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THE UNRESOLVED ACCUSATIONS AT THE BENEDICTINE WORTH ABBEY

Wikipedia: Worth Abbey and Worth School were initially created as the preparatory school for Downside. In 1995, Father Andrew Brenninkmeyer was suspended following complaints that he had sexually abused other monks, including Father Jonathan Monckton, who left the monastery in 1987 after no action was taken against Father Brenninkmeyer.

Father Paul Brenninkmeyer whose monastic name was Andrew, became a priest of the Diocese of Charleston in the USA.

Father Monckton was not the only complainant.

An English priest I know described Brenninkmeyer as being “cold and arrogant”.

The Benedictines did nothing about the complaints they received.

The Brenninkmeyer family are a hugely wealthy Dutch / German family who bankroll the Roman Catholic Church in many countries including the UK.

They are reputed to have given and still giving serious sums of money to the RCC in England.

It is said that Cormac Murphy O’Connor became Archbishop of Westminster and cardinal as a result of the lobbying of the Brenninkmeyers

Is the fact that no action has even been taken against Father Andrew Brenninkmeyer down to the family’s uber generousity to the RCC?

And, after his disgrace in Worth Abbey who organised his move to Charleston Diocese in the USA?

Were Charleston informed of his problems in the monastery?

Who wrote his letter of recommendation?

What role did now Abbot President play in the transfer.

Jamison

What role did Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the then bishop of Arundel and Brighton play in it?

CMOC

He was a favourite of the Brenninkmeyer family.

Some say this story goes to the very top of the RCC.

Anyone out there with any knowledge or insight?

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160 replies on “THE UNRESOLVED ACCUSATIONS AT THE BENEDICTINE WORTH ABBEY”

The Vatican 2 type Catholicism of Worth is bound to get some people here spluttering! Although I have heard they have had some difficulties with recruitment, and reading this I wonder if one of the difficulties was with people leaving because of being sexually harassed 😟

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When the BBC did the documentary series on Worth in 2005 there were 22 monks in the abbey. Now there are 12. The good old renewal thing working its magic.
Like Glenstal, Worth is woke, except when it comes to running schools, in both places. Then the preferential option for the poor goes right out the window.
Though I suppose the Worth monks need the £1.8m the school earns them annually (£150k per monk). Why can’t the 12 monks sell up and live in a modest property that doesn’t need £1.8m a year to stay open?

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The usual confusion of correlation with causation.
To my mind, the mindset which would lead a monastic community to be that rich would likely lead to the demise of the community on its own, even without touching up the novices.

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If Worth was bursting at the seams there’d be plenty of chatvabout the success of renewal.

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The Worth monks aren’t going to readily leave that congenial place. It’s a lovely spot in which to see out their days, plus the school is a nice little earner and they can float in and out of it.

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11:00
You managed to insult every institution you mention and without anything constructive to add.
Is Pat’s blog your (free) therapy?

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There are claims in two places on the internet that Worth has rather evaded attention for its abuse. One here:
https://www.change.org/p/privateoffice-external-homeoffice-gsi-gov-uk-worth-school-must-be-investigated-by-the-independent-inquiry-into-child-sexual-abuse
And the other here:
http://scepticalthoughts.blogspot.com/2019/02/abbot-martin-shipperlee-resigns.html?m=1
Apologies if you were already aware of them. The man behind the blog linked above may well have knowledge as well.

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Did Bowen recommend Cormac for Arundel? What did Bowen know of the many Arundel situations? How much of that had developed during Cowderoy days? What was the Bowen-Worlock relationship like? Does anyone know of Detroit-Charleston connections?

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@12.47 am Alvin – you speak in riddles, which is less than helpful. Please flesh-out your very brief sentences to include the context and particular importance of each area you mention. Without this information your comment is of no or little help to those who are seriously interested in untangling the relationships and other links between persons that may lead to questionable acts. Thank you.

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10.28: Sadly, Alvin speaks in multiple riddles and it is difficult what he’s yapping about. He should learn to articulate his views more cogently and give detail rather than innuendo. Otherwise he’s eliciting wrongful speculations.

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10.28 do you think you are cross-examining a witness in the Old Bailey. It’s clearly a reference to the magic circle/lavender mafia pattern of episcopal appointments in England & Wales, in which Worlock engineered the appointment of bishops in his own mould and mindset and Hume and CMOC carried it on.

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11.04 thank you, so it goes back to this mysterious Worlock, with whom some sort of atmosphere of mania / hysteria / sentimentality mattered. I was very much on the fringe of the RCC growing up; I do recall being told that all the beliefs had been abolished and we were to wait and we would be told what they were going to be, which we haven’t been. We had been saying Our Fathers and Glory Be’s and mostly sat out on Sundays, and I got nice religion classes at a secular school for a short period. In my teens, I should have been told there was nothing to enquire into, instead of misled by a priest who thought his duty was to recruit me into something. Religion is meant to make an impression on us, but I suppose we have to determinedly shape the impression individually, and ignore talk of “callings”, even though some people want to impose a package or template. It takes a lifetime to realise the damage when punches have been pulled by some of those more senior. Best that I become a Cafeteria Catholic / crypto protestant once again.

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So he “moved” to another town / county all those and past serious issues where not even satisfactorily addressed?! Unbelievable; totally reckless and horrendous.
This is not passiveness or inactivity re: abuse and facilitation of the same — it is ACTIVE and WILLING participation.

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Bp Pat I hope you will showcase one day soon the topic in a conversation on the afternoon of 5 th December around the subject of gaslighting, reinforced by importing from the USA. I had noticed it, but hadn’t articulated it like THG did. I now realise it was in “youth work”, it was in my (secular) school, it is in movements, it is prevalent in Protestant churches. It goes “we know you are depraved and we’ll show you how to be depraved / how to live in shame / how to walk on eggshells to gain favour”. It mistrusts Holy Spirit in wouldbe free individuals, who weren’t at all depraved or who were well on the way to receiving help the way God wanted and not those ghouls. It picks on the young, trainees / school pupils, juniors in an establishment, people with disabilities or differences, even on the plain humble. Due to the vague aura around religion, we fall for it because it must apparently be part of adhering to a religion. The world and the church haven’t been teaching logic (= honesty). Gaslighting holds that God thinks we deserve to be dangled over a precipice by these verbal and emotional sadists and sick manipulative prurient pryers.

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Dear Alvin,
The first step to recovery is realising what happened.
*
I promise you this – it is normal to respond to the revelation that you have been gaslighted by getting angry. If this is true of you than know that the righteous anger you might feel has the self-destructive power to take hold of you and destroy you in the present.
*
Channel your anger into making you a better, more understanding person. Use it as a growth motivation into being the best you can be. Break their chains. Break their mold.
*
The best revenge on those who tried to hold you back, is to live life to the full, be the success that you have hidden within you. Let them see that you cannot be crushed, but let them see that they have no hold on you today. They are irrelevant… until you give them relevance.

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1. Item about Father Charles Jeffries:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59479131
Caldey Island: Historical child sex abuse claims re-investigated
By Gwyn Loader
Chief correspondent, Newyddion S4C
2. Convenient if you can change your name from Andrew to Paul and back again. Is that by deed poll?
(I gather the B. family has some good offshoots also.)
3. I’m sure Abp McDonald and Bp Tripp remember Bp / Abp Bowen reminiscing and know where diaries are. All this is also the sort of thing no. 3 or 4 rank people at A&B obviously know.
4. I remember when the media built up Jamison as the great hope.

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I would question whether it’s going to be actually investigated by police except to determine whether there is evidence anyone involved is still alive. You can’t prosecute a dead person.

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And we all thought the Holy Spirit and Gods providence was behind the elevation of our bishops and popes – turns out money and who you know not what you know are the true movers and shakers – Brenninkmeyer (CMOC), Bergollio (Galen Mafia), Hume (Duke of Norfolk), Escriva (Opus Dei).
Uber generosity on one hand – payment for keeping stum on the other.
Boys abused at Worth go onto be abusers – some as priests others as medical doctors.
I knew Hume, CMOC and have met Jamison and they leave you with a impression of charming elitism concealing malevolence and a love of money, power and clerical privilege.

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If Brenninkmeijer had been abusing schoolboys instead of his fellow monks, he would not have got away with it so easily. It’s interesting that Worth is the only English Benedictine monastery which has not had any allegations against the monks of paedophilia (the secular staff have had). The rumour is that they have been historically much more careful in keeping monks and boys apart. Incidentally, if you have a sexually incontinent monk who seems to lack a moral conscience, always ask who his novice master was.

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The Benedictines did nothing about the complaints they received. It was the same with Silverstream, Bp Pat, until you took up the complaint resulting in the resignations of the prior and, so far, one abbot, with more to come I imagine.

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I am concerned that boarding schools operating under the patronship of a monastic community continue to raise legitimate questions. In the Irish situation both Glenstal and Cistercian College Roscrea have found themselves in the news. In the case of Roscrea we know that the then Abbot and patron of the school engaged in a sexual act with a priest in the monastery. The monastery is attached to the boarding school. The boards of both schools have ignored concerns raised. If the Benedictines and Cistercians insist on owning and operating schools they must ensure there is adequate safeguarding measures in place. Questions must be answered. Malachy Thompson has not replied to questions asking him to outline what knowledge he had about Richard Purcell’s activities in Roscrea. Purcell moved monasteries, why? Aelred Magee moved monasteries, why? The problem is that Malachy operates and controls a school where the Department of Education insists that certain standards are followed around probity and transparency. Yet again, we have a Catholic school not answering some challenging questions. Who knew what and when? Why were decisions made to move monks?

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CP 8:17,
There is school property and there is private property. Just because you might stay in a hotel room, it does not mean you have access to all rooms of the hotel.
Your safeguarding concerns are hollow without the detail of the safeguarding measures that are in place.
Pax.

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Well at Ampleforth they put up a fence which supposedly stops the monks going into the school. And parents still send their children to these places. The mind boggles.

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Yes, the Ampleforth fence is bizarre. It was put up by the school to reasure the Department for Education that the school was taking safeguarding seriously. What does that say about the monks and the school. It would be like a state school putting up a fence between it and a bail hostel next door. A monk crossing the fence unaccompanied was reported as a safety breach.

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The reason for putting up the fence is bizarre.
A more better run establishment only put up fencing because teenagers will be teenagers. There needs to a clear barrier between school property and private property. Otherwise mischief makers cause mischief!

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I do not think it is sensible to compare students staying in a boarding school with that of people staying in a hotel. The duty of care in a boarding school is a lot more robust than that of a travelodge, for obvious reasons. You should research the boarding school standards, the education act, the children first act and the education welfare act.

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5:49,
The point stands that there are monastic private buildings and school buildings. Some people are just up to mischief conflating private monastic enclosures with school property.

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I wouldn’t want my younger cousins in the same building as a paedophile! Never mind the same school grounds without a Suitible adult whom I trusted with my own life. W. T. Frigg!
Are you fur real or what?

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@8.17
Every school has people living next door to it. In many of those neighbouring houses two adults will consent to sex tonight. In some cases three or more adults might consent to sex. There might even be a full swingers party next door. Nobody will bat an eye lid. And 99.9% of the time people will not know.
*
In a boarding school in 2021 I think it a higher risk that two students will be having sex with each other than one student having sex with the neighbour.
*
Unless there are specific grounds to suspect a person abused a student than your concerns appear somewhat base. Safeguarding needs to place it’s resources in the areas of high risk, not in the areas of gossip, suspicion and inuendo.

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Holy Goat, I’m not entirely sure what you’re trying to get at (and the problems with Ampleforth are documented all over the internet) but your comment about neighbours is an interesting one.
All schools have fences, both to keep the kids in and intruders out, but the ridiculous thing at Ampleforth is the fence is to keep out the monastic community who are the raison d’être for the school!

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@7.19
Incorrect in many parishes in the Republic the school is located next to a presbytery & the PP is the patron.
@7.20
I was responding to a person commenting about Roscrea and Glenstall. Replying to me about Ampleforth merely attempted to bait me onto another topic of conversation. I respectfully decline your offer.

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Worth Abbey has reserves of £28.8m, yet it made low-paid staff redundant, blaming the rona, naturally. If the 12 monks of the community voted to dissolve the community their share of the reserves would be £2.4m each, apart from the millions tied up in the Worth Abbey estate and property in Brighton.
Incidentally, Worth Abbey School, which leases all its buildings from the abbey, is a wholly owned and run subsidiary of the abbey – it hasn’t been hived off.

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Incorrect. If Worth Abbey were wound up the £28.8m would go to the Mother Abbey, while the monks would be left to apply to other monasteries for stability. The monks themselves own nothing.

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I see from the Charity Commission accounts of Worth School that it pays rent of £900k annually to the abbey and an annual gift to the abbey of a further £900k.
Quite apart from why monks provide fee-paying schools (instead of opening to the local community), that money should be used for scholarships for the poor and needy, or to avoid making staff redundant.

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Pat I am so sick of this weather and Covid. Now that Omicron is here this blog is the only thing I will have in terms of correspondence or company. Thank you 🙏🏽

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I never heard of that long winded name Brenninkmeyer before. He looks like a German to me.
A brief look at his family surname as it came up with a very wealthy family business empire especially in clothing sector namely C & A.
His sister Lisa more involved in Catholic matters.
What was interesting is that Brenninkmeyer may have bought RCC, all their monetary influence and business power to get CMOC elected. Think its possible cos it adds 2+2= 5.
Think I have heard of one other example re monetary influences and politics such as the above 👆 Re royal habsburg family, who had vetoed a cardinal in the conclave which Pius X ended up as a Pope.
Funny enough, I have met one of Habsburg royal family long ago in medjugorje.
Money talks a lot in at highest rcc hierarchy ranks. You can see it yourself re news on a Vatican property in London worth something like 400M circa.
Just follow the money 😉💶💵💰 to see where it leads to 🤷‍♂️.

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Anon at 11.29 am
I had seen some posters referring to polyester as if an euphemism for something else?
What’s it re polyester that I sometimes don’t get it.

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Deaf Guy at 12:29
The use of polyester you mention is to contrast modern vestments with the non-synthetic different materials traditionally used for vestments, silk, and so on. I think the people who use it think of it as a sort of shorthand to contrast mainstream Vatican 2 Catholicism with their own fantasy Catholicism which they falsely label traditional.
To stick with the vestment metaphor – a ‘fiddleback’ chasuble is a corruption and does not represent that a chasuble (casula- little house in Latin) comes from a sort of Roman overcoat so should be large. The liturgical movement before the council did a lot to try to escape the corrupt liturgy of the eighteenth and nineteenth century and return to the liturgical sources for the Christian life.
Outside of this ridiculousness my own opinion is that I like polyester because it helps washing dry faster 😂

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Anon at 2.12pm
I met her in medjugorje long way back as I didn’t know she was a member of the extended hasburg Royal family. I was told by someone in medj at that time re her royal connections. Her name I think it was Milona von Habsburg. I was quite surprised re her cos I had no idea really of who she was.
Then many years later I visited Vienna re Royal palaces tour. What shocked me was huge vast spaces of rooms. I think it was something around 80 rooms. I was quite staggered to see it cos I had no real idea of how a royal family had lived at that time. It l was so vast with sheer luxuries unaffordable for any 18C or 19C families.

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@12:39 you deal in stereotypes. There was no return to the sources for this 50 year liturgy. Propers were concatenated with a mix of old and new which deliberated evaded the penitential import of the original. Almost no undistorted ancient proper is now used. The deathly dull three year lectionary has had so many hard sayings edited out, in particular relating to unworthy reception of Communion. The Roman origins of the chasuble should guide you. The first Christians in Rome were Jewish men who remembered the Temple for whom the sense of the sanctuary provided by rails and rood or jubé screen was utterly natural. That did not stop Irish priest ripping them out and painting it in magnolia. This is not to attack the New Order of Mass but certain of its enthusiasts have to deal in stereotypes which wholly distort what the Liturgical Movement was trying to do.
Peace.

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2:54 Virtually none of which explains the liturgy queens’ obsession with fiddle backs 🙄

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Oh, and Lack of Thought: it might help if you read the comments before replying with a knee jerk ‘traddy’ regurgitation.

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2.54, thank you, this firms up the vista in my mind. Offered improvements in liturgy were undermined by the progressive abolition of belief and prayer before the delayed Council (Montini’s influence).

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I forgot to mention re possible link of St Gallen mafia -> CMOC->Brenninkmeyer and vice versa who knows, anything is possible re these link.

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Anon at 12.39am
Thanks for your explanation re polyester.
I did notice few priests especially PP of knock wearing polyester at shrine as I was puzzled. Cos I don’t see it in some parishes or church that some priests wear.
Im not au fait with rcc clothing such as vestments and liturgical.
Are you saying that liturgy in mass of the ages were corrupt in 18C and 19th C??
I find this interesting 🤔

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1:16
Yes I am. The mass itself wasn’t corrupt but a lot of what happened around it was a corruption. For example people would receive communion very rarely indeed and the focus changed to adoration of the reserved sacrament from the active community action of the mass. People would say their own devotions at mass and in fact much of the approach virtually made it an opera rather than the sacrifice, actively participated in by the community, for the salvation of the world.
In Ireland especially Catholicism was also infected with the heresy of Jansenism at this time.
The liturgical movement attempted to remedy all this and had some success before the council.
The externals such as vestments and music accurately represent the interior disposition (for example the cappa magna!) And it is interesting how vestments have become a shorthand for different factions – the fiddleback crowd show they want a corrupt Catholicism where the liturgy is not the wellspring of the church’s life. They will be unwilling to admit this, though!

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DG @ 1:16pm
No of course the liturgy in the 18th Century and 19th Century was not corrupt they still had taste at that time. And thankfully polyester had not been invented thank God!

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Anon at 1.43pm
Many thanks re your explanations, much appreciated cos I’m still learning something new every day.
*
What was interesting is that many different Catholic factions jockeying for a position in power of rcc systems.
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I have heard few times re jansenism being bandied around a lot especially history on Catholic Ireland as I don’t understand, what was it that they were referring to, 🤷‍♂️.
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LOLOL re Magna cappa which made sense. Its all about triumphalism, demonstration of their power (lack of humility), vanity, luxury, pomp, magnificence et al. Its all about themselves as they seek all kinds of attention via their Magna cappa. Its a form of attention seeking in my view.
*
Thats why I experienced a visceral reaction at that time cis it’s my first time to see it personally. It simply turned me off big time when I saw mother Burke.

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@3:05 Deaf guy Jansenism was given a recognisable form by a Dutch bishop Cornelius Jansen and the Abbot de Saint Cyran drawing on St Augustine for the idea of efficacious grace that only a part of humanity are predestined to be saved. Later the Arnauld family, particularly Antoine Arnauld with his De la fréquente Communion and his third (of 20 children) daughter Mère Angélique, whose convent of Port Royal was a female theological engine, give these ideas form and currency. The polymath Blaise Pascal wrote much in support of Jansenism which scorned the lax Jesuits who enjoyed royal favour. Later, after a Papal bull Unigenitus and despite many appeals Jansenism was repressed with Port Royal aggressively suppressed.
Now the question is what has this to do with Ireland and the use of the term by some old priests? There was customs like people rarely receiving Communion except at Easter, which are blamed on Irish priests having been educated in France when Jansenism was at its height. It seems to me that Jansenist was term used when a cleric couldn’t used reasoned arguments against someone he disliked so instead tarred them with some sort of nebulous wrongthink. Maynooth of old was accused of it, whatever that means.
https://amishcatholic.com/ and https://sicutincensum.wordpress.com/ explain Jansenism (and liturgies accused of having Jansenist influence for the latter blog), but for Ireland it was a tag which meant nothing except a term for the ‘old stuff’ the new priests of a now distant time did not like.
‘Polyester priests’ is partly stereotype but it does represent a sort liturgical slovenliness. Certain Irish priests of old were notorious for rattling through a Low Mass in maybe 15 to 20 minutes. That was an old type, but there are priests who seem not to care too much, who can be sloppy. Now this can be evidence of a man beaten down by the System but cannot think of something else to do.

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Jesus had but a piece of simple cloth wrapped about Him whilst He hung on the cross.
That piece of simple cloth, quite probably cheap in monetary worth–because they cast lots for His other garments, allowed for some of His modesty and decency.
Modesty is something we can all learn from — even myself.
_
But yes, I do hate 100% Polyester! I prefer a mix of cotton with no more that 20/30 % Polyester in it!
Jokes aside, we all prefer nice materials — but we have to try to show some modesty. And vestments are a perfect example in one sense..
Why spend £1,000 or more on a chasuble when you can get perfectly good ones for sensible prices only in the hundreds – which is sensible because you can’t get them much cheaper, actually..
(I know some High Anglicans and some Romans who have spent upwards of £25,000 on vestment sets: Priest, Deacon and Sub-deacon’s / dalmatic, Mass sets).
That is fu@πing scandalous and criminal in my opinion.
There are soup kitchens and many other better ways to give glory to God! x
I’m not having a go, here, just trying to say there should always be balance.
That’s all x
But yeah, my cassock was made from Italian wool, but that’s because of my Particular “characteristics” (lol). I didn’t pay any V.A.T. owing to the amount of material used during the my custom fitting lol 😂
Nobody’s perfect x
.
Ps Now I’m a little older and spiritually wiser: I wouldn’t do that sort of thing from now on.
Being a priest is not all about ponsing around in the sanctuary… we are called to be witnesses to the Gospel and to the Kingdom of heaven in the real world.
That’s what I’ve learned, anyhow… and I’m very thankful for my continuing growth in my spirituality — including my living understanding of Christ and His love in the wider world. Not just the sanctuary… X

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5.49 Jansenism had nothing to do with why we sat out in my young day: we thought all the other people who sat out (affording politicians tactful cover) were just as good as us, and that those that “went up” were doing what they had a right to do if they wanted.
Re. “liturgical movement” the mass that I liked the best was the Traditional English mass facing the people (I understand it was planned by the pope before John). I think only SE England had it so there is denial that it existed. I’m sure we never saw fancy clothes during either semi-Latin days (which I followed just fine) or that of the Traditional English though.

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What about the allegations that Treanor is brushing under his Afghan rugs about the local Priest still practising?

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DG @3:05pm
It’s very strange your reaction to the Cappa Magna a magnificent vestment, also your reaction and insults to that excellent prelate His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke. You’ll pay for it one day until then take a chill pill and calm down.

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Anon at 3.48pm
Your response re pay for it one day is NOT of christ nor christ-like.
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Irrespective of who wears cappa Magna, it was mother Burke whom I saw for the first time.
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Imagine if it was another Bishop or prelate who wore appa magna instead of mother Burke that I saw then I would still get a visceral reaction. It has nothing to do with mother Burke cos it’s my reaction to age old cappa Magna vestment.
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Unfortunately it was mother Burke whom I had seen wearing CM for the first time. Prior to that, I had never seen it before re CM until that day.
*
The problem is mine, not mother Burke. I think I know where my reaction originally stemmed from. That’s my guess.

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Deaf Guy you have had an encounter with Bela Lugosi, the Inquisitor of the blog, who also has the bizarre idea that the Catholic faith rules out polyester. I think that may explain why she’s so upset 😂

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What would a Freedom of Information request reveal about the money donated by the German family to the Catholic Church, I wonder.
Just as with great power comes great responsibility so too with large donations come Big Favours and Big Kickbacks.
Remember CMOC was arrested and questioned at a police station regarding sexual abuse – what’s that they say, ‘No smoke without fire’ or as they police and CPS prefer to say ‘Not enough evidence to secure a prosecution.’
Yeah right!!

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The monks in Mount Saint Joseph in Roscrea will be very worried about the impact on the school. The entire affair has been disastrously handled. Brother Malachy’s silence is deafening. I hope the Dept of Education are asking the board some important questions about where taxpayers’ funds have been spent and on whom. Has any individual be paid off And has any non disclosure agreements been put in place ?

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The monks in MSJ? You mean the ones who created the situation and thus only have themselves to blame? Let them worry – I doubt they’ll pull themselves together and start acting sensibly.

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It fills me with sadness that cover ups in the RCC remain and the transparency and candour that is much needed and sought after still alludes this great institution

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The abbatial tenure of Dom Cuthbert Madden ceased upon the election of Dom Robert Igo as the Abbot of Ampleforth following the abbatial election that took place on January 5, 2021. It is, of course, noteworthy that the Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation, Christopher Jamison, did not preside over the election. Dom Madden was very popular as the Abbot of Ampleforth, so I infer that Jamison was not welcome at Ampleforth.
https://www.ampleforth.org.uk/abbey/news/new-abbot-ampleforth

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The Met police are investigating drug use amongst members of Parliament and it is said to be rife, I think the PSNI need to open up and investigate drug misuse amongst clergy in NI and not just in the RCC but across the board, a very well respected Elder at church close to me has a really bad drug and sex habit

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Rory Coyle

My niece in London told me that she recently attended a funeral in a London parish and Rory Coyle said the Mass. Could this be true Bishop Pat?

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Rory has been diligently exercising his “right to be forgotten” and getting reports about him removed from the internet. Isn’t censorship wonderful?

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Except that he’s a mortgage on the church. Does he intend, like Fr Alex Anderson in Derry, to stay c/o bishop’s house for decades?

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Pat, what are your thoughts on the forthcoming synod. Will it bring any peace to the Catholic Church at all?

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Do you read this blog at all? If you did, you would know that the Church is beyond repair and we might as well close up the shop now and turn out the lights!

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For legal reasons I can not name him, but I have reported a priest and a man to the authorities for performing a sexual act in toilets in Fivemiletown. I’m sure it will be a matter of time before his name will be released.

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Yes public toilets, children are banned from them as they are frequented often by homosexuals in the closet and priests looking a bit of fun

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I do not like your attitude @11.36. I think it was a fair and balanced question to ask of Pat what he thinks of the synod process. He has operated in a ‘small church’ model for very many years. We all might have something to learn if we listened a bit more to other people.

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Listen to me, listen to what I’ve got to say, love one another like the father loves you and you’ll all get to heaven this way

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Bp Pat, I have ordered you a beautiful book (as a gift) on Amazon called Alpine Cooking for you and your partner to enjoy over Christmas.

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This would be a good piece. There are a lot of good priests out there, not all of them have sex in public and swear at their elderly parishioners

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Yes I agree. Especially at this time coming up to Christmas we could do with a good news story or now and then!

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A Christmas special on another resignation would bring festive cheer to most readers.

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12.21: Yes, there are many priests who are very devoted in their ministry and prayer…There are many who are very dedicated. Sadly, the blog is never ever going to acknowledge such. All that matters is that priests who work dedicatedly are appreciated by parishioners. At the end of the day each of us is answerable to God in conscience re: priesthood, ministry, kindness and prayer. Yes, we fail and struggle but keep going…

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12:39 The ‘good’ priests are presumably just the ones who aren’t child abusing. In reality they are holding up the corrupt and criminal church by being an agent of it. There is no such thing as a good priest.

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12:52,
Good priests out number the bad priests on at least on a ratio of 15:9. Many are committed to their pastoral responsibilities and are knot getting tied up in liturgical knots.
Pax.

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Seamus, even you can see that what you’re saying is nonsense the proportion of 15 to 9 is ridiculous and only many are committed 😂

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1.57 and 5.33: Definition of hatred. It would not be a glorious, honourable or noble way for either of you to celebrate the birth of Christ. Delighting in or maliciously wishing for the downfall of any person is EVIL. You’d both should stay in your pig-sty of an existence!!! And even that would be an insult against pigs!

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It’s dark, grey and raining in Liverpool, but rain is wonderful. It refreshes the earth and brings about purification and renewal in abundance.
Alleluia!

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Pat are you celebrating Mass for the Immaculate Conception today? Am I the only one or has it passed everyone else by this year?

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The +Aul Doll has hardly given a mention nowadays, Bp Pat, which it’s so sad after all her efforts for the centenary.

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Christmas is looking and feeling a lot better. I have a feeling of peace and serenity in my soul.
God bless

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12:25,
It’s still the season of Advent. A time for waiting and patience. Christmas will come along in it’s own good time. There are many great Advent hymns to be enjoyed before moving on to the more Christmassy variety. It great great to sample some great food of course for this time of year! 😋
Pax.

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Did you write a sermon for the Immaculate Conception this year Pat? If so, it would be nice to get a read of it.

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‘Our brother’ lol.
Have you just come out with what we all knew about you anyway, Dom Seamus?

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@ 12:30pm

Yes I believe in The Immaculate Conception of The Holy Mother of God. The fact that you don’t and can be so insulting will be dealt with when you stand at the Judgement Seat on your way to perdition.

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A psychologist friend once told me that Christ would have been born neurotic had our Lady not been conceived without sin.

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Aww, that’s lovely from the coffee shop. Bishop Pat, you’re loved more than you could ever realise 🎄 ⛄ x

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Here is a reflection on today’s feast.

The Lord our God is without beginning or end. He is all powerful which means he creates billions and billions without limit of possibilities for the world and the universe. He is all knowing so he is aware of all the possibilities for each individual life human and non human. He is all loving for aware of the sinfulness bequeathed to us by His first man he knows that he himself can make atonement for Sin only by making it his.

In an existence that is completely out of time God knows that he can become truly human to save us from our sins and so a woman as perfect as Eve before the fall is created sinless and ready to become the Mother of the Incarnation, Man and God.

St Paul seemingly effortlessly praises God and tells us that we are always known by Father Son and Holy Spirit. God, the Evergreater, chose to humble himself out of his total love and total awareness of each of us to become the man who would renew sinful manknd but did not do so by curtaiing his gift to us of human freedom. Mary made the right choice. Thanks be to God and all praise to Mary our Mother.

Dear Lord may all of us who hear today’s passages from scripture know that they are your truth revealed to us. May the intercessions of the wonder of Mary and all the saints protect me and mine from the evil of sin.

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All safeguarding concerns are a matter of concern for all, including the wider population – and really should be considered by all. Therefore; all safeguarding news is popular in terms of prevention and ensuring correct judicial justice is applied. And rightly so.

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The Anglican Diocesesan People's Autocratic Totalitarian State of Mr. Bayes & Eccuminical Co., Inc.says:

2.16 Who knows? They’ll just have to wait and see how serious the authorities deem their attrocious crimes, including the attrocious crimes of their ecumenical friends, won’t they?

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With His Humbleness it’s a definite case of “physician, heal thyself”.
“Pride and hatred are ‘the most serious,’ His Holiness added.”

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My favourite sermon of his was when he had a go at the Gnostic Pelagians! I wish he would recycle it more often.

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It’s hard not to disagree with the Pope but he doesn’t mention hypocrisy or duplicity or a betrayal of office or scandal that can cause people to lose faith etc.
I think most adults know sexual sins are on the lower end of the spectrum, if there is a spectrum, but making out an Archbishops fall from grace is the same as a common a garden adultery or fornication is disingenuous if not dishonest.
Jesus poor Profumo shagged Keeler and all hell broke lose!!
Yeah I know the Archbishop said he didn’t shag her but he definitely had sex!

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Oh, look at this solemn procession from Our Lady & St. Nicholas, Pier Head, just two-years-ago. There they are, all there. . .
+
How fitting a hymn, too! It rings with me, for sure! Forty Days and Forty Nights.
.
Forty days and forty nights
You [I, even] were fasting in the wild….;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled…!
Shall not we Your sorrow share….
And from worldly joys abstain,
Fasting with unceasing prayer,
Strong with You to suffer pain..?
Then, if Satan on us press,
Flesh or spirit to assail,
* Victor in the wilderness…! , *
Grant we may not faint nor fail…!
So shall we have peace divine;
Holier gladness ours shall be…
‘Round us, too, shall angels shine……,
Such as served You faithfully…
Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
Ever constant by Your side..,
That with You we may appear
At the eternal Eastertide.
.
A wonderful hymn, simply beautiful. No? Heavenly

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Wasn’t Can. Coyle, the former rector at Wonersh, a Benedictine at Worth Abbey and school, or was it somewhere else?

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