Month: Aug 2022

THEY ARE GOING LIKE LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE!

Above is the new vocations poster for Kerry.

Can you not see what they are saying in this poster?

They are saying:

We want guys between the ages of 19 and 25

We want those guys to be slim and twinky.

We would like them to be gay or even bi and have a cute smile.

Ideally they should be well hung.

Ideally they should be versatile – able to top or bottom.

They should be able to keep their sexual activity with professors priests and occasional bishops, totally secret.

No educational qualifications needed – in fact, the thicker the better if good-looking.

Immaturity is not a problem and can be a plus.

BUT THIS IS WHAT KERRY AND MAYNOOTH HAVE BEEN GETTING RECENTLY

PRIESTHOOD

http://www.dioceseofkerry.ie

PRIESTHOOD

IS IT YOUR CALL?

http://www.dioceseofkerry.ie

Any young man, of even half reasonable goodooks, will be bedded and “bred” by his fellow seminarians and priests, if not in his first few day’s, certainly in his first few weeks.

A CALL FROM A YOUNG MAN

Within the past couple of weeks I had an out of the blue telephone call from a young man on a bus on his way to the Roccrea Cistercian Abbey come and see weekend.

He rang me as he travelled through Portlaoise.

He was worried about whether or it he would be safe in Roscrea.

I strongly advised him not to near Roscrea or any other religious house or seminary.

I told him that his safety could not be assured.

He then asked me should he go to the Youth 2000 retreat in Kildare being presided over by Phonsie & Co.

Again, I told him not to near it.

He has not been in touch since and I do not know what he finally did.

Either way, I hope he is OK.

No young man is safe going to any seminary or religious order at this time.

Apart from the fact that he is likely to be sexually seduced, he runs the risk of losing his faith in God and becoming one of the increasing number of victims of the RCC and its seminaries and Religious Orders.

On the other hand, a sexually active gay man with a doubtful vocation, could go to a seminary and an order and get more sex than he could elsewhere, be guaranteed a good care free life, free bed and board, an acceptable salary and more perks than he could ever dream of, and be expecting to have social status.

I believe that currently, it is sinful and morally irresponsible, for a priest or anyone, to encourage a young man to enter the Catholic priesthood.

And, I don’t know if it ever will be safe again for a young man to take that path.

Nowadays I only look at Robert Nugent’s videos if someone alerts me about them.

A relatively young gay and partnered teacher alerted me the other day to the video above.

This was the alert I received.

My informant is quoting a line from the video:

“Just don’t stick things where they don’t belong”.

I think without intending to, Robert, has given us an insight into his real thinking and latent homophobia.

He begins by saying that he is not homophobic and that he gas gay friends and then gets really homophobic.

It’s like the N. Ireland prods saying” I have friends who are Catholic”.

He is saying:

Don’t stick your penis into another man’s anus”.

He goes on to equate gay men to farmyard animals – lambs that turn into dangerous rams.

He says that that gay men interfere with nature and nature pays them back –

– with STI’s, HIV, AIDS, Monkeypox etc.

And implies that on top of that that these human farm yard animals are also going to Hell.

Ot seems to me that Robert is trying jard to be very CATHOLIC but has no interest in being a CHRISTIAN.

And by Catholic he means that we should be feeding every child in Ireland the Catholic Catechism for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

And that all Irish Catholics should be attending only Latin Masses and receiving Communion kneeling and with their tongue stuck out.

It makes me wonder if Robert himself is either a repressed homosexual or bisexual – and maybe secretly desires a penis inside his own anus?

“Me think the man protesteth too much”.

There are Catholic men like that out there you know.

And his completely ignores the well established fact that man straight married and unmarried couples practice anal sex as part of their sex life.

OVERHEARD FROM ROOM 220 IN A MAYO HOTEL:

Mary: “Paddy will you be my ram tonight”?

Paddy: “I will Mary, will you be my yew”.

Afterwords ……both fall asleep to Daniel O Donnell singing:

“There’ll never be another yew”

AND

Eamon, you keep a quare few “B’s” yourself 😀

PAT SAYS

Publishing this correspondence is important because the correspondence from bishops, and between bishops and priests rarely sees the light of day.

Most priests would be afraid to publish their bishops letters to them because it would lead to punishment, exile and perhaps total dismissal.

Bill has no fear of that.

TO BILL FROM BILL’S SOLICITOR

On 27 Sep 2018, at 9:48 am

Dear William,

In relation to your case with the archdiocese. I value your trust and your complete authority to conduct this negotiation as I see fit. I believe that it is an extremely delicate negotiation and I must proceed to maximise the amount of funds and resources made available to provide for you into the future. I think that I should approach the situation diplomatically with that end in mind.

I propose to write to the Archbishop today opening the conversation. I will do so in a highly diplomatic fashion that will on the face of it express sympathy for both positions but in reality it will have one purpose and that is to help you achieve your end to the greatest degree possible. In my view you are owed a duty of case and I think the church should accept that without too much controversy. However, we will see.

Regards,

Cahir

FROM BILL TO HIS SOLICITOR CAHIR

Sent from my iPhone

On 2 Oct 2018, at 14:44, william mulvihill wrote:

Dear Cahir,

You asked where I was living during our recent face to face conversation ( Evan and I were taking the temperature of it all before Court and my name before it ), I answered with the house I had/have use of….but clearly said i was not there…

I am now living in Greystones, that is where I now am for the interim.

Yeats’ best line entirely; “Appearances mock reality ………”

I sense that you are watching out for me…..

You are a good man as I am…….

Kafka arrived, it is hoped…..your library will to be sure have all his works in the not too distant future.

Yours sincerely,

Bill ( Mulvihill)

FROM CAHIR TO BILL

FROM EAMON MARTIN’S SOLICITOR.

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

2.10.2018
​
Dear Sirs
​
We refer to the above matter and to our recent discussion and correspondence.
​
As you are aware an Administrator was placed in the parish formerly lead by your client over the weekend.​ This was dealt with personally by our client and the appointment was explained to the parishioners.

Our client has reflected on the issues over the weekend and we have discussed several approaches with him and we are instructed to forward the following;

1.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Our client is mindful of the situation facing your client and, as he has previously expressed, would ask your client to take time to reflect on the decisions before him;
2.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ To assist your client we are to suggest that our client would grant your client a 6 month leave of absence which would be extended by a further 6 months if needed.​ At the end of the required period your client would then advise of his final decision (we will advise of our belief on those decisions at the end of this exchange);
3.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Whilst on his period of leave your client would not retain his faculties as a priest but would continue to be a priest of the Archdiocese of Armagh;
4.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Our client would maintain your client with a stipend (around €1700 per month) to be paid to a bank account nominated by your client;
5.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Our client would further contribute a sum towards accommodation costs for your client (sum to be discussed);
6.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Your client would take the time to rest and reflect and, if he feels it is appropriate, seek assistance to aid his reflection;
7.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Your client will maintain this channel of communication and will not insult our client, the Church or figures in the Church on any social media or other forum.
​
We believe this is a reasonable approach and one which will assist in achieving a fair outcome for all concerned.
​
As we understand things your client has declared that he wishes to renounce the Church completely so we would ask that he takes time to reflect on a huge decision for someone who has pursued a life within that Church.​ Ultimately your client will need to decide if he wishes to renounce his Church, or if he remains within the Church if he wishes to leave the priesthood or if ultimately he wishes to return to his role as a priest.​ This is a graduated decision process and we accept it will take time.
​
Finally an issue has arisen within the Parish.​ Your client has locked the house and our client and the Administrator need to access the property as the various baptism registers and marriage rolls are stored there.​ Children may need their Baptism records for First Communion and Confirmation and so it is essential that our client can access the property.​ We would ask that your client return the keys (via this office if that is easier) as a matter of urgency.
​
We await hearing from you with your comment and with proposals to return the keys.
​
Thank you
​
Yours

​Fintan Canavan

Blm Law

4 TH OCTOBER 2018

FROM BILLS PROPOSED LANDLORD

FROM CAHIR TO BILL

HI William,

I am anxious to have a meeting with yourself and Karl, to firm up on our strategy going forward and how we are going to achieve the unconditional exit you want but with appropriate financial recompense.

Would any time on Friday suit you?

I think we need to have a very clear pathway to what we want mapped out and take it from there.

Kind regards,
Cahir

FROM EM’S SOLICITOR TO BILL’S SOLICITOR

TO BE CONTINUED…….

