A much-loved priest is being hailed as a hero after he saved a woman from being hit by a bus in Cork.
Fr Con Cronin was killed after the freak crash which saw a bus plough into some cars on the Strand Road in Monkstown, Cork.
The 52-year-old Bus Eireann driver, who is believed to have suffered a suspected heart attack while behind the wheel, has been named as Mark Wills.
The Ballincollig native is a father to teenage children and is understood to have been pronounced dead on the arrival of emergency services.
Fr Cronin had been crossing the road with a friend when she alerted him to the danger and he reacted by pushing her out of the way.
Medics battled hard to save Fr Cronin after he was struck by the bus but he has tragically pronounced dead soon after.
PAT SAYS
Fr Cronin’s death at 73 was indeed tragic – as was the death of the bus driver.
His actions just before he was killed were absolutely selfless and heroic.
He could have chosen to save himself – but instead, he chose to save his friend – a parish secretary, I believe.
Fr Cronin’s actions prove that there are good priests about and his actions were based on an innate and natural goodness.
He had worked in Africa for years before returning home to help out in Cork parishes.
Since his death many people have spoken of his endearing personality and his kindness and goodness to people.
Fr Cronin’s funeral was watched live on line by over 12,000 people.
“No greater love has any man than that he lay down his life for his friends”.
MORE DUBLIN MEMORIES
For a very short time in 1960 I attended a very old primary school in.old Ballymun, Dublin, called St Pappins PS.
This was the time before the famous/infamous Ballymun Flats were built and St Pappins was literally out in the countryside.
I reached out to the Glasnevin Heritage and one of their members submitted some pictured of the now demolished St Pappins.
HOWTH LOBSTER
When I was in Dublin on Tuesday I called at Howth for some fresh lobster.
This was our Sunday lunch yesterday
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 
146 replies on “PRIEST SAVED WOMAN’S LIFE BEFORE HE HIMSELF WAS KILLED 😪”
When you write
Fr Cronin’s actions prove that there are good priests about and his actions were based on an innate and natural goodness.
you speak the truth. What a pity that we dont hear more about such priests there is many. +Pat you have a great opportunity to write about them on your blog but for whatever reason you chose to write or report via copy and paste articles about the bad apples.
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The church has more than enough resources to cover up without anyone else’s help.
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Sadly, really good priests are scarce enough 😪
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How much does the safe guarder get paid annually?
Speaks volumes…
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A much kinder blog than yesterday’s character assassination.
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Bishop Pat playing his Good Cop Bad Cop
Certainly was a total character assassination of a young Priest only Ordained in July 2018
I wonder how bishop Pat’s first 5 years were surely his anonymous parishioners did not attack him like yesterday’s blog.
At 16.00 hours bishop Paul Swarbrick’s office is still waiting to hear from “Joseph” or anyone in the South of Blackpool
So St. Monica’s is closed and St Cuthbert’s is linked with St. John Vianney and from the end of September there will be a further link with Our Lady of Assumption and more changes in Blackpool over the next year.
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Why would they. The letter was addressed to the priest.
It’s remarkable how you have access to every bishop in Great Britain (the Commonwealth?) and Ireland, and yet not to any presbyteries.
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The poor craythur may his soul rest in eternal peace with Jesus Mary and Joseph and every saint under heaven and the angels
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Don’t forget the little donkey which carried Our Lady while she was carrying Our Lord 🙄
But seriously, may he RIP and fly high with the angels of heaven x
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“Fly high”. What a load of claptrap. What is the world coming to? Same nonsense as passed, passed on, passed away. Nobody wants to say the words died or death anymore. We don’t even mourn anymore we celebrate a life. God help us all.
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Pat, I’m sure you neant selfless and heroic!! I am glad you pay tribute to Fr. Con. He seems to have embodied the essence of human and Christian goodness, love and caring. What an incredible inspiration to hundreds. The tributes paid to him on R.I.P. website are a testament to his warm, caring, embracing personality, all influenced by his love of Christ. When I read the tributes I felt very small in virtue, ministry and witness to Christ compared to this genuinely good priest. His missionary work must have influenced his priesthood hugely: it made him a real, kind, caring person and he lived his life as a priest for the good of others, first and foremost. He is indeed a true model for today’s ministry as priests. God welcome him home…Some reports say his funeral mass was watch online by 17,000…Pat, that lobster looks fantastic….do you open for midday lunches?
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OH my God, Absolutely stomach churning. “Fresh” Lobster bought on Tuesday and then eaten on Sunday, As the old and wise saying goes “Seafood is like a visitor, great when they are fresh but they start to rot after three days” I wouldn’t serve it to the cat five days after it was bought. My pussy wouldn’t be able for it.
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Your pussy sounds sensitive, dear.
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It was cooked on Tuesday and frozen.
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What’s the story with Christopher Morris of Motherwell Diocese who was ordained deacon in June?
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10.46
Having spoken to Bishop Toal I have to reassure you that there is nothing wrong with Deacon Christopher Morris who is currently doing his placement in East Kilbride and will return to Oscott to complete his final year then God willing Christopher will be Ordained to the Priesthood next June.
Yesterday it was Bishop Toal today it is a seminarian so Bishop Toal said rather than attack why not ask contact him direct 01698 841848 or bishoptoal@rcdom.org.uk
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Why are the Scottish dioceses using Oscott? You’d better send them down with copious amounts of Iron Bru if you want them to retain their manliness.
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Motherwell has had good value out of Oscott over the past few years – Fr Sean Wylie and Fr John Paul McShane are doing a great job there. The only other option is Rome which isn’t without its own problems.
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Unless they want to send their sems to Europe, the Scots bishops don’t have much choice. Post-Vatican II renewal has left us with only two seminaries in the whole of the UK: Oscott and Allen Hall. The seminaries in Scotland closed decades ago, as did the Welsh seminary (St Mary’s College, Aberystwyth) and the Wing in Belfast closed a couple of years ago.
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If you want them manly, spending six years at Cardross would toughen anyone up.
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Christopher Morris was mentioned in the Catholic Truth Scotland forums.
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That you, Barry? Lol
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Yes, he was, Sugar Plum. He sure was… Why not ask him why he rang me, many moons ago?
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The catlicks will misinterpret this post as you saying their church is wonderful – because they want to ignore the crimes of the church even as an intimate of the pope who he protected in Vatican City is facing trial for sexual crimes. So for the benefit of the cheap seats I will draw their attention to a sentence in the middle of your post, Pat. You say,
‘Fr Cronin’s actions prove that there are good priests about’
Which nobody would deny, merely that they could (or rather should) do more to challenge the church and that they play down the corruption and duplicity. In the same sentence you then immediately say,
‘and his actions were based on an innate and natural goodness.’
Which again is plainly true. However innate means inborn or natural. So while you are saying that he is a good priest, you are also saying that this goodness is inborn or natural, so you are saying that his goodness does not result from his Roman Catholic faith.
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Fr Con was a Kiltegan priest who spent 25 years in missionary work in Nigeria, then in promotional work in Ireland before working in a Cork parish. He was a late vocation, ordained in 1979, and highly regarded by his Cork parishioners
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The Lady is the Parish Secretary and is very upset about it.
Two Bishops were at The Requiem and also offered prayers for the drivers family and his children.
Father’s family have reached out to the drivers children, parents and other family and they will be Friends on this horrendous journey.
Father’s Nephew said it was sad to lose Father at 72 but those children have lost a Father.
God Bless them All
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Why did dear gentle Jesus, meek and mild, allow this to happen? He is supposedly omniscient, so he knew not only the date of this event, but the specific time. And yet, he did SFA to prevent it.
Christianity is for simpletons, like Buckley.
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Anon@ 12:53: While I also ask similar questions, I don’t agree with your final sentence. Intelligence has relatively little to do with religious belief. It’s much more complicated, and a study of the psychological/emotional factors linked to upbringing and societal expectations is more informative than a simplistic dismissal.
There are many interesting studies and books about these issues.
MMM
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9.07: MMM – List all the books, resources and articles…Go on…enlighten us beyond your sound bytes…
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You chop and change too much, MMM (mood swings or dementia, maybe?). In other comments you’ve more or less described believers as uneducated morons, or used the Paisleyite trope that good, simple people are led astray and entrapped by scheming priests.
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@10:35: I can’t list “all”: there’s more than I’m aware of. But I give you two which cite and recommend others if you’rereally interested in finding out more.
The God Delusion: by Richard Dawkins.
God is Not Great: by Christopher Hitchens.
And @ 10:39: Your short term memory loss or mere ambivalence in your term, ” more or less?”
I don’t believe I’ve ever called anyone a moron on this blog, nor referred to priests as “scheming.” Perhaps if you could show me otherwise I might take you seriously.
MMM
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Terry Eagleton frequently demolishes the cod theology of chicken egg biologist Dawkins and wife-beating alkie Hitchens. To the unintelligent – such as MMM -those two pass as intellectuals.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n20/terry-eagleton/lunging-flailing-mispunching
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Thank you Anon@ 12.54, for that link to Terry Eggleston “review” of Dawkin’s book.I hesitated with the word review here as I found it more a tediously biased rant. Indeed the subsequent letters, especially, A C Grayling’s, pinpoint it’s limitations.
Chacun a son gout!
As for Hitchens and Dawkins intellectual ability, have you listened to their participation in debates? You might find them illuminating. Maybe you already have but found them beyond you? Mind you with them being on YouTube it’s possible to pause to allow one’s thought and reasoning processes time to catch up.
MMM
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Forgive me for laughing at your comment, 12.54. It’s conclusion about Eagleton is presumptious to the point of wishful thinking.
Eagleton demolished no one and nothing in that protracted ode to himself, except perhaps himself.
There’s a wonderful irony in reading reviewers’ who criticise what they regard as the uninfomed (by academic Christianity and philosophy) barbs of atheists like Dawkins and Hitchens, but who then goes on to use such words as one ‘suspects’ such-and-such of so-and-so.
You probably won’t get any of this, but be game and do try.
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Lol, MMM thinks that AC Grayling, deranged by Brexit, is a serious thinker.
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Jesus didn’t let the woman get hit by the bus, His priest, who was present, took her place.
This is a powerful example of selfless love by a priest, one of the genuinely good ones.
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And yet he let the priest get hit by the bus.
Your logic is overwhelmimg, Peter.
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12.53
The greatest gift that God has given us after life itself, and way in which we are most made in his image and likeness is freedom.
God is not to blame for humanity’s deliberate and accidental mistakes.
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@10:33 Except he is, because as you say yourself, he gave us the freedom to make it. A supreme, omniscient and omnipotent being, allowing a lesser being to mess it up without intervening, is setting up that being to fail.
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1.43
Nonsense. Your parents are not to blame for your logical fallacy. The essence of the freedom God gives us is the possibility that we will do wrong. If God did intervene, our freedom would be compromised.
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Exactly. He doesn’t intervene, but could do.
Like a parent who lets their child play on a cliff edge.
This problem with monotheistic theology won’t go away because you would like it to.
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Cronin acted instinctively. It had nothing to do with priesthood, Pat.
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12.54: That’s an obvious observation but undoubtedly Fr. Con saw priesthood as encompassing the best of gospel, Christ-like values. Fr. Con did indeed live a selfless and heroic life as a priest. His acts of daily caring and giving for others are inextricably linked together. Not only was Fr. Con a good human being, he was also an exemplary good priest. It seems you, sir, cannot fathom both or are simply a small minded fool or worse, anti clerical.
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I do believe that we die as we have lived. An instinct which goes against self-preservation is one which would have to be acquired. Anyone who met him, even if only briefly, would have to say he was a character in the best sense, a straight forward man with a big generous heart. May he find rest in the Lord’s presence.
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Instincts aren’t acquired; they are innate.
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@4.07 that’s an interesting correction. Perhaps it was the wrong choice of word. Even though I’m pretty sure there are some behaviours which are both innate and learned eg. Walking. Could be wrong though, it’s not really my area. 😅
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DLF flip flops over communions and confirmations, a weak leader waaay behind the curve!
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Technically First Holy Communion could be done at Sunday mass with just a few children each week and with just a parent or guardian present and no big fancy day out as has become the Irish tradition. The church has lost an opportunity to remove the pomp and cost of the traditional day which, for many, focuses on clothes, photos, money and a meal with drink somewhere. If one focuses on the sacrament and not the pomp and celebrating then First Holy Communions could take place with a lot less financial stress and it’s focus returning to its spiritual meaning. In fact such a process would help untangle this religious aspect from the school and is, I believe, how children going to non Catholic schools already receive their First Holy Communion.
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I agree with 9:53. It’s a rite of passage/day out/family event now. Has been for decades. One of the main gripes thatbis being expressed is that children will have outgrown their First Holy Communion clothes, as if that’s the most important aspect.
Priests should stop this First Holy Communion as Last Holy Communion carnival.
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Not an ounce of leadership, priest on Newstalk setting out the future for communions and confirmations, not a word from DLF.
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10.28: Archbishop Farrell has spoken to his Diicese, parishes and clergy, has written articles for newspapers, spoken on tv and radio and hascspiken very cogently. What planet are you on?
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What an amazing human being/priest Fr. Con was. A true disciple of Christ. I am very inspired by the christian witness of his life, an amazing Christ-like priest.
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Ironically, don’t we know of a priest who attempted to throw as many priests / vicars and seminarians under a “bus” as possible in order to save his own skin?
He got caught out in the end, of course.. turned out he was attempting to muddy the waters to cover his own shameful actions.
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White man speak in riddles. To whom do you refer?
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Heroic priests and lay people are the yeast which makes the bread rise, the city on a hilltop, the salt that gives favour and the lamp that ahines.
They are are the exception not the norm, for if the norm the scandal of child abuse and cover up, would have been nipped in the bud centuries ago, instead moral cowardice reigns supreme and is the compass bishops and clergy predominantly live by.
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Sadly the good ones like him are seldom prompted beyond PP. May he enjoy his eternal reward.
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I remember reading this during Covid lockdown and being very much moved by this priest’s life of selfless love and commitment to the community.
He was well known for his loving kindness and generosity, a good man all round.
.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/selfless-priest-who-worked-in-the-heart-of-troubled-belfast-1.1447916
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Now, Matt Wallace was a cowboy 😆
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I do not understand the word “cowboy”. Is that the equivalent of the term (London wide boy aka spiv) ? I would have thought that anyone, priest or atheist or lay person who lived in the middle of the sectarian/political divide in Belfast trying to bring peace and reconciliation was someone to be admired.
The Irish Times made it quite clear he was selfless in the community.
I thought things were bad in Glasgow with sectarianism until I visited East Belfast.
Garngad Lad
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2.12, so you went out of your way to look for what you were determined to find? What you thought were PRODDY instances of sectarianism?
The irony of a bigoted, conservative Catholic from Scotland going to such lengths probably went right over your head.
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Fr Francis Bradley has just finished a 25 minutes long panegyric (even though Vatican II says panegyrics are forbidden) for Fr Neal Carlin, the most unbiddable and self-willed priest in the history of the Diocese of Derry. Bradley canonised him on the spot.
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And what is Donal McKeown at – singing the words of consecration ?
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Fr Bradley elided over (ie ignored) a huge aspect of Fr Carlin’s life: the rough handling he got from the bishops of Derry until Seamus Hegarty brought him back into the fold.
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Neal Carlin was of independent means, thanks to his brewery inheritance, so was able to resist episcopal control and he ploughed his own furrow.
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11.58: Buckkey – MYOB – that lobster is poisoning your already damaged brain. Why do you feel the need to knock every one down? Why such bullying and childish behaviour? Grow up, be a man..
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I did praise Fr Cronin?
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Donal McKeown shifted uneasily in his seat when the homilist recalled that Bishop Hegarty had said to Fr Carlin one time, “Sure, aren’t we both cowboys”.
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Sure Donal himself is s cowboy. 😄
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No wonder he looked uncomfortable. Why wasn’t he on his throne, btw?
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“Sure, aren’t we both cowgirls”, sounds more like it.
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Priest martyred in France. Usual suspects, no doubt.
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https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1424687277222113282?s=19
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LOL it is possible for a priest to be murdered without being martyred. Has it been established the murder was for hatr of the faith?
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Yes, he tried to destroy Nantes Cathedral. I don’t think he’s in the Legion of Mary.
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Sometimes, priests who get things done come into conflict with bishops and clergy.
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Pretty much guaranteed, I would have thought. Even if they just get on with their pastoral duties they’ll attract jealousy, without even having to stand up for anything.
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Staff that do better jobs than bosses especially long term staff, come into conflict most times, happens in alot of companies!
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To live in the midst of the world with no desire for its pleasures; to be a member of every family, yet belonging to none; to share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets, to heal all wounds; to daily go from men to God to offer Him their homage and petitions; to return from God to men to bring them His pardon and hope; to have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity; to bless and to be blest forever. O God, what a life, and it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ!
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To live in the midst of the world and to share its desire of pleasure, to be a member of the clerical fraternity, and several gin-swigging cliques, to share all sexual exploits, to penetrate all tricks, to take PrEP daily, to nighly go from bar to bar and offer your assets to all, to have a heart of fire for Luzar vestments, and a heart of stone for the faithful, to jump and be humped for ever, O Grindr, what a life and it is yours, o priest of today!
Not the pious and ungrammatical fiction above.
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Very good. I am sure it’s the Oscotian creed.
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1.48: Seems like you’re very professional at all these activities named in your CV…sleazy, immoral pervert. And, stay with your day job of digging into s**tholes!! Humour is not your forte (strength!!).
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Some wag has scribbled it on the lavatory wall in my palace.
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A little too close to the bone, Father?
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Oscott reject alert @1.14pm
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3.59 pm to be rejected from Oscott would be pretty hard. Now run along to the laundry and fish out a pair of your fellow seminarians boxers for your usual indulgence….
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The only dismissal from Oscott in recent years was Fr Marsden in 2018, who was dismissed from his post as formation tutor by then rector, Canon (now Bishop) David Oakley, because he recommended that an openly gay seminarian discontinue the program of formation.
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Oscott rejects are not only those booted out, but those whose application to enter was rejected.
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Was the homosexual seminarian ordained?
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Very interesting how much entry to a seminary is valued as an achievement. And you wonder why people think priests are prissy, spoiled, and so so Special.
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Oakley claimed on oath to IICSA that he booted out four homosexuals from Oscott whilst rector. https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/7716/view/CHC001597_001-016.pdf
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Was Fr Cronin a bit of a boozer? Would explain why he was no longer working in Africa as he had chosen to do at ordination [common enough] and also why he was in the pub with the parish secretary at lunchtime…….
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@12.20 pm have you no shame. What a horrid and nasty thing to suggest. Other people’s virtue exposes the deficit in your own life.
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Ireland is full of returned missionaries who are now in parishes. Truth be told, in the days of plenty, Irish dioceses took only a small number of candidates – the best performers in the Leaving Cert and products of the diocesan colleged and who went to Maynooth and Rome – and the surplus joined English-speaking dioceses abroad or went on the mission. A lot of those men really would have preferred to have stayed at home but there was no room at the inn.
Now there is room, and Irish missionaries serve in Irish parishes, at last fulfilling their heart’s desire. That’s why the BGT priest, the Sugar Ray crooner, is in a back of beyond parish here, despite being a missionary. Every diocese has at least one.
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Indeed, the now kaput All Shallows existed only to provide Irish priests for dioceses in America, Australia and GB, and even most of the output of the Irish regional seminaries, such as Kilkenny and Wexford, went to dioceses abroad.
The most academicly able were picked for Maynooth for home service and the less bright went abroad, contributing to the Fr Murphy image of priests in the UK and the wider Anglo-sphere.
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It’s so nice Fr Sugar Ray is even getting a mention today, Bp Pat. I still hope she is chosen to represent ROI at next year’s Eurovision song contest. She couldn’t do any worse than UK, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands; all nul-points this year. (I am not even Irish!)
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12.20: This is a comment that belongs to the trainer trash genre from a low life. A comment too that Pat should have binned. Your purpose is utterly disgusting and reveals a moral bankruptcy. This man, this priest was admired by all. I suspect you’ll be forgotten the moment you die! You imbecilic plonker and ignoramus.
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People need to see this type of comment. It shows what’s out there.
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2:08 Thank you for elevating the intellectual and moral level of the blog with your well thought out and incisive comment.
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Shane on you, 12:20 pm. So everyone who goes to a pub is a bit of a boozer? That’s half the country condemned.
It might have been his first time in a pub in months. Furthermore, one of the last places you’ll see an alkie is a pub. They are either barred or can’t afford pub prices and usually drink at home, alone or secretly.
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3.09: Pat, we know there are clowns out there, idiots who make fun of very sad and serious situations. You should not print any such offensive comments: ever. You need to be more discerning in binning many comments you receive. You allow too many clowns too much space.
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Just because people go to the pub for lunch does not mean that they have a drink problem. It is usually the best place to get a good and reasonably priced meal and you do not have to have alcohol with it.
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12.20
You really are a sick and twisted individual, gob bless your soul, you need help!
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12.20
And what would you have to say about Jesus who ate with sinners and prostitutes?
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@5.22pm My late wife and I always saw clergy in pubs gorging like hogs and washing it down with lots of booze. What was worse is they got into their cars afterwards as we would watch them drive away. The staff would fawn over them with attention whilst ignoring the other customers. Nothing was too much trouble for the Fathers. It was interesting to hear them mostly gossiping about fellow clergy, parishes and their own dioceses in general. I have been dining out recently with a friend and there is still no shortage of clergy using the collection plate money for meals and booze ups. They dress in muffti but stick out like a sore thumb. Groups of men dining together wearing the best casual attire money can buy. All driving big cars and no expense spared. Recent haunts I have spotted them is the Armagh City Hotel, Salleys Aughnacloy, Keegan’s Armagh, Greenvale Cookstown, Glenavon Cookstown and the Brewers House in Donaghmore.
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They’re bold as brass.
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@.1.31pm Bishop Sherrington, auxiliary in Westminster, studied at All Hallows’. He is a Cambridge graduate so to present them all as intellectually inferior to Maynooth seminarians is a bit strong.
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Bishop Sherrington was a lecturer in All Shallows. He was never a student there.
Poor All Hallows. Just like Heythrop, it renewed itself out of existence.
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@6.46pm Why don’t you and your friend follow Pat Buckley about the place. He seems to do well eating out in different places. You could report back as to who he was with, what he ate and drank. You would have to traipse all over the country though as he does get about a fair bit. See who settles the bill also because I hear some of the owners of the places he frequents treat him to the meal. Consider that your next assignment and report back.
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They stick out like a sore thumb in the boiler house also.
With their short ,groomed ,grey hair, soft white hands and steel rimmed glasses as they settle their bill .
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Fr Pail Orchard OSB was murdered in the Archdiocese of Birmingham UK in 1998.
The local Birmingham Catholic media spun the web that Fr Orchard was a living saint – he was murdered by a glue sniffer who was as high as a kite.
By all clerical accounts Orchard was a weird miserable bastard, an impossible to live with old curmudgeon – an easy mile from the narrative they spun.
Isn’t it always the case though with the Catholic spin machine will spin the saint myth immalarkey if the hat fits, even for a moment, if it paints them in the best possible light, the murder victim a martyr to the cause.
Pinch of salt is the best advice – often Fader is no hero and no saint just wrong place, wrong time, a victim of crime, no more, no less.
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Was his name really Fr Pail or was ge called that after he kicked the bucket?
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5.58: How horribly wrong you are about Fr. Orchard. This priest had faults but was exceptionally kind, caring and considerate, but meeting the like of “you people” would bring out the worst in him. Society is too full of mean spirited, clogs like you. We can do without your ilk, thank you. God rest the good soul of Fr. Orchard.
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ROFL but priests are supposed to be other Christ’s! Ontologically transformed! How can it be that their holiness is so easily nipped in the bud by an annoying person and that it is the annoying person’s fault!
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Absolutely, 5:58.
Among other Birmingham priests who hit the papers was one who was being blackmailed by either a lover or rent boy. The blackmailer got sentenced but Father’s name was kept out of the press to protect his reputation 🤣
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1.47pm
Bishop Sherrington has the EQ of a slug – what is it about the RCC getting turned on by Oxbridge/I’ve League – Elsie is notorious for getting v excited by the Oxbridge thing in an embarrassing way. Academia pushes his button – he can’t help himself.
Stock is Oxford but is as emotionally constipated as a fully impacted colon. God help us!!
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So was Whitmore of the VEC
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They probably get turned on by the homoerotica of those institutions as portrayed in Brideshead Revisited. Also, they are from working or lower middle class backgrounds and it vindicates their life choice if so called educate Oxbridge men decide to though their lot in with them.
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Anonymous @4.13m
How wrong you are. I have never mentioned the word Proddy. You did. I mentioned sectarianism (both sides can be as guilty as each other). I stated that priests, laity and atheists have worked hard to bring peace and reconciliation. I should have mentioned all religions and denominations.
Any person who mediates is worthy of respect. Yes even the priest who was described as a cowboy. You are the bigot. I am the moderate who likes fair play not distortions.
Garngad Lad
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6.22: You mentioned East Belfast. As you well know, it is overwhelmingly loyalist, which is why you went there: to look for examples of what you regard as sectarianism and so to confirm your Scottish Catholic prejudice about Ulster Protestants.
You were caught out and called out, but you haven’t the backbone to admit your own, and highly obvious, Catholic, sectarian bigotry.
I have enormous respect for you.
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Actually I was in East Belfast to do a financial audit. I stayed in a hotel which was burnt to the ground by ira thugs. If anyone has been called out it is you. You have attacked me and without facts (that is my speciality) but say “I have enormous respect for you.” Cannot understand the contradiction.
Garngad Lad
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You don’t understand irony either.
As we say locally, you’re a ‘skitter’.
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I don’t deny Fr Cronin’s selfless act, but don’t overegg it. Cronin acted from instinct, a good one, granted. But he had no time to think about what he was going to do, and whether he would have done so had he been given the time.
I have more admiration for people who do not act from instinct, but who nevertheless sacrifice their lives for others, despite the fear and intrepidation they must have felt beforehand.
They are the REAL heroes.
Fr Cronin is being canonised on this blog for one reason: it isn’t that he died saving another, it is that as a priest he did so. Clericalism pure and simple.
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That’s exactly it.
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One could look at it differently and not so cynically. Fr Cronin’s act stands out because most clergy, especially in Ireland, are arrogant and clueless. He is a both a condemnation of their selfishness and a model for their reform.
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I wasn’t being cynical; I was being honest.
I described Cronin’s act as ‘selfless’ and instinctive. Both words are the truth.
Where’s the cynicism?
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6.44: What an ignoramus you are. Such a wide sweeping jydgment. And you probably don’t know any priest personally, just trotting out a sound byte. It sounds good. You are ignorant, clueless and arrogant and dare I say, of limited intelligence.
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7:17 pm, I (6:44) served for many years as a Roman Catholic priest in Ireland. I still serve, but elsewhere. I maintain my judgment, which comes from long experience. Try again, dear.
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6.25: Typically an anti clericalist rant. You miss the point: Fr. Cronin was a true Christian and a wonderful human being. He inspired many by simply being himself: kind, caring, compassionate, all embracing, a priest who was dedicated to his ministry. That he may have acted out of instinct doesn’t lessen the act of saving someone’s life. Many people acted instinctively to jump into a river or a sea or a lake to rescue others in peril and have been lauded as heroes and heroines and rightly so. You acknowledge his SELFLESS act but then diminish that fact by admonishing us for “over egging it!”. How it must really annoy you that a priest stands at the centre of this tragedy!! You are a begrudger, simple as. You should go to the parishes where he worked in Cork and speak to the parishioners and all in that area: this man, a priest, was loved, admired and esteemed by all. Alternatively you might read the tributes paid to Fr. Cronin in the condolence section of the R.I.P. website. He would be the last person to want any acolades given to him but such was his personality and caring ministry, he deserved all tributes paid to him. Iver 17,000 people watched or listened to his funeral mass online. What an inspirational pastor. Your comment, sir, is nasty begrudgery. Thank God for this good priest and for the many others who are dedicated to their priestly ministry.
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At 6.49, I think you meant “anti clerical rant”.
Where is the anti clerical element in my post? And where’s the rant? Your wishing both there does not count.
You really need to rein in your imagination.
I did not miss any point, but you missed mine.
Too much is made of such selfless acts (and I did admit the selfless nature of Cronin’s act) when they are executed by a priest. Pat Buckley did this last year when an elderly Italian priest gave up his ventilator, for use by a younger man, after contracting covid-19. The priest died as a result, and no one denied his heroism; unlike Cronin, he DID have the time to reflect on the inevitable and painful consequence of his action. Across the world, however, growing numbers of health-care workers were selflessly dying of covid-19, too, but Pat did not think these deaths worthy of a blog; only the Italian priest’s.
As I said, far too much is made of these deaths when they involve a priest. That is clericalism, pure and simple. And there is no getting round the fact.
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Anon at 10.21: You reveal yourself as an arrogant, condescending, disgruntled, silly cleric!! You left Ireland because you believe priests are as you say.. Fr. if you are real – grow up. Think you have an agenda and were/are probably unbearable to work with.
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6.25
You are as ignorant as you are arrogant.
Throughout our lives instinct may be honed. In moments of study and reflection scenarios can be played out rationally so that when a moment such as this comes, rational action can be as fast as instinct.
As a student of moral theology he would have considered similar scenes theoretically. As a good human being and a successfully pastoral one altruism may have come second nature to him.
In short, go back to the drawing board. Is your own altruism as finely honed? ( A rhetorical question.)
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The communal showers in St Bede’s wing in Oscott are a thing of the past, being replaced by en-suites in the bedrooms. In the planning application to Birmingham City Council, one of the reasons given by the college for the change was “safeguarding”. Imagine a seminaryhaving to say that. Perhaps Fr Marsden was right.
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Safeguarding LOL.
Did they say it was to stop seminarians getting glimpses of each other bits?
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I hope they weren’t shaved, I hate that.
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They were never communal in that there were two shower cubicles and two loos on every corridor. The only true communal showers were in the laundry room where the baths were. In later years they were used by visiting football teams.
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The launderette was also there where the missing underpants are frequent stolen. If a sem went down and the washing machines were all in use they would leave their soiled garments in their laundry amd the perverts would loiter to steal them…
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Poor Fr Marsden must have got an eyeful every time.
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7.26. It is fitting that all acts of heroism are recognised as they frequently are. Our newspapers cover such heroism of health care workers, medical personnel, home carers, helpers, community activists and charity groups. The people of the 3 parishes where Fr. Cronin worked have all acknowledged his great pastoral shepherding of everyone. Your questioning of such is silly. We are right to recognise his good act of sflessness, as you acknowledge. You should not have to qualify your acknowledgment. We don’t always give enough praise for the many good people in our midst. Fr. Cronin’s life speaks for itself. You don’t need to edit any part of it. I still believe your comment is a subtly disguised anti-clerical rant. Were the “hero” to have been your father or uncle or a friend, would you qualify the deserved trubutes? No. Again, read the R.I.P. condolences. I worked with some priests who were very selfless in their ministry and after the deaths of some such men, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of grief by parishioners. I’ve also witnessed the incredible selflessness of parents, guardians, grandparents and many, many parishioners. The only opportunity we have of honouring them seems to be their funerals! Let’s be appreciative of the genuinely good people in our midst while they are alive. And let’s not minimise any person’s act of selflessness just because he/she is a priest or religious!!
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A ‘Country[wide] Practice’ of covering up the abuse of children and vulnerable adults…
– “The culture of the Church of England facilitated it becoming a place where abusers could hide. Deference to the authority of the Church and to individual priests, taboos surrounding discussion of sexuality and an environment where alleged perpetrators were treated more supportively than victims presented barriers to disclosure that many victims could not overcome. Another aspect of the Church’s culture was clericalism, which meant that the moral authority of clergy was widely perceived as beyond reproach. As we have said in other reports, faith organisations such as the Anglican Church are marked out by their explicit moral purpose, in teaching right from wrong. In the context of child sexual abuse, the Church’s neglect of the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of children and young people in favour of protecting its reputation was in conflict with its mission of love and care for the innocent and the vulnerable.”
Preliminary Report into the Church of England · IICSA · 2020
Nothing more than a facade of quinticential morals and pleasantries; a veneer of moral upstanding to hide the stink of abuse, corruption — facilitated by the local Civil Courts?
.https://youtu.be/-RMGetpx7y0
.
The good Reverend Canon Doctor of the Wirral 🤢
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6.18pm
Fr Orchard had faults – er that my point he sure did, care to elucidate on these before you canonise him?
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10.21: Whatever you are doing in your life, you seem like a rebel without a cause…can you just not acknowledge the good act of Fr. Cronin. It is absurd of you to suggest that the deserved praise of this priest is clericalism when the majority of the praise and admiration are from parishioners, community activists and local representatives and people of other denominations. You have a chip on your shoulder. Probably a malcontent. Your snobbish judgment of priests in Ireland as being clueless and arrogant is ignorant. Judging from your commentary, I don’t detect someone with an honours degree! You are, to use your own word – clueless and may I add – gormless. Stay in the “elsewhere” of your life.
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You’re not exactly doing anything to improve the reputation of the clergy.
So lay people don’t suffer from clericalism too?
Give up your Special Big Chair at the Centre of Attention on Sunday if you think that.
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11.25pm
Why the invective and abuse?
You judge an anonymous poster and accuse them of a rich array of faults simply for having the temerity to express an opinion: different than yours.
You J’Accuse of: absurdity, having a chip on shoulder, of being a malcontent, of snobbish judgement, clueless, arrogant and gormless.
Oh and remarkably you claim powers to detect the class of degree of the poster.
Wow!!!!
I’m sure your post has moved the poster to rush away and examine their lives.
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On the topic of yesterday, ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
There are good clergy out there humbly going about their everyday lives. There are good clergy who are true followers of Christ.
There are unfortunately others who are like the Pharisees of old. Of the hypocrites, do what they say but not what they do.
Like any of the Birmingham Six, I am an innocent man who has been wronged.
Is mise le meas,
Séamus
PAX
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Im not perfect but I’m from Cork that’s close enough 😂
Jokes aside…
Well done fr Cronin… She was lucky to have a friend like you!
Rare breed….
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And that bus driver who everyone is raving about..
#gentleman
Condolences to him and he’s family at this sensitive time x
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