward atheism” I have a number of forms of atheism in mind: (1) Outright and explicit atheism; (2) Agnosticism, “shy atheism” or “an atheism that dare not speak its name”; (3) A thoroughgoing religious indifferentism; (4) Moral atheism, that is, guiding one’s life without reference to God; (5) Nominal (or liberal) Christianity, which may be called “incipient atheism” – for I agree with Cardinal Newman that liberal religion leads logically in the direction of atheism.
Why have our leaders been so ineffective? Allow me to offer a few very tentative suggestions.
1. The smallness of their numbers. Following Vatican II tremendous numbers of priests and religious sisters and brothers ran away from what had seemed to be their vocations, and they have never been adequately replaced.
2. The modesty of their leadership talents. The pre-Vatican Church abounded in talented leaders. My impression is that our leaders today are on average far less gifted with leadership talents than their pre-Vatican II predecessors.
3. In recent decades, our leaders have lacked the confidence that all effective leaders need; and, of course, “leaders” who doubt their ability to lead will, for that very reason, not be able to lead.
4. My guess is that they lack confidence because many of them do not whole-heartedly believe in the faith; they have their doubts.
5.The child-molestation scandal. This damaged the moral credibility, especially with regard to sexual morality, not just of those guilty of these crimes but of all priests and bishops. You may say, “This isn’t fair – to blame everyone for the sins of a small minority.” And you’re right. But it doesn’t matter. The general public, including much of the Catholic public, regards these sins as collective guilt.
6.p The question of homosexuality. Homosexuality has poisonously permeated the priesthood during the past half-century, and it has done this in three ways: (a) Some priests have been active homosexuals; (b) Many others have had a homosexual orientation, even though they have abstained from homosexual practice; (c) Still others, while neither practicing homosexuals nor inclined in that direction, are “soft” in their disapproval. They don’t share the Church’s traditional abhorrence at the offense.
7. Fear of disapproval. Priests and bishops know that if they emphatically reaffirm certain age-old Catholic teachings – especially those regarding sexual conduct, but not these only – they will meet the strong disapproval not just of the world at large but of many of their own people, the Catholic people of their diocese or parish. And so they decide that discretion is the better part of valor.
8. And there is a great danger that especially confronts bishops. Once you become a bishop, you are courteously welcomed into the local elite. You are now regarded, at least in a formal way, as the peer of local bankers, businesspersons, college presidents, mayors, governors, newspaper editors and publishers, etc.
Though these people are too polite to mention it to your face, most of them regard any authentic version of your religion as out-of-date.
Catholicism may have been a splendid thing in the Middle Ages, in the days of Aquinas and Dante and Giotto; and even today it is a tolerable thing provided those who profess it don’t take it too seriously.
And so if you’re a Catholic bishop and you make it clear to everyone, both your own people and the non-Catholic world at large, that you whole-heartedly believe in Catholicism and you wish it to be a strong force in shaping American culture, you will lose face among your elite peers.
You may even become a laughing-stock. But as I said, these are polite people; they won’t laugh in your face; they’ll do it only behind your back.
There was a time in Church history when bishops were willing to be thrown to the lions. I’m sure that many of today’s bishops, if given the choice, would be willing to die for the faith, willing to receive the crown of martyrdom. However, martyrdom isn’t currently being offered. Until it is (maybe a few decades from now), many bishops would prefer to avoid the “mini-martyrdom” of being laughed at. It’s too pleasant a status to be a member in good standing of the local elite”.
PAT SAYS
Royal is right. The Church is being destroyed by:
1. Incompetent, not very bright, leaders.
2. Leaders who have little true faith and no prayer life.
3. The child sexual abuse scandal.
4. Sexually active gay bishops and priests.
5. Bishops and priests who are atheistic and oe agnostic.
A confidential Cistetcian contact has informed me that the Cistercians are happy that the Richard Purcell scandal had “blown over”.
What does blown over mean?