Cardinal Ouellet, Vatican official, among clergy accused of abuse in lawsuit

MONTREAL (CNS) — Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops, is named in a list of alleged abusers filed in support of a class-action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec.

The cardinal, a close adviser to Pope Francis, has been the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, formerly the Congregation for Bishops, since 2010. He was appointed to the position by Pope Benedict XVI.

He is accused of actions allegedly committed against a young laywoman who was employed as a pastoral worker in 2008, when the cardinal was archbishop of Quebec. Court documents filed Aug. 16 indicate the actions consisted in “nonconsensual touching of a sexual nature.”

Another bishop appears in the list. Auxiliary Bishop Jean-Paul Labrie, who died in 2001, served in the Quebec Archdiocese from 1977 to 1995. In his case, the alleged abuse occurred in 1968 when he was the superior of the seminary of Saint-Victor de Beauce in Quebec.

The class-action suit was authorized by a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec May 19. It was filed on behalf of all “people having been sexually abused by a member of the diocesan clergy” or “by a religious, a lay pastoral staff member, an employee, and a lay or religious volunteer” under the responsibility of the Quebec Archdiocese between January 1, 1940, and the upcoming ruling in the case.

PAT SAYS

It is a shocking development surely to see a second senior Vatican accused of sexual abuse?

Shocking perhaps, but not unexpected.

Marc Oeullet is in charge of appointing all the bishops in the worldwide RCC.

It does seem, if he is guilty at all, that the accusations against him, are as a judge might say, at the lower end of the scale.

He stands accused of “nonconsensual touching of a sexual nature”.

No one of course should ever engage in such a behaviour against another human being.

It is more shocking when a priest, an indeed an archbishop does it.

It is ot only criminal but a great betrayal of a sacred trust.

We continue to have these revelations day after day for decades now.

There is no indication that they will stop soon.

Ordinary Catholics must now be suffering from severe sexual abuse revelation fatigue.

This new Quebec case is dealing with cases spanning 82 years – nearly a century of abuse.

THE BISHOP OF KILMORE MYSTERY DISAPPEARANCE?

Nobody has ever explained the sudden disappearance of the new bishop of Kilmore in Cavan.

He came.

He spent a short while.

He disappeared suddenly.

The VG told the priests not to pray for him publicly.

He reappeared suddenly.

No explanation?

“They” were so quiet and mysterious about it, it had all the hallmarks of being suspicious.

We were not even allowed to pray for him !!!!

What’s that about?

Maybe I’m just a suspicious type?

But this one does not lie easy with me.

Any insights out there?

People often ask me what my “legacy” will be.

Some even suggest or worry that this blog will be my legacy – and that it will not be a good legacy

But even the most famous of people are eventually forgotten or not talked about very much.

And, as Christians, should we not be more worried about our Judgement than our legacy?

At the same time I do understand that we do leave our mark on the world.

In the old days when it was normal to leave your empty milk bottles on the doorstep at night I always marvelled at the little silver trails left behind by the garden slugs.

And I’ve often thought and said:

“If the humble slug leaves its mark on the world then so should we”.

I have always loved Wordsworth’s lovely words:

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

This comforts me because no matter what faults I have, and I have very many, I have always being very careful to do little acts of kindness and love.

And sometimes people remind me of something I did for them 30 years ago – something I have completely forgotten about – and say a little prayer that when God is finished totting up all my sins – he may go on to take note of the good I did.

Legacy – I think there are probably two aspects – what others think of you after you have gone – and what you think you have achieved with your life yourself.

OTHERS

I think we make a great mistake if we live our lives to please others.

People are so fickle. One day they will love you and the next they will hate you

So I think the best way to live your life is to think, speak and act as you would if Jesus Himself was there and watching you intently

The simple but also profound catch cry- WWJD – What Would Jesus do – is a very good guide for us Christians.

But I suppose people could make that very subjective.

Some people believe that Jesus always sends gay people to hell.

Others, like me, believe Jesus loves gay people as much as he loves all others.

I regard myself as having an enlightened and educated conscience.

And so I try and act in accordance with that.

When I’m gone some will pop a bottle of champagne 🍾.

Others will remember me kindly.

And maybe Lin-Manuel Miranda is right?

WHAT I THINK

There are very few Nelson Mandela’s or Martin Luther King”s in the world.

Most of us leave a small mark in a small place, of any mark at all.

