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A STORY ABOUT A “GOOD PRIEST”.

Soon after Daly dismissed me in 1986 he sent a priest, notorious as an ass licker, to Larne as a curate – to watch me.

This happened one Sunday afterwards:

An elderly Catholic lady was dying in the the Moyle Hospital in Larne and her very devout family were anxious that she get the “Last Rites”.

Her family rang the curate and asked him to come and anoint her.

The curate answered:

“I have visitors and I’m cooking lunch for them, so I’m busy. The soul does not leave the body for 30 minutes after death. If she dies ring me and I’ll come before the soul leaves the body”.

The family had never heard of the 30 minute story and wanted their mother anointed before death.

The family rang me and told me what had happened with the curate and begged me to come and anoint their dying mother.

I went immediately, anointed the woman and put her last Holy Communion to melt in her very moist mouth.

Suddenly, the curate burst in through the door and loudly announced: “It’s ok folks. You have a real priest here now”.

He proceeded to give her absolution, again, and then to everyone’s horror, put his finger in the dying woman’s mouth, removed the melting host, put it in his own mouth, and gave her another host.

While all this was happening I stepped back quietly into a bay window and remained perfectly silent so as not to distress the grieving family.

The curate then announced that he was imposing the plenary indulgence at the time of death, made the sign of the cross, and departed the room with the words: “Have a good day”.

The dying woman’s daughters began to weep quietly. Her sons had tears in their eyes.

One of them said: “We are very sorry Father Pat, maybe we should not have called you”.

“You did the right thing”, I replied, ” you were thinking of your mammy”.

I stayed a while longer with them”.

The lady went to God a few hours later”.

73 replies on “A STORY ABOUT A “GOOD PRIEST”.”

Pat, you were there. You were and still are a priest. I am sorry you had this experience. I would be glad if I was on the way out and you appeared at my bedside! I know exactly the type of ass licker you describe. Aside from that, I am currently thinking what to preach at Christmas. It’s a difficult one this year. If you have any insightful thoughts, please publish on the blog. Thanks. We are a very close parish here, and it’s just really sad at the present time. But on we go…

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Yes, preach on the readings ie rehash in worse words what people have just heard. That dull, dull post-Vatican II preaching style is yet another reason people stopped going to Mass.

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9.15 Preaching on the readings from the Bible appointed by the church for the day is not a preaching style. It’s a declaration of the biblical roots of Christianity. You are in need of foundational catechesis is that is your attitude to the Word of God. Why else would you go to Mass in the first place if not to encounter the Lord in his word and sacrament?

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There is also Sacred Tradition and the rich teachings of the Church. We are not Presbyterians with sacraments attached.
It is dealthly dull to have an unlettered priest repeating, in different, inferior words, what has just been said aloud.

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Catholicism didn’t have the full collection sacred books we recognise as the New Testament for centuries after it was founded. It was an oral tradition with the sacraments. Even St Paul didn’t think he was writing Scripture. The wordy, talkative new Mass fails to nourish people. They have voted with their feet.

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Mass is a Holy Sacrifice, not “encountering God in his word and sacraments”. You sound like an old nun lol.

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3.34 Eucharist is many things, verb and noun, word and sacrament, food for life’s journey, food to strengthen us and drink to remove our sadness.

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May may just as well be a sacrificial Rock of Gibraltar as far as you are concerned – you managed to be both mysogynist and ageist in one phrase. You appear totally untouched by your ‘Holy Sacrifice.’ I bet you are an American cultural warrior like Chaput, Strickland and Tobin.

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Bishop John Buckley behaves like this ‘good’ priest. Bursting into ICU and other wards to bless without consent, wothout even asking if those upon whom his blessing is imposed are Catholic. Does.
+Pat, thank you for your vocation based service.

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7.50
You really are an embittered, pretentious and nasty little priest, aren’t you? Someone few people take any notice of? Which is probably why you are as you are.
I know who you are, and conversely, you know who I am.
The season of goodwill is upon us. Ask God, then, in the paucity of your prayers, to furnish you with at least an adequate personality; he owes you this much, since he short-changed you so at birth.

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12:04 I do recognise your ‘style’ and ‘content’ – such as they are. Whether I’m ’embittered, pretentious and nasty,’ I’ll leave to the Lord and those whose judgements I esteem to adjucitate. However, an ordained priest I am not. I share in the priesthood of the faithful. Hearing the one-track nonsense you deliver on this blog is a small price its readers have to pay to enable us to fulfil the Gospel imperative of loving our enemies.

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9.54pm HG.

