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FATHER JOE CONDON.

You asked in your Blog last night about Joe Condon.

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He was the Parish Priest in Ardfinnan near Clonmel up to about a decade ago or a little longer. It seems that an allegation was made against him and Bishop William Lee asked him to step aside from ministry which he did. Since then the Parish has not had a Parish Priest, but a Parish Administrator, first Fr. Robert (Bobby) Power, then Fr. Pat Butler. The parish was without an Priest in Charge for a period of time, but it is my understanding that a priest from Rockwell College which is nearby helped out in the Parish, Fr. Bernard Frawley I think. In the most recent moves made by Bishop Phonsie Fr. Michael Toomey a Curate at Ss Peter and Paul’s Parish in Clonmel for a number of years moved to Ardfinnan to become Administrator there. He was also put in charge of Newcastle and Fourmilewater the next door Parish after it’s Parish Priest Garrett Desmond was moved to Touraneena and The Nire.

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The fact that the Parish of Ardfinnan-Ballybacon-Grange has not had a Parish Priest with a number of years now might suggest that Joe Condon is still a priest and still the Parish Priest of Ardfinnan-Ballybacon-Grange. If he had left the priesthood surly Bishop Lee and more recently Bishop Phonsie would have appointed a Parish Priest for the area and not an Administrator. Fr. Pat Butler was a Parish Priest before he was transferred to A-B-G and resumed the title after he left to move to Aglish, Ballinameela and Mount Stuart, but has left that Parish in mysterious circumstances since then.

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For a number of years, in a printed Diocese Directory it was saying that Joe Condon and a number of other priests were contactable through the Bishop’s House. I think the Irish Catholic Directory gave the same information on him and others.

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For some reason the Website of Waterford and Lismore does not give details of Priests that are not in active ministry like what other dioceses do. I know of a number of priests who have stepped a side for different reasons who are no longer listed, but to the best of my knowledge are still priests. There is a Michael O’Connor who I think you know from your time in Saint John’s Seminary, Richard Geoghegan who appeared on an RTE Programme hosted by Hotelier Francis Brennan while dressed in drag, Charles (Charlie) Scanlon, Thomas Burns, Michael Kennedy (who was in the news in the 90’s when as Curate in Dungarvan claimed there was a woman sleeping with men from the area passing on the Aids virus to them) who are no longer listed. Neither are the elderly retired priests unless they fill the role of P.E. in a parish or those that may have retired early on health grounds, of which I might know two who are in their mid 60’s and look very active.

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You may remember back in 2015 or 2016 Bishop Phonsie brought three Indian priests (members of the Heralds of the Good News Missionary Society) to the diocese. One of them was to work in Clonmel, another in Carrick-on-Suir and the third at the Sacred Heart Parish in the City. The first two of these priests seems to have vanished as quickly as they came.

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Something tells me that Joe Condon is a former Curate at the Cathedral in Waterford City and while there he won a sum of money on a National Lottery Game Show on RTE.

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Living in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore

PAT SAYS.

I know nothing of Fr Joe Condon or his history.

But a parishioner in Waterford remembers his help to her in her difficult times.

“The greatest part of a good mans life are his little, unremembered acts of kindness and of love”.

Why is Joe still out of ministry.

Did his big win make him financially secure forever?

Why would you bother with assholes like Willie Lee and Phonsie Cullinan if you didn’t depend on them financially?

Well done Joe!

52 replies on “FATHER JOE CONDON.”

I would go further than your penultimate paragraph +Pat.
You ask why independently financially secure priests should bother with such incompetent bishops, the inference being to quit working for an inept institution. I go further to repeat a belief I’ve previously given here.
I’m convinced that if financially independent, a majority of RC priests, certainly the younger ones, would quit the clerical life PRIMARILY because they recognise it for what it is: a sham and complete con job where they are shackled to the deceptive practices of a deceitful, corrupt and false organisation. Perhaps the older ones might continue in a “pastoral/helper” role not knowing any other. Maybe it comforts them by giving their own life some significance and they’d be miserable without it.
The high number of dropouts and MIAs is indicative of the terminal rot of the RCC. It will continue to decline and disappear, just like all the former once popular religions of the past.
MMM

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Yes the dependence comes over strongly in the comments here. The only thing I would question is that I think formation is the process of buying into the corrupt institution – you have to start by thinking God is calling you to this so you have to buy into the institution to reconcile its nnature with the divine call.

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8.56: MMM – Name the once former religions. It is amazing that you continue to invest such time in your once former religion. Your criticism are sometimes very insightful and challenging. It is unfair of you to suggest that a majority of priests might leave if they were financially secure. Some are because of family legacies but I contend that many of us are simply “burned out” spiritually and psychologically. We do not always receive the care or leadership we require and the many scandals within the Church have almost completely demoralised us. We cannot express our sadness for victims/survivors sufficiently and we feel a great shame. Also, when we try to express that shame or how we are affected, we are lampooned. After 40 years of ministry, I am challenged more than ever and during the pandemic I feel we have been pushed further into the margins. I am strong but my resilience is very much weakening….Despite all the turmoil, doubts and questioning, I believe I have made some significant differences to the many among whom I have ministered and feel grateful for this. But from here on…too many questions and uncertainties for me. I will trust in God…

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From your reply @ 11:43, I see you are a priest. By challenging me to “name once former religions” you seem to infer their absence. Or perhaps your seminary training was as impoverished as my own. Other religious beliefs past and present, were superficially dismissed as clearly and definitively erroneous. In contrast to Catholicism, every other belief was viewed as “wrong” with no real study of their significance culturally or historically.

If your understanding of other religions is thus limited then your request that I “name” them may be an honest request for information? If that is the case, I suggest you simply Google past or ancient religions. You might find Finnish religious beliefs of our origins in diving duck eggs equally as incomprehensible as Christian vicarious redemption by nailing a Jew to a cross.
Mind you there’s at least 10,000 religions to choose from so happy researching.
You come across as caring and compassionate, and probably have ‘made a difference.’ Might you also have made a significant positive contribution as a nurse, social worker, or in a similar lay capacity?
MMM

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MMM did a useless job (social work) that does far more harm than good, is riddled with scandals eg Kincora and Baby P, and his entire income and now gold-plated pensions derived from tax payers. As MMM never worked in the private sectir he created no wealth except for himself and has been a financial liability first for the Church and then for the taxpayer, his whole life long.

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Moanin Minnie @8:56am

Would you ever give up spouting your usual atheistic tripe. That’s what you would like, it might decline but will never disappear and will still be here long after you’re forgotten.

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You, 12:08, are readily identified by the poverty and limitations of your customary hostile ad hominem retorts.
Together with Anon@ 12:00 above, the two of you seem to comment from a poverty of knowledge and experience.
Maybe I’m wrong so go on, surprise me by contributing something useful and informative.
MMM

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I see Arlene has gone to court to defend her honour. Well, she doesn’t really need to because surely nobody would ever believe that with her bovine features, stature and looks like the back of a horses arse she would ever be attractive to a man ? Impossible. Not credible. So, don’t worry Arlene, your reputation is safe.

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9.16
I disagree with almost everything Arlene Foster represents. But this ad hominem post is out of place on a website which claims to support Christian principles of living. Or indeed, on any public forum.

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I agree with that unwarranted personal attack. It’s completely innapropriate.
But while on a political note, I see former N.IRE Speaker, the Duo’s Willie, Lord Hay, is complaining at having to take a citizenship test to obtain a British passport. He was born 10 miles into Donegal and always lived in N Ire. I presume he’s always had an ROI passport, so why the big fuss now?
MMM

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And @ 9:16, have you ever hear Arlene going on about gay people, people of difference, anybody who isn’t like her and her background group ? Why should I not say what I think about Arlene, even if it is ad hominem ? She deserves it. What is good for the goose is good for the gander ….. and some gander she is !

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10:52 I defy you to cite a single example, just one, where Arlene Foster has said disparaging things about gay people.

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No answer to the challenge to provide a single example where Arlene Foster has said anything disobliging about gay people.

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One further clarification from your source would be helpful, Pat. The source mentions an allegation. Allegations may relate to a very wide area of human life. Many, however, will think primarily of one area. If your source doesn’t make clear that this is not the case here, if it is not, he or she will be doing an injustice to the reputation of the man in question.

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A parish priest who +Brenda Lee asked to step aside about ten years ago for reasons unknown.

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I have no doubt that Joe Condon, with some financial independence, made the assessment that he didn’t need anymore to put up with all the nonsense of being a parish priest and under the yoke of some idiot bishop (which Phonsie most definitely is), and has taken himself off to some pleasant retirement. Why not ? Most priests, in spite of their formulaic protestations about being wedded to their vocation, would long once they got to a certain age (maybe 65) to do what pretty much everybody else does, and that is to wind down, go and enjoy some other things, and be a bit free from the burdens and constraints of their priestly lives. What I get fed up with is priests telling me, rather self-servingly, that they are ‘committed’. Put a couple of hundred thousands of euros in their palms and I guarantee the majority of them would quietly hike off. It is patently daft that men of 75 and older are trudging around pretending to be engaged and active, even taking on extra responsibilities as priests become scarcer. it doesn’t happen in any other walk of life. The key to all of this is – yes, money and resources. Because clergy are still essentially shackled in some feudal way to the bishop and diocese and reliant on them for income, housing, and even pension stipend, they are not free to decide for themselves. It’s a form of servility. With some twee spiritual veneer bestowed on it to make it seem as though it has a virtue. Those who win the lottery, have family money, or other means of financial and material independence invariably do the sensible thing and move on at a certain age. How do you think Dean Kennedy is able to support himself ? Not from the diocese but from inherited money. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be living the nice life on the north coast looking out across the sea; he’s not stuck in some grotty place under a short leash as he would be iif he relied totally on the bishop.

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It’s more the sweet, cloying, sickly, twee, “I’m so special and irreplaceable” tone that gets me about priests who should be retired. I remember one priest who was in his 80s hanging on and people reverentially referring to him as a martyr and saint etc. But, all he was doing was serving himself because he didn’t have the wit or the courage to move on when he should move on, and in doing so was just perpetuating a broken system that needs to crumble before it can rebuild. He could keep his finger in the dam for as long as he wanted, but one day he inevitably would pull it out when he fell, and who else would there be to stop the dam from failing ? All these going-on-forever priests are doing is to frustrate a process that is inevitable, and necessary. They are not doing us a service. Far from it. We should be facing full on the consequences of the lack of vocations by attending to the self-satified and self-serving and dysfunctional clerical culture by looking at radical new ways of training, the issue of celibacy, the role of women, and new ways of being priest. Rather than encouraging old buffers to hang on in. Nonsense.

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10:59am

What a load of nonsense, we should be extremely grateful to those priests who carry on despite their age bringing us the Sacraments and living out their vocation to the end. God Bless them.

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You are not allowed to be an Administrator for more than a year in the new Canon law amended by Pope Francis last year.
So any Clergy in parishes as Administrators can report the incompetent Bishop.

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4 administrators in Waterford and Lismore according to the website. 2 not specified: Fr. T Rogers and Fr P Butler

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10.38
Bishop has been advised change in Canon Law 2020
75. If it is not possible to proceed immediately with the appointment of the Parish Priest, the appointment of Parish Administrators[107] must be done only in conformity with what is established in the canonical norms[108].
In effect, the office is essentially transitory and is exercised while awaiting the appointment of the new Parish Priest. For this reason, it is illegitimate for the diocesan Bishop to appoint a Parish Administrator and to leave him in that position for an extended period of time, more than a year, or even permanently, in order to avoid the appointment of a Parish Priest.
As experience shows, this solution is often adopted in order to circumvent the requirements of the law regarding the principle of stability for the Parish Priest, which constitutes a violation, with harm to both the mission of the priest and that of the community itself. Because of the uncertainty about the presence of a pastor, the Parish is not able to program far-reaching evangelisation plans and must limit its pastoral care to mere preservation.

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Fr Cullen has been administrator in Cahir for 3 years. Left Sheffield University in unexplained circumstances

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10.59: Nonsense of an argument. Why? Because it is laced with such ageist remarks, ignorant dismissal of priests in general, a lack of respect and tolerance. It is also devoid of humanity and an intelligent awareness of the circumstances, challenges and difficulties presented by a rapidly changing society, socially, religiously and culturally. You are either a disgruntled cleric or a laptop critic who enjoys critiquing but who does nothing!! Thank God some of our priests in their 80’s are still in good health where they simply offer their help and are not barriers to your hope of a parousia! Apart from women priests which I agree with, and the ongoing involvement of parishioners and creative, radical initiatives in parishes, what redeeming plans have you, apart from sneering, disgruntled contempt?

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@1:12 – “You are either a disgruntled cleric or a laptop critic”….actually, I’m neither, just someone who is fed up with all the usual clerical entitlement and specialness. You guys have not a clue about what it is like to earn your own living, run your own life, be responsible for others…..all you guys do is assume that anything you do you will be good at, and that others will do the work, and that when things go wrong (usually because of your own inadequacies, failings, and dysfunctional behaviour) you should be treated with kid gloves. People are sick of listening to you lot bleating on about how special and important you are, when they know full well that the majority of you are on the make and in it for an easy life. That’s how priests are thought of these days in Ireland. Oh, and just plain odd. Did you ever meet a normal priest ?!

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4.40: You, Mr. Begrudger, are lying. I don’t hear priests screaming out for special treatment. It’s a good soundbyte and used by your ilk to write a lying, biased, nasty narrative. For your information, I worked every God given hour during my 7 years formation to pay my way and to support my family. My parents and indeed all parents in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s gave an exemplary work ethic to their families which my generation brought to their respective chosen professions, including that as priests. Fact. We were always encouraged to have a work routine for every day. Your assertion that “everyone” sees that priests are in “it” for themselves is not my experience. It’s a lie to make such an assertion. As in every profession, there are those who are not so conscious about their commitment. Priests are no different. In your assessment there is evidence of a seething, hateful narrative, probably motivated by personal failures, unachievements and disappointments. Comparing our work and ministry with that of others is like comparing oranges and apples. Each way of life carries its own responsibilities and I consider myself very blessed to have worked with colleagues who were conscientious and faithful at all times, some well into their 80’s. I havecan even greater admiration for my married sisters who have incredible responsibilities. They inspire me more. As for people being sick and tired of listening to us…Perhaps, but back in the 40’s and following decades!!! We know most of your type switched off a long time ago and perhaps for legitimate reasons. Most of us realise that the gospel imperatives of caring, compassion, and generosity in ministry are far more important and most of us engage as humanly as possible out of our own personal experiences of failures, our family life, listening to parishioners, working alongside and engaging constructively with them. We are each good at our various work commitments when we truly care and many of us have educated ourselves to be better pastors by availing of seminars and degrees in a wide range of areas: bereavement and addiction counselling: suicide awareness: administration and communication skills programmes. Your deep cynicism is very sad, your critiquing, disingenuous and skewed. I suspect you have a lot of unresolved “grievance” issues because when asked for your blue print for radical renewal you resorted to the nasty, ad hominem invective. There’s an irrational, misplaced anger in your words. There, you see….my counselling degree at play!!! Cynics achieve nothing good. Isn’t it easy to make commentary when you use words like “specialness”, “dysfunctionality”, “clerical entitlement”, “plain odd” in criticisms of clerics? You get a very hate filled, distorted, prejudiced diatribe.

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Ah, bless, @ 5:06 ! You are exactly the kind of whinging cleric that I am talking about ! Full of waffle about how sensitive you are, committed, caring. Etc. And, yet, your lot do very little in reality. But you don’t even recognise at how little you do. You think that sitting in your presbytery reading the paper or some low level religious magazine constitutes work. Work is what most of us have to do with great effort. Look, I know you have been brought up to consider yourself and whatever you do to be special and blessed, and a working out of your oh so precious vocation. However, the reality is that you are a lazy bunch of whores who have lauded it over the rest of us for too long, and still rest on your laurels and live a comfortable and entitled life. As you said, FACT ! Oh, and boy, do you take a long time to say very little. Do learn economy of words. Less is often more. I’m glad I don’t have to listen to your sermons !

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1.12
Never in the Pontificate of Pope Francis or his successor will the Roman Catholic Church have women priests however you may see women Deaconess in the next Pontificate but very unlikely maybe in 20 years.
The Church has made it very clear through our Baptism we are the Church and therefore the parishioners should all be involved as it is their Parish.
Sadly it is hard for Bishops as the “Older” clerical club will not give way in some parishes and this is guys in their 50’s.
The Church is the PEOPLE and Clergy can be transferred at any given time by the Bishop.
Dublin is the place to watch as we see the “New” Church.

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Does anybody here ever consider the possibility that +of deise asked that priest for money (when he won the lotto). In turn Fr Condon refused and was suspended or given leave.. 🤔.
Anyway in the book ‘best Catholics in the world’, interesting nuggets such dicosean reports often talked about money and nothing else. There was an estate nearby where the author grew up in Raheny. They tried to fund raise money to build the church as they tried to brainwash the pashioners which didn’t work. That’s bec priest who spoke names of contributors to the new church from the highest contributior to the lowest. Working class people couldnt contribute it as they were named in Sunday pulpit sermon. Funding went down from 900 to 200/300. The debt on new church now paid off as they moved goalposts to other things that need money. They even tried consultants from the states to help them and given them ideas of how to raise money from other means.

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Please pray from Fr James (Jimmy) Earley (Nottingham Diocese) of Drumbee, Cavan. His requiem Mass and burial took place at St Mary’s Crosserlough yesterday (14 April).

A late vocation, Fr James achieved his silver jubilee of priesthood, serving in Lincolnshire and Derbyshire as a PP and Dean. In his previous career at sea, he had been quickly promoted to Fleet Maitre D’Hotel. May he rest in peace.

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5.35: Very good. You are, however, wasting your time arguing with disgruntled, biased people. 👍👍👍.. Do what you perceive and understand as being of help to all whom you work for and with.

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10.36
So sad and we will never know if the allegations were true or false.
Eternal rest grant into oh Lord …..

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Does anyone bother to follow up links such as here @10:36, when there isn’t even the courtesy of an accompanying comment?
I certainly don’t.

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12.23
Agree there should be some commentary to ay what it is as most do not just open links in case it is a virus.
However that link is a very sad case.

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Not as sad as for the victims. There must have been a case to answer or he would not have taken his own life.

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