I count my blessings:

I have lived till three score and ten when three of my younger siblings have perished.

I have kept my Christian faith – by God’s grace.

I’ve stayed loyal to the priesthood for 46 years.

I’ve stood by my principles and convictions in the face of often fierce opposition.

I have tried to do all the good I could have done.

I sincerely regret all the mistakes I’ve made and all the sins I have committed.

I am unbelievably grateful to be still alive, still relatively healthy and still enjoying my vocation to love God and serve people.

Enemies will always see your legacy differently from your friends.

The Oratory – and I – already have a grave with a headstone on it.

There is already a quote on it which says:

Conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ”.

You could have a worse epitaph and legacy than:

“He followed his enlightened and educated conscience”.

MALACHY THOMPSON NO LONGER SUPERIOR OF ROSCREA CISTERCIANS.

COMMENT ON YESTERDAY’S BLOG

Has anyone told Malachy? He is still behaving like an Abbot! I have been told by a housemaster in the college that he has sent a 4 page letter to the school management about his expectations for the next academic year. The principal has been complaining about him to teachers and how he interfered in the timetabling of classes. He is still directing the board of governors about finances and fees. Malachy likes to be in charge, he will not surrender easily. The ‘resignation’ is a joke. Do not fool yourself.

In spite of the above it is good news to hear that Malachy Thompson has resigned as superior of Roscrea.

He was a close ally of Richard Purcell.

It looks to me as if the new Abbot General and his council have finally decided to clean out the disgraced Irish Cistercian stable.

We will watch the progress carefully.

As a seminarian and young priest I was in total awe of the Irish Cistercians.

I regarded them as living saints.

I never thought of becoming a Cistercian for two reasons:

1. I believed I was good enough and holy enough to be a Cistercian.

2. My priestly vocation was always focused on diocesan ministry and daily pastoral service of the People.

Mellifont was my favourite Cistercian monastery and I did many retreats there as a seminarian and young priest.

I was very disturbed when the abbot of Mellifont told me a out his long sexual history with men and women.

I was also disturbed by his roaming hands.

Yesterday I learned that Enda used to feel the bottoms of young novices and press his grain area against them.

At the beginning, I put that down to the fact that the more holy you are the more the Devil attacks you.

And maybe there is still some truth in that.

But then, like everyone else I heard of child abuse at the hands of Cistercian monks in acrs like Portglenone in Antrim and Caldey in Wales.

I also became conscious that monasteries like Portglenone were also hiding terrorists who had murdered and bombed.

And I also became aware that bishops in Ireland and elsewhere were secretly housing paedophile priests alcoholic priests and other offending priests in monasteries.

This was because bishops and monks saw sexual abuse as a SIN and not as a CRIME

THE PURCELL REVELATIONS

And then we discovered that the Lord Abbot of Mount Melleray – Dick Purcell was buggering Father Niall Dargan of Killaloe in Rocrea’s monastic kitchen.

And that he was a patron of the Boilerhouse sauna in Dublin

ROSCREA

We heard stories of financial problems, alcoholism and sexual activity at Roscrea.

EPISCOPAL SUPPORTERS

We discovered that Purcell had staunch episcopal supporters such as Lugs Monahan and The Fonz.

MELLIFONT

And then we hear of a woman made pregnant by a monk murdered by monastic supporters etc.

Not to mention Enda Ducey of the roaming hands, 18 bi sexual affairs and feeling up and pressing a groin against novices.

CONCLUSION

It is abuntly clear that the Irish Cistercians are in meltdown.

There are no vocations.

There are monasteries of dying old men.

There are financial issues.

There are homosexual monks and abbots ussues.

The Abbot General and his council in Rome need to immediately the 4 monasteries at Portglenone , Mellifont, Moone and Roscrea and create one new community at the mother house on Mount Mellerary.

They need to show the door to all BONKING MONKS, whether of the straight, homo or bi variety.

They need to seriously get back to their prayers and rule of life.

And they need to make all monks faithfully observe their four vows of

POVERTY

CHASTITY (CONVERSION OF LIFE)

POVERTY

STABILITY.

Otherwise, they should cash in all their property and investments, share the money with all members and clear off to Las Vagas, Monaco and Thailand.

A former Abbot of Mount Mellifont told me personally in the mid 1970s that up until that date he had had 18 sexual liasons / affairs in his time in Mellifont.

He said that he was bisexual and his sexual exploits had been with both men and women.

When in his presence his hands roamed as he attempted to feel the backside and groin areas of his penitents.

His conversation both inside and outside Confession was very sexually charged and he liked to hear the minute details of people’s sins and failures.

He said that he only stopped having sex with people when an unrelated illness prevented him from getting erections.

As a seminarian and young priest I was keenly aware that I was being sexually pursued.

I had no attraction to the man whatsoever and anyway at the time I was deeply repressed and also regarded all such sexual activity as immoral and gravely sinful.

At the time I thought his behaviour was a one off – restricted to him as a “weak” or sinful monk.

At the time we all idolised the Cistercians and regarded them as living saints.

But clearly we see that my monk was not a one off.

The case of Richard Purcell proves that.

And I know of other Cistercian monks who have been sexually active inside and outside The monastery walls.

Purcell is ot the only Irish Cistercian monk to have been homosexually active and visited the Boilerhouse.

I do not know if “my monk” was involved in the impregnation of the woman found in the well.

I have mentioned his name to the priest who told me about the well death.

He has neither denied or affirmed whether he was the one.

In the Middle Ages monasteries were places of utter debauchery.

It looks as if things have not changed that much since.

Except now we have GRINDR and the Boilerhouse.

I also think that monks and their friends had a way in the past of making victims an accusers disappear for ever!

Could that happen now?

I think it could!

ANOTHER IRISH CISTERCIAN SCANDAL?

This week we heard that a murder had taken place in the past connected to New Mellifont Abbey in Collon in County Louth.

A dead woman’s body was buried in a well.

She was a local woman, not from Collon but a neighbouring parish.

The well was outside the monastery walls.

It was portrayed as a suicide.

It is reported that she was pregnant.

The suspect was a monk who had an affair with her and made her pregnant. He had help with disappearing the woman.

Nobody was ever charged with the murder.

The monks had a habit of exchanging land for silence.

Not all transfer of land by the monks were connected to this case.

Some land transfers were perfectly legitimate.

The priest who tells this story knows all the details and the names of the people involved.

He is not naming names as some of the deceased woman’s relatives still live on the area

I do not know the year of these happenings.

As we know from recent revelations many babies and orphans died in religious houses and were buried in secret graves.

It’s perfectly plausible that a number of women and men perished in monasteries etc and their fates were never made known

Mellifont is in the Archdiocese of Armagh.

Is the account of the Mellifont killing held in Armagh’s secret archives.

AND if there are still people alive who knew about this killing do they not have a moral obligation to report it to the Gardai?

Is the woman and her baby not crying out for justice from the grave?

JOE MC GUIGAN WHO LEFT THE PRIESTHOOD IN BELFAST IN 2003 AND AFTER A GAY SCANDAL AND RUMOURS OF THE HURT OR DEATH OF A YOUNG HOMELESS MAN AFTER THE PRIEST DEMANDED SEX FROM HIM – WAS SPOTTED YESTERDAY MORNING IN CLERICAL DRESS IN BELFAST!

FROM SATURDAY 6 th September 2014

DID A YOUNG MAN IN BELFAST LOSE HIS LIFE TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

DID A YOUNG MAN IN BELFAST LOSE HIS LIFE TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

——————-

IF THE STORY BELOW IS INACCURATE I INVITE ANYONE WHO KNOWS THAT – OR ANYONE INVOLVED OR MENTIONED IN THE STORY TO LET ME KNOW IMMEDIATELY.

I WILL CORRECT ANY INACCURCIES AND APOLOGISE.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY OTHER EVIDENCE I WOULD BE HAPPY TO RECEIVE IT.

——————–
Father Joe McGuigan

The story is this and many people in the Lower Falls and beyond KNOW this story! McGuigan had left the priesthood at the time having, as Bishop Pat says, successfully portrayed himself as a ‘victim’ – quite an incredible feat in itself (Don’t Go Fr Joe, candlelight vigils and all, with good people like Loney Granny having been sucked in by the whole charade of Joe McGuigan as the ‘Mother Teresa’ of the Lower Falls).
Monsignor Tom Toner

A young homeless man went to the now ex-priest McGuigan desperate for accommodation. McGuigan, now being employed in charge of the St Peters homeless centre, told the lad ‘if you don’t have sex with me, I will see to it that you never get a flat anywhere in Belfast. 

The young man agreed to sleep with him. Later, feeling bad, he went to the police who advised if he pursued it would go public. The young man didn’t want his parents and girlfriend to find out. He took his own life. He left a suicide note. 

FATHER HUGH KENNEDY

That note was shown to Hugh Kennedy who turned on his heel and walked away after reading it. 

McGuigan, an unscrupulous sex pest + a vulnerable, desperate young man = tragedy!

There is also the question of finances and McGuigan blaming it all on a local woman.

McGuigan was ‘quietly let go. He is now a ‘Pizza boy’ somewhere up the Road. The whole episode of his ‘coming out’ was paid for by the bishop to a very expensive PR company here in the North – a fortune was paid to ‘manage’ Joe’s shock-horror ‘I’m gay!’ announcement as if we didn’t already know all about his fun and games”.

PAT SAYS:

I kinda laughed recently when someone mentioned that the diocese of D&C was going rehabilitate JOE MC GUIGAN.

He is 19 years out of ministry and is now 54.

He disappeared after he published a photo of himself and others at A LEATHER AND LUBE NIGHT in Dublin by a NI gay group called MEN OF THE NORTH.

As a curate in St Peter’s Cathedral he had specialised in being the cathedral’s flower arranger and in cooking Duck a la Orange for famished clergymen.

He had adopted two senior altar boys and was treating them to tailored kilts in Glasgow and designer clothing in the very expensive Browne Thomas store on Dublin’s Grafton Street.

The above story of the young man began to circulate.

Another story was that he got a job in the homeless centre after he left the cathedral and was found In flagrante delicto with a young man by the homeless centre supervisor.

SUITABLE FOR MINISTRY?

Joe left in 2003 – 19 years ago. He was a regular on the GRINDR up until at least 4 years ago and a regular on the gay scene.

He left over being involved at the extreme end of gay activity.

He misbehaved with at least one young homeless man.

There were financial questions.

WHY, AFTER ALL THIS TIME CAN HE BE REGARDED AS SUITABLE FOR MINISTRY?

What is going on in Down and Connor?

What is Noel Treanor thinking?

Will we soon see FATHER BRENDAN SMYTH dug up from the grave and being placed in an alcove in a cathedral dressed in a golden cope and being pronounced patron saint of irish Catholic Primary Schools?

Can the RCC get any more outrageous or perversely absurd than it is already?

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/08/07/catholic-church-were-net-winners-from-irelands-great-famine-leading-academic-says/

The Catholic Church was a “net winner” from the Great Famine as the urban Catholics who survived it were more likely to be regular Mass-goers than the largely rural poor who died, enabling the church to increase its influence on the population at large, a prominent academic has claimed.

Prof Breandán Mac Suibhne of National University of Ireland, Galway told the West Cork History Festival in Skibbereen that it was perhaps “vaguely perverse” to suggest the Great Famine assisted Irish Catholicism to become a dominant force in the lives of Irish people, but it did influence how religion impacted on people’s lives.

“As late as the 1970s the figure was like 92 per cent or 93 per cent, but back in the 1830s, the figure for the country, as a whole, was something like 30 per cent so high Mass attendance by Irish Catholics is very much a modern phenomenon and, certainly back in the 1830s, it was nothing like it was in the 1970s.

“For people in these areas, religion was not chapel-oriented and clerically directed devotion like Sunday Mass was not important to them… their religion was one of holy wells, and season festivals, and prayers and priests were important for only a couple of things – Baptism, marriage and death.

“What you get in the 1850s is serious hard-core proselytisers hitting the country in the form of the Redemptorists – these are the storm troopers of Roman Catholicism, ‘Do you reject Satan and his works?’ and they made Confession, Communion and Confirmation rites of passage in Catholicism.”

PAT SAYS

I also heard that many of the country’s Catholic church buildings were built during the famine.

And – how many Catholic bishops and priests died of hunger in the famine?

Then Cardinal Cullen came along and started tge devotional revolution- medals, rosaries relics, novenas etc.

Mass attendance grew from 30% to 90+ %.

While the poor Irish starved to death, their new IRISH GENTRY (clergy) prospered.

And collections and revenues increased.

Talk about making a mint on human misery.

The RCC has always had the knack to turn blood into gold 😢