I cringe when people like Amy Martin say that they have been in love and have sacrificed a wife and children to serve God.
I have no proof one way or the other but I believe that both Martin and the others who go on like that are “not the marrying type”
In other words, in my opinion, they are gay.
I’m not claiming that any of them have acted out their gayness. That I simply don’t know – and its not the Blog’s business – unless they have behaved in a hypocritical way.
I would be very surprised if Amy Martin had ever acted out because he strikes me as a deeply repressed man – and as a man who gets his pleasures by being full of himself and having power over others.
There are rumours from Ara Coeli that he has temper tantrums?
His predecessor, Tomas O’Fiaich whose sexuality I haven’t a clue about, was, I believe, very integrated. He had no airs or graces, rode a bike around Armagh ( a man’s bike), and cycled to the GAA club in Armagh for a pint on a Sunday after Mass.
On the two occasions I visited him in Armagh he was very gracious, generous with tea and sandwiches and treated me to a home poured Irish whiskey.
He also spent an afternoon on the booze with my Dad, Jim, in Lourdes.
But I do think that Tomas, had things been different, would have made a good husband and father.
No I don’t believe that Amy was ever really in love with anyone apart from himself.
And I don’t think that the virginity of the girls in Derry’s Bogside was ever under any threat from Amy as they grew up together.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 