Its true re Bishop bursting into wards as I happen to be a patient one time in a particular ward in a hospital. I didn’t expect it as I was quite surprised to see him coming in for a min or two in the ward, then he gone later. It’s fine if a priest came in at patient request. But no request made to bishop as Bishop J Buckley comes in without us as patients in wards, knowing it. I gather its not the first time cos nurses were aware of his actions before.

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You sure get about Deaf person. You were in the ward in Cork when Bishop J Buckley visited. Then you were hearing all about Larne curates presumably by someone from Larne. You were in Mellary visiting years back and considered a retreat at Silverstream. Hmmmmm I do wonder? Where can we expect to find you next? Glenstal, Maynooth, Roscrea or maybe even the Vatican itself.

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12.19pm, anon.
I won’t be visiting any more place that you mentioned. Never visited roscrea or maynooth or glenstal or silverstream. But I might make last visit to Mt Melleray in near future re wanted to see healing priest grave. That’s it.

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A real priest you are. Thing is were them downyernosers real Christians. That old attitude is still about. It pops up here at times. Jesus wasn’t a Catholic (universal including Roman) I don’t think he played for Celtic or Rangers. Did ye see the ⭐️

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Oh no, don’t tell me that lovely Father Peter is going to end up a bald fatty in lace ? god forbid. I shall start a novena so that he remains lithe and little and lovely.

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Sean Rogan. I doubt very much he was sent to Larne to “watch” you. But he was in those days a complete and total arse lick.

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This story says everything you need to know about these arrogant, useless bastardos, and their risible mumbo-jumbo.

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I think it’s awesome that, even though it’s a total non sequitur in a canon that’s otherwise about the transfer of pastors, the very last canon of the Code ends with: “prae oculis habita salute animarum, quae in Ecclesia suprema semper lex esse debet.” Amen!

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What a horrible story. The more I learn about Irish church life, the more believable it becomes. Did this man not believe, or was he simply willing to commit a blasphemy in order to make some point?

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Jeez! Sean Rogan?!
You did right to name him, Pat. He should be ashamed of and embarrassed by himself.
Did he ever apologise to you and to thst family for his asshole and disgraceful conduct?

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A lot of Priests today they do not have their heart in the Priesthood .
It is not about praying for people or serving people .It is all about serving
their ego .Dressing up, titles , who can get a higher position .Truth does not
come in to it .Protect the institution at all costs .Sacrifice the individual to do this .
A Sunday Priesthood maybe , but do not expect it to make demands on the other
six days of the week .The Priests who are dedicated and active are often not popular .
Seen as a problem .Not welcome in jurisdictions .Have their name slandered for wanting
to serve ,or the terrible crime of speaking the truth .This is the reality of Priesthood in the Church today in many places for those who do their best to be good Priests .

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8.13: Fr. Richard. You need to get out of your cave and look a little more honestly at the majority of your colleagues. I’m certain they are doing their best. Your sweeping statement is ignorant and your articulation of it is appalling..Go back to school.

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Father Sean Rogan who was a curate told a Larne parishioner not to worry about The Oratory as “only the dregs went there”.
His disgusting comment made about Oratory. It says all the more about rcc’s attitude towards the lowest part of the society such as the undesirable ones. Jesus dined with prostitutes, tax collector, thief’s, adulterer et al.

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My mother was a great judge of character.
Of Fr Sean Rogan she once said ‘You couldn’t like or trust thon if you reared him’
That was good enough for me. I know it was a opinion shared by many Larne people.

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I think the days of priests waltzing in to hospital wards unannounced and full of presumption have long gone. People won’t put up with it anymore. Now it will be by appointment and invitation. I know clergy feel that they have a God ordained right to do what they want and where they want, but their wings have been clipped. I think clergy, bishops, cardinals, the Church in general is increasingly going to find itself up against a mindset that sees them as only one influence in society, and that they will have to be like everybody else, keep to the laws, be respectful of others, and stop thinking of themselves as something exceptional.

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When I was in hospital in 1991 the Roman Catholic chaplain, who hadn’t spoken to me for 5 years, arrived in my room to give me the sacraments. I gave him very short shrift.

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The term excommunication (which I regard as meaningless) was not applied to be by the Roman denomination until 1998.

I would not take any sacrament from 99% of Roman priests.

There are very rare exceptions.

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By Post Author

11.56
Sacraments, you fool, are mere SIGNS of the Sacred; they are not in themselves the Sacred, which means, practically speaking, that the Sacred (Gid himself) is neither bound by them, nor limited to them.
Excommunication, therefore, means absolutely SFA.
I realise that all of this will pass straight over your cathbotic, unthinking head, but at least others may profit from it.

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Sometimes excommunication can mean something – for example I am excommunicated from the RC church and am very proud indeed that that crowd of self-serving criminals think I am beyond the pale.
Nowadays I seek positive things in my life such as helping pro-choice organisations.

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We were improved, indeed cleansed and made holier by your forced departure, hammer of the unborn @2.29.

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Sacraments, dear 12.12 are not ‘mere signs’ but rather, effective signs.

‘Tantum ergo sacramentum, veneremur cernui.’ (St Thomas Aquinas): the veneration due to God is equally appropriately given to the sacramentum.

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10.39
Mere effective signs, then. But they aren’t the only effective signs, since Roman Catholicism does not have a monopoly on God.
On second thoughts, they aren’t necessarily effective signs at all, because personal disposition is key: if , for example, a ‘penitent’ pretends to be penitent and fools a priest into thinking so, then it does not matter a jot how solemnly absolution is pronounced, the sacrament is ineffective. The same applies to ‘shotgun’ weddings, baptisms, confirmations, etc. If a person does not consent to God’s grace, then it cannot be received. The sacramental signs here signify SFA, frankly.
What is fundamental is the person, not the priest. And certainly not the so-called ‘effective’ sign. So a person anywhere, at any time, and in any way (as long as it is respectful) can receive God’s grace. No need for Roman Catholicism, and its overrated rituals.
Aquinas was wrong.
And so are you.

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When people are admitted to hospital they are asked to declare their religion. If one puts ‘R.C.’ then expect a visit from the hospital chaplain, priest or nun.

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What’s at the bottom of this blog post today is how priests should minister sensitively and pastorally to those in need. The trouble is, over the decades, and particularly in places where Catholicism was an arrogant force, priests just presumed that everybody wanted them to attend on them, or if they didn’t then they would make the decision to be there when they wanted to be, because they are the priest ! It’s more of the ‘Father knows best’ and clerical instant wisdom syndrome. Whereas, as we know, many clergy are badly trained, badly educated and formed, and pretty thick when it comes to intuiting what is sensitive, pastoral and right in most situations. They got away with it for a long time, especially in Ireland where there was such strong clerical deference. But, these days that has gone and clergy are finding themselves up against a new culture which just sees priests as like everybody else, and expects priests to behave like everybody else. There are no exceptions, no excuses, no preferential treatment anymore. It’s a hard lesson to learn for them, but learn they must.

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5.37

Won’t have a choice? This thought of yours, in a nutshell, presents us with YOUR concept of God, your preferred model. And it is very much built on the kind of person you actually are: unforgiving, unkind, unmerciful, unloving.

Heaven or Hell IS a choice, you fool, because God, in his love for humankind, wants no soul in Hell. A person chooses the state we call Hell, and God, brokenheartedly, accepts that choice.

But you relish the prospect of certain souls choosing this state.

Be careful, you evil harridan: with virtually every post you have made on this blog, you have revealed the choice YOU are making, without even a hint of repenrance.

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Fr Rogan uses the parish webcam to do a Saturday non-liturgical concert of show tunes for the old ladies. Totally cringe.

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7:45pm

It’s repentance ya fool not repenrance, I don’t need it but you certainly do. Yes it is a choice when you choose to support murder, then you’ve made your choice. The vitriol coming out of the mouth of an auld harridan like you, I think hell will not be hot enough for you.

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Rogan is not from Lisburn. He was originally from north Belfast but was bombed out in childhood during the Blitz. He then spend many years with family in the Ardglass area, his mother having died young.
He was ordained at the early age of 23.
I have always felt he is too sweet to be wholesome. Just my opinion.

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No ignorance on my part ! Nearly 20 years experience with other Priests ,
seeing , and have experience of what goes on in the church ! ” Silence
in the face of evil is not an option .”

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3.17: Indeed – “Silence in the face of any evil is not an option…” I agree. Are you one of the “quiet, silent” blogger guys who won’t raise his voice in public??? Like the majority of your colleagues – but that doesn’t necessarily make them “bad” guys!! There are good and bad in every profession. Broad sweeping judgments are unfair.

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I am rather bored with all the reminiscing, Bp Pat, time for another update on the steamy monastic goings-on, or a few more tales about the steamboat willies at Silverstream which we all enjoy so much reading out. It’s the festive season after all.

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60 odd comments The harsh wholes are lying low. Sad really. I empathize with the Good Guys To the challenged guys God still cares

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Thank you for sharing that story Pat. Love real reminiscences like that. Funny how seminarians who left were not treated quite as bad as that by classmates who ‘went on’ to be ordained, but may as well have been. You felt a door shut in your face and all the friends you had, gone. One or two would write for a while but that was it. Funny how most of the ones who went on to be ordained have left by now and are probably treated the same by co-di’s.

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Why don’t you tell us a story where you got it horribly wrong in pastoral ministry and have always regretted your actions?

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