Does it mean that the Cistercian order is exhaling a huge, communal sigh of relief that the information has only featured on the blog of an illicit bishop and has not hit the media in general? (a temporary state of affairs)
And does that mean that no action will be taken and that the bessed former abbot of Roscrea, now blessed abbot of Mount Mellary can carry on as before?
It was you yourself who told me of Purcell’s activities in Roscrea – activities I had not known of before.
Does this mean that I should now put aside my 54 year belief that Cistercians while sinners like us all, were holy men and would not engage in the covering up of abuse and scandal for which the secular clergy are famous?
Does it mean that people like yourself are simply other McCarricks, Beccius, O’Briens and Bradys?
Does it mean that the Cistercian Vow of Conversatio Morum now has rubber bands attached to it that allows it to stretch from Capaquin in Waterford to the Boiler House gay sauna in Dublin?
Does it mean that a man visiting a monastery guest house looking spiritual direction is more likely to be the bent over recipient of a midnight abbatial ejaculation in the monastery kitchen?
Those who sin in Bath houses can appeal on the basis of the mitigating circumstances of the strength of the sexual urge.
But those in authority sin by premeditated lack of courage and moral feebleness without any mitigating circumstances and thus place themselves in the “Get behind me Satan” predicament.
In the Name of Jesus Christ and in memory of Saint Bernard and Columba Marmion can I prevail upon you to correct and regularise the Purcell situation and all such situations.
Sincerely,
+ Pat Buckley
Bishop Phonsie Cullinane Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.
Dear Phonsie,
I wish to formally notify you of the most serious of irregularities at the Cistercian Monastery of Mount Mellary in your diocese.
For your information – and action – I am sending you copies of my communications with the Abbot General of the OCSO’s:
13.9.20
Dear Abbot General, I wanted to pass on to you the information I have received from a priest of Killaloe diocese. I wish to make a formal complaint against Fr Purcell and ask for a formal investigation to be undertaken and to be informed of the outcome.
I formally request Father Purcell step aside as Abbot pending the outcome of the investigation.
+ Pat Buckley + “Pat, the bishops of Killaloe know a thing or two about Dickie Purse. Remember Willy Walsh? His brother or cousin was a monk in Roscrea. And that shite xxxx xxxxx, now in xxxxx, has the dirt on the guy Dickie fucked in Roscrea, his fuck buddy monk who was a priest of Killaloe who tried his vocation at Roscrea for a while. O Reilly shafted the same Killaloe priest in a very nasty way, booted the poor guy out without any justice. Kunty had the dirt on the guy, used it and was merciless. I know all this because I’m a Killaloe priest but I have to be careful. Kunty advised the Galway priest who was caught by the police at Salthill. Imagine if Drennan knew that! working against +Galway. Told him not to shit on his own doorstep. Small world too cos the Salthill ex priest, xxxxx was a regular at the Boiler House and could never keep his big mouth shut. Thats why his classmates in Maynooth called him Galway Bay! He blabbed around about the Killaloe priest being in the Boiler House, same priest who suffered at Kunty Reillys hands and who was fuck buddy of Dickie at Roscrea. An ex seminarian friend of mine was fucked bareback by Dickie Purse in the Boiler House. The poor guy was lying on his back in a cubicle and Dickie landed in all horny, jumped on him and rode him without a word, yes, no, nothing. My old friend was stunned. He couldn’t put a name on Dickie at first but knew the face. He had been on retreat in Roscrea. He put two and two together later. Dickie is one cocky bollox. When he was a theology student in Oxford, there were lots of stories about him, doing the rounds of OSB and SJ bedrooms! By the way, Coffey at Glenstal was a Killaloe priest. He’s salt of the earth, a really kind genuine guy. No double life for him. He must have heard about Dickie. Don’t know how he puts up with him when they meet.
Pat, your friend xxxxx xxxxx could tell you about the Killaloe priest fuck buddy of Dickie. They are friends and I hear xxxxx is loyal to him. I had a lot of contact with Bishops House in Ennis before Lugs Monahan came here. That’s how I know about the former PP of xxxxxxx and his travails at Roscrea. Someone mentioned xxxxx xxxxx on here a few days ago, who is not dead. Xxxxx is a big friend of Dickie and Dickie moves in those Dublin musical circles. Xxxxxx was a big friend of Ledwith too. He might be happily married but you know what I mean? There’s a clique there. Xxxxxxx had a close shave with a male student in Maynooth, bur got away without an official complaint. Be careful with him. He’ll bring out the big guns to defend Dickie if you dig too much. I had to go quiet. Was warned the big guns gunning for you over Dickie Purse. I didn’t think I’d be identified as source of info to you, but was naive. The bastards seem to have to their spies in Killaloe. I warned you about xxxxxxx and the musical crowd. The Knights of Columbanus are very powerful. Friends in the police who won’t obey the law. They’ll monitor the blog and breach gdpr snooping on people posting. Be careful. They don’t want Dickie going down. Go easy on the Killaloe priest who was in Roscrea. He’s fragile enough and now in lay life in Dublin. He had the honesty to acknowledge his double life, not our Dickie though. There was a shagfest near Melleray a few months ago organised by Dickie and some young Dominicans. I see someone else on your blog is on to them. You need to check the Irish youngish guy, in Rome, teaching. He’s the boyfriend of the xxxxx there, but that doesn’t stop him screwing any cute hole within 1000 miles. Total slut. I hear too that Dickie has been known to service two of the Glenstal guys and the odd C of I, very ecumenical our Dickie with his dick”
3.10.20
Dom Eamon Fitzgerald OCS Abbot General. ROME 3rd October 2020 Blessed Columba Marmion. Abnot. Dear Eamon, A confidential Cistetcian contact has informed me that the Cistercians are happy that the Richard Purcell scandal had “blown over”. What does blown over mean? Does it mean that the Cistercian order is exhaling a huge, communal sigh of relief that the information has only featured on the blog of an illicit bishop and has not hit the media in general? And does that mean that no action will be taken and that the bessed former abbot of Roscrea, now blessed abbot of Mount Mellary can carry on as before? It was you yourself who told me of Purcell’s activities in Roscrea – activities I had not known of before. Does this mean that I should now put aside my 54 year belief that Cistercians while sinners like us all, were holy men and would not engage in the covering up of abuse and scandal for which the secular clergy are famous? Does it mean that people like yourself are simply other McCarricks, Beccius, O’Briens and Bradys? Does it mean that the Cistercian Vow of Conversatio Morum now has rubber bands attached to it that allows it to stretch from Capaquin in Waterford to the Boiler House gay sauna in Dublin? Does it mean that a man visiting a monastery guest house looking spiritual direction is more likely to be the bent over recipient of a midnight abbatial ejaculation in the monastery kitchen? Those who sin in Bath houses can appeal on the basis of the mitigating circumstances of the strength of the sexual urge. But those in authority sin by premeditated lack of courage and moral feebleness without any mitigating circumstances and thus place themselves in the “Get behind me Satan” predicament. In the Name of Jesus Christ and in memory of Saint Bernard and Columba Marmion can I prevail upon you to correct and regularise the Purcell situation and all such situations.
Sincerely,
+ Pat Buckley
Phonsie,
I know that you are not the immediate superior in this matter.
But the matter involves very serious allegations about activities within your diocese.
Furthermore, you are responsible for the care of souls in the places involved.
I’m told that you have a good relationship with the person involved but I would not expect that to interfere in you doing your duty.
by Martin Barillas • ChurchMilitant.com • September 28, 2020
New scandal rocks Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, An Argentine
A man has accused Pope Francis of covering up allegations of rape and sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.
P On Sept. 19, Sergio Decuyper, 42, of Argentina accused a disabled octogenarian priest, who is also his uncle, of raping him at the age of five years. Father José Francisco Decuyper, 85, is facing criminal charges in Argentina for alleged abuse said to have occurred decades ago in the Argentine ciy o
f Paraná. Because he currently lives in Spain, accuser Decuyper made his criminal complaint via Skype to Argentine authorities in the province of Entre Ríos, north of Buenos Aires.
According to Decuyper, he was abused by his uncle in 1982 when the latter served at the seminary nearby. Decuyper said that afterward he suffered migraine headaches and later had difficulty with personal relationships. However, he married and became a father. He claimed that his now ex-wife, a physician, diagnosed him as a victim of serious psychological trauma. “I am a homosexual,” he told Argentine newspaper Clarin, “and now I can say it. She is now my friend, who supports and accompanies me throughout the process.”
Francis reportedly believed Decuyper’s account, telling him to get a therapist but not hurt family members by sharing his story. In an interview with Noticias, Decuyper said that he and his ex-wife were “super-religious,” but do not consider themselves Catholic now. “Even though we are separated,” he told Noticias, “we cooperate.” They have two children together. “I have just come out of the closet,” he said, adding, “I was always homosexual, but because of my upbringing, I could not accept it. It was my ex-wife who helped me.” He said that he is also getting support from his current male partner.
Phone Call With Francis
Decuyper said that a recurrent dream revealed to him in 2019 an untapped memory of the assault. Spurred by the supposed recollection, Decuyper sent a letter to Pope Francis in January 2019 recounting the buried memory. On St. Patrick’s Day, the pope telephoned and spoke with Decuyper for 30 minutes. Francis reportedly believed Decuyper’s account, telling him to get a therapist but not hurt family members by sharing his story. The pope asked Decuyper to forgive his assailant and to inform the bishop
In April 2019, Decuyper traveled to Argentina to tell his parents about the alleged abuse, claiming that they asked him refrain from charges. On a visit to the priest in hospice, Decuyper said that his uncle did not recognize him. He told the newspaper, “It is hard to forgive him, but I know that I don’t hate him. I believe that he has traumas, too, and is a victim of the system.” In addition, he recognizes that his uncle has Alzheimer’s and “Doesn’t have any idea of what’s going on.” He said that “all of this should mean something” and that the pope should call him again so that they can talk about “seriously changing things.”
Bp. Juan Alberto Puiggari
Decuyper met the pope May 4, 2019 at the Casa Santa Marta papal residence. They chatted for about 30 minutes and took a selfie together. Decuyper claimed that the pope asked him to confide in Bp. Juan Alberto Puiggari of Entre Ríos but warned him not to trust “hypocritical” journalists. When Decuyper confessed his homosexuality and plans to separate from his wife, the pope allegedly told him that he should honor his marriage. Decuyper said that the pope re-emphasized that he should work on forgiveness and mercy, but to continue the process in “silence.” In the Noticias interview, he claimed that the pope told him:
Be careful with journalists because they are very hypocritical on this issue … All of the journalists want me to bring priests here and hang them in [St. Peter’s] square … This is happening throughout society and now they want to cast the blame solely on priests.
Decuyper told Clarin that the papal audience “blew his mind,” and prompted him to get therapy and medication. He also told the pope that he would soon file canonical and criminal charges. Cdl. Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer
Voicing Concern in Rome
According to Decuyper, a canonical investigation of his accusations commenced last year, but the case was closed in January 2020 because of his alleged abuser’s current mental state. Unsatisfied, Decuyper went to Rome and saw the pope Sept. 9, along with others, in St. Peter’s Square.
When he wasn’t granted another private audience, Decuyper went to a Vatican office where he was given blank sheets of paper to write down his accusations. In a Sept. 11 letter to Cdl. Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decuyper restated his accusation against his uncle and voided his Jan. 16, 2019 letter. He claimed that the initial letter was “under duress” while he was receiving therapy in Spain. He also wants a new canonical investigation into his claims. In addition, he accused both “Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis” and Bp. Puiggari of a “cover-up,” while charging the bishop with illicit economic gain.
‘Don’t File the Charge’
In a Sept. 23 letter to the pope, Decuyper wrote that Francis apparently confused him with another sexual assault victim while greeting pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square earlier in the month. Decuyper wrote that the pope listened to him despite the crowd. “That hastiness,” Decuyper wrote, “led you to tell me ‘
Don’t file your abuser is demented, lost.'” Decuyper offered in the letter: “Let’s talk calmly. I can go to see you. Then we can go to Paraná. Please call me. I am doing this through the media because it is hard to reach you through other means. I have done this out of goodwill. I want to help you.”
The letter also read:
Dear Pope Francis, you asked me to be creative, that my testimony could help other victims from Paraná. You called me, you received me in your home, you listened to me. Although I do not agree with the advice you gave me, I thank you. You say that “gossip” is the worst social poison; help me to nip it in the bud. I invite you to go with me to Paraná, that heart of your native country: It’s where your [Italian immigrant] grandparents landed. Let’s talk in person; let’s travel together and provide solutions. I will keep calling you, knocking on your door. On Nov. 16, I will travel to Rome again. I will participate in your meeting on economics. Let’s talk; let’s organize together a trip to Paraná.
In his letter to the pope, Decuyper proposed that the Church should subsidize victims’ psychological therapy. The Church should subsidize victims’ psychological therapy. “We must help [victims] pay for psychologists and psychiatrists, at a minimum. We have created an association in Paraná for that purpose. I ask for your help so that canon law is not applied to cases of sexual abuse in Argentina and that, upon receiving a report of abuse, a bishop should be required to make a criminal complaint. With a simple reform, it would be a big step for the victim. Let us talk about Catholics’ bad education, which leads some of them to reject me. Let us talk about sexuality in the Church. Diversity. Be calm.” Finally, he wrote, “The criminal charge against my abuser is underway. One must always file charges. Forgiveness, which is necessary in the healing process of the victim, should always come with atonement. I expect you to call. I want to help you.”
Encouraging Other Victims
In a Sept. 19 YouTube video, Decuyper called on sexual abuse victims to file charges against their abusers and to seek psychological counseling. “Even if the priest is old and has Alzheimer’s, you have to file charges,” he said. Saying that he has filed charges against his uncle for reasons of health, Decuyper said, “The more that light enters a house, there is less bacteria and fewer diseases as a result.” He also said that he fears that his uncle may have abused others who have yet to come forward. Decuyper said in an interview with EntreRiosAhora that, while his parents believe his version of the story, they have not accompanied him on the criminal charges. Even if the priest is old and has Alzheimer’s, you have to file charges. When he was asked whether he remains a believer, Decuyper told Noticias, “I had to create a religion to my own taste. I attend Mass in a village where I feel comfortable. I am not practicing, but I am grateful to that religion for many things. I believe in people and their generosity.” He added to that gratitude, saying: “Trusting others is part of my faith in God. I thank Catholicism for how I relate to nature and my life and for being positive despite all of the messages coming out about my sexual orientation and abuse.”
PAT SAYS
The more and more you hear of Francis the more you come to the conclusion that he is a corrupt gangster.
The financial fraud charges in the Holy See probe. From real-estate to healthcare deals
di FLORIANA BULFON 30 Settembre, 2020 La Republica
ROME – An extraordinary 59-page document is unveiling an intricate mole-like maze of corruption that is crushing the Vatican.
Rapacious and feeling almighty, those involved have engineered diabolical operations to plunder the Holy See, and even get hold of Pope Francis’ reserved account, the most protected of Vatican coffers.
The probe submitted by the papal prosecuting attorney tracking back a 454 million heist depicts a merciless picture of an assault on the financial assets of the Vatican.
A London property real-estate deal has given way to a momentous scandal involving a number of monsignors, brokers and business lawyers, besides outlining a snapshot where Pope Bergoglio is a white spot surrounded by black souls who betrayed him.
The attorney’s summary is shocking: “The Secretariat of State financed the London operation with a 200 million dollars line of credit coming from Credit Suisse and from Banca della Svizzera Italiana and guaranteed by a pledge of assets the Secretariat of State owns after collecting them through donations to the Peter’s Pence.” In other words, the money given for alms, went to service speculations amounting to sums yet to be reckoned “that could top 454 million euros”.
From investments to blackmail
The investment’s stated goal was to buy the Harrods building on Sloane Avenue in London. The price of the building, however, began miraculously to increase. “A substantial accounting reappraisal was undertaken before the Secretariat of State underwrote the shares. Carried out by the fund managers, it doesn’t appear to have had a valid economic reason as of now in the investigations,” the Promoter of Justice Gian Piero Milano and his deputy Alessandro Diddi write. “Several companies whose financing partners are not to be known” were involved in the deal.
Probe records point to the dealmaker Raffaele Mincione as the person directing the operation. The files in the PC of a staff at the Secretariat of State, Fabrizio Tirabassi, further indicate him as being a “friend of Cheyne’s boss.”
Mr. Mincione from Pomezia, a municipality in the Rome region Lazio, is ever-present in a number of financial deals, from the fight for the Genoa bank Carige to that for controlling Retelit (in which he was assisted by lawyer Giuseppe Conte until a few days before the latter settled in the prime minister’s office in Palazzo Chigi). A whirlwind of acronyms, which seem to function just as a “black hole” for money flows, surrounds him triggering a feeding frenzy from power groups.
This is how mysterious Gutt SA, a Luxembourg company, comes into the picture. The owner of Gutt is Gianluigi Torzi, a “high-risk” financial dealmaker ranking in the world’s “bad press” index. The prosecuting attorneys write that he has “contracts signed by Monsignor Alberto Perlasca in his capacity as attorney for the deputy Monsignor Edgar Peña Parra. Gutt SA is to manage the property on behalf of the Secretariat of State. The Secretariat verbally commits to pay Gutt SA a 3 percent on the deal for an equivalent of 10 million euros. Such agreement is not formalized in any contract.” Monsignor Perlasca and Mr. Tirabassi’s verbal commitment are deemed sufficient.
Why did they choose Gutt SA? Mr. Tirabassi, a Vatican employee holding an account at the Institute for the Works of Religion through which he cleared one million euros by applying to the voluntary disclosure, claims to have been the victim of blackmail. It was “an extortion Mr. Torzi committed.” The investigators believe that this version “conceals in all likelihood a sensationally well-orchestrated artifice, protected by Mr. Tirabassi and perhaps other people’s complicity.”
The final outcome of the scheme was disastrous. “Shares in the fund shed 18 million euros. The Gutt SA operation caused a loss of 100 million. In brief: against an outlay of 250 million, the Secretariat of State became the owner of a property worth on paper 260 million, to secure the property rights of which, it will need to bear in the end 363 million (net of mortgage interests).”
A very profitable deal for consultants
Some individuals are good at having gold keep coming in. Lawyer Nicola Squillace, with the law firm Libonati Jaeger, pocketed “200 thousand euros for a generic legal consultancy assignment, in excess of further 150 thousand for indicating other professionals.” Right after this, he issued another invoice for 364 thousand euros. The Vatican did not pay, but he managed to bypass the obstacle. “With this gambit, Mr. Squillace, with Gianluigi Torzi being complicit, not only managed to elude the veto, but got paid another additional 17,000 euros.” Overall, 711 thousand euros vanished for unexplained consultancy fees. The records show British law firms getting hold of millions with no explanations provided.
They felt omnipotent. Mr. Tirabassi and Monsignor Perlasca manage to even penetrate “the UBS Discretionary Fund created in 2015 as a reserve for the Holy Father’s discretionary expenses and others he would authorize.” Twenty million pounds went from this fund to Mr. Torzi’s accounts. For consultancy fees regarding other real estate operations he was proposing to the monsignors he billed 5 million: a hotel in Milan in the San Siro area, a building in Piazza Cavour, one on New York’s 5th Avenue, a hotel for the Dubai Expo—rather reporting on the Vatican, it feels like playing Monopoly.
Finance and health
The probe unveiled a new and very murky front of papal investments: the securitization of the debt that several private hospitals and cooperatives submitted for payment to local health authorities. A case in point were the companies that became intermediaries in the business relations between the Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Rome and the Lazio Region government.
Furthermore, a link was established between the Vatican and a cooperative, OSA, which thanks to Mr. Tirabassi’s recommendation was granted a super contract with the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital. Involved in this deal was an individual reported to have “strong ties with people and circles linked to the Apulian Camorra (the Bell and the Sacra Corona Unita clans).” The deal with the Villa Maria Group, a private hospitals holding, is one of several other similar deals.
In sum, this is the fertile ground of intricate businesses that initiated which the relations inside San Pietro, and put Mr. Tirabassi and Mr. Torzi in a position to set up the Gutt SA operation, “a well-planned maneuver to carry out a huge looting of Secretariat of State resources with no equal”.
Hands everywhere
Becciu
Cardinal Angelo Becciu entered this game sideways owing to his secretary Monsignor Mauro Carlino’s relations. In his case, the prosecuting attorneys underline “a particular ease in moving in the high spheres of the State hierarchy, and his ceaseless activities involving individuals having a reputation in financial environments to bring about new entrepreneurial deals”. His meeting Luca Dal Fabbro, the president of Italian SNAM S.p.A., one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure companies, is an example. They reportedly discussed refinancing the London property’s mortgage and other new projects, involving once more Raffaele Mincione’s circle and one «Mr. Preziosi from Genova. (This was likely Enrico Preziosi, the well-known toys entrepreneur of Giochi Preziosi, already put on remand, and pointed to by Dal Fabbro as an individual “on many people’s mouth”).”
As to Monsignor Carlino, one of the individuals he is reported to have met is quite puzzling. Giovanni Ferruccio Oriente, “as revealed by wiretapping records, appears to have access to the Italian ministry of Internal Affairs, and to be able to gain access to all criminal charges filed by attorneys. He has knowledge about Mr. Torzi’s deals (the latter having pointed him out as a person who had approached Giulio Tremonti, [minister of Economy and Finances under prime minister Silvio Berlusconi], and Franco Frattini, [twice minister of Foreign Affairs with the Berlusconi cabinets]. Moreover, he seems to be in close contact with reporter and author Gianluigi Nuzzi, who is drafting a book with documents uncovered in the Vatican.” He also does business with Mauro Di Lello, an “entrepreneur and football players agent.” Last but not least, he was involved in the discussion for a deal around the Acquafredda estate, a property of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic Sea. “Monsignor Carlino shows to be well aware that the operation must be disguised behind social purposes, ‘otherwise they’ll bullet-riddle us that we just do speculative or commercial deals’.”
Nobody is exempt. The Vatican prosecuting attorneys are also after Tommaso Di Ruzza, the director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, the very head in charge of supervising the Holy See accounts to prevent obscure maneuvering. He nonetheless “played an role in the London deal, a role which is not clear at all. He did not, in any way, detect the anomalies in the operation,” despite having corresponded with the parties involved. Moreover: “Mr. Di Ruzza faked on his Office’s letterhead a delegation to handle on behalf of Mr. Torzi in the capacity of intermediary.” The attorneys now know that he is the owner of a British company called Aquinas Foundation, and he is being further investigated—the aim being trying to understand how so many prelates, often appointed by Pope Francis himself, were ready to betray his mission to fill their pockets with money. Translated from Italian by Marina Parada.
PAT SAYS
Just when it can’t get worse it does!
Now 20 million missing from Francis’ account.
Half a billion missing in all.
And probably more……
The deeper you dig into the RCC ground the bigger the worms get.
Dromore changes
Major changes to Dromore Diocese will see parishes restructured into five ‘Pastoral Areas’
Major changes are coming soon to the Diocese of Dromore which includes Craigavon, Lurgan, Gilford and Bleary areas.
By Carmel Robinson Lurgan Maip
Thursday, 1st October 2020, 4:37 pm
Archbishop Eamon Martin who is the Apostolic Administrator, announced a new Diocesan Pastoral Council will be formed – based on the five Pastoral Areas of the Diocese.
Canon Liam Stevenson will be the Vicar Forane for the new Pastoral Area of St Ronan’s which will encompass the Parishes of Shankill (St Peter’s Lurgan) and Shankill (St Paul’s Lurgan); Parishes of Moyraverty (Craigavon) and Seagoe (Derrymacash); Parish of Magheralin.
Very Rev Brian Fitzpatrick CC Shankill (St Peter’s and St Paul’s Lurgan) to be PP of Moyraverty (Craigavon) and PP Seagoe (Derrymacash)
Canon Liam Stevenson.
Very Rev Michael Maginn outgoing chaplain Craigavon Area Hospital is to be Assistant Priest in St. Ronan’s Pastoral Area.
Very Rev Canon Gerald Powell to be Vicar Forane of St Patrick’s Pastoral Area (Parishes of Seapatrick (Banbridge) and Annaclone; Parish of Tullylish; Parish of Aghaderg.)
Rev Juan Jesus Gonzales Borrallo, transitional deacon, is to serve in the Parishes of Moyraverty (Craigavon) and Seagoe (Derrymacash).
It follows a meeting of clergy and representatives last February at which the Dromore Diocesan Strategic Working Group was discussed.
Archbishop Eamon said the Diocese is re-launching and re-naming the five Pastoral Areas and in the coming months he will begin the process of establishing a Dromore Diocesan Pastoral Council, to take forward the recommendations of the Strategic Working Group.
The five Pastoral Areas will be as follows: St Ronan’s Pastoral Area encompassing the Parishes of Shankill (St Peter’s Lurgan) and Shankill (St Paul’s Lurgan); Parishes of Moyraverty (Craigavon) and Seagoe (Derrymacash); Parish of Magheralin; St Patrick’s Pastoral Area encompassing the Parishes of Seapatrick (Banbridge) and Annaclone; Parish of Tullylish; Parish of Aghaderg; St Brigid’s Pastoral Area encompassing the Parishes of Newry and Saval; Parish of Donaghmore; St Colman’s Pastoral Area encompassing the Parish of Magheradroll (Ballynahinch); Parishes of Drumgooland and Dromara; Parish of Dromore; St Bronagh’s Pastoral Area encompassing the Parishes of St Peter’s Clonallon (Warrenpoint) and St Mary’s Clonallon (Burren); Parish of Kilbroney (Rostrevor) and the Parishes of Clonduff (Hilltown) and Drumgath (Rathfriland); Parish of St Patrick’s Clonallon (Mayobridge).
Archbishop Eamon said: “I hope the Pastoral Area discussions and work will provide a forum to bring together and add value to the work of the individual Parish Pastoral Councils. With their help, our new Diocesan Pastoral Council will be able to promote new evangelisation, pastoral renewal and increased involvement of lay women and men in the life of the Church”
He added: “I trust that the Pastoral Area structure will also facilitate faith development, improved communication, pastoral formation and training, enhanced liturgical planning and a common sense of endeavour across the Diocese of Dromore”.
Archbishop Eamon thanked the priests and deacons for their continued ministry and service, and wishes well those who are taking up these new appointments. He also thanked the people of the diocese for their ongoing prayers.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 