The Blog has been told that before Phonsie celebrated the installation for Richard Purcell, a highly reliable person spoke to Phonsie and told him about Richard Purcelll’s sexual misconduct at Roscrea.
The Blog has also been told that Phonsie placed the person who gave him this information under an oath of silence telling them to never repeat this information again to another human being.
GIVING PHONSIE THE RIGHT OF REPLY AND THE RIGHT TO AFFIRM OR DENY:
PHONSIE’S RESPONSE
ZILCH
There are those out there, who do not want to face up the the vastness of corruption in the RCC, who want to attack me for this blog and claim I am on a REVENGE FEST against the RCC.
That is NOT TRUE or ACCURATE.
Of course, I believe that Cahal Daly did me an injustice in the 1980s.
But thoughts about that do not consume my life.
In ways Daly did he a great favour in freeing me from the RCC, even though I may not have realised it at the time.
In fact looking back he gave me the Freedom of the Sons of God
My life today and for some years now is concentrated on three things:
1. Thinking about and working on my relationship with God.
2. Being an available pastor – Mass, the Sacraments, listening and counselling and being there for my congregation and the “strangers” who contact daily by phone, email, letters etc. This very much includes very regular contact from people who hurt by the church and its bishops and priests.
3. Do people realise the amount of time and effort it takes to come up with a daily blog, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
When I worked further Belfast Sunday News and the News of the World I had to submit 1500 words ONCE a week. Now I do that ONCE a day.
I was very well paid by the newspapers. This blog pays me nothing and in fact I have to pay a monthly contribution to host it.
HOW A STORY STARTS ON THE BLOG:
Stories nearly always start with someone getting in touch with me about a concern or a hurt they have experienced at the hands of the Church, a bishop or a priest.
The Rory Coyle, McCamley, Deacon Byrne, Ciaran Dallat, Michael King, Ger Fitzgerald, Purcell and Fr Lomansey stories ALL started in this way.
The people who contacted me had all been to other bishops and priests before they contacted me and had gotten nowhere.
Most of them had pictures, videos, letters or emails to back up their stories.
They were all up against denial and cover ups by bishops and priests.
I was often their last port of call.
These people were angry and hurt at being turned away, not being believed and frustrated by the cover up
This situation will continue until the RCC sets an independent complaints office with real teeth and people can witness real action been taken against the people they have complained about and who are found guilty.
Those examining complaints cannot be bishops, priests, religious or anyone with an RCC connection.
This blog plays a role in church renewal.
It also plays a role in advocating for people and seeking justice and closure for them.
Our work will continue…….
I repeat, it is not about revenge.
People who have been named on the Blog have also been helped by the blog author.
That part of the work is unseen by the public and rightly so.
If irrational and orruption covