Recently, I and several others, have written to Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh with concerns about homosexual wrongdoing by priests and seminarians associated with Armagh.
Eamon replied, as seen above, saying that he needs evidence in order to tackle these matters and he wants anyone who has such evidence to send it to the appropriate ecclesiastical and/or civil authorities.
In the case of Armagh, Archbishop Eamon is the appropriate ecclesiastical authority.
I believe that Eamon Martin is 100% sincere in his request for evidence.
Without evidence he cannot challenge individuals whose initial response will be to deny everything.
According to a Cloyne priest contacted last night, to his dying day Fr Michael Lomasney denied that he had sex on the altar of his parish church in Kildorrey and refused to give the name of his accomplice, reported to have been a seminarian.
When diocesan priests and seminarians engage in consensual acts they are breaking no civil law and it would be ludicrous to report the matter to the PSNI or Garda.
Thank God consensual homosexual acts are no longer illegal and never should have been in the first place.
However things are very different inntge ecclesiastical field.
The Roman Catholic Church regards all sexual acts outside the valid marriage of one man and one woman to be a sin – a crime against God and His church.
This includes the act of masturbation.
A priest or religious is further required by church law and doctrine to be celibate and chaste.
A diocesan priest having sex is breaking his promise of celibacy. A religious having sex is offending against his solemn vow of chastity.
A seminarian, until diaconate, has no promise of celibacy but is still bound by church teaching on chastity and is expected to be practising sexual continence from the day he enters seminary.
It is ludicrous to think that a seminarian can be sexually active right up until the moment of his ordination as a deacon and from just after the ceremony he can be celibate and chaste.
As my wise dad used to say: “If you are used to wearing shoes, its hard to go in your bare feet”.
A sexually active seminarian will find it nigh impossible to be sexually continent after his ordination. A lecherous seminarian will be a lecherous priest.
So, can anyone with evidence please sent it to Archbishop Martin on admin@aracoeli.com.
You can also post it to him.
Keep a copy for your records
If you want, you can cc me at bishopbuckley1@outlook.com
If you have evidence and do not share it with Archbishop Martin you are allowing individuals to bring the church into disrepute and perhaps allowing innocent young men to be badly damaged down the line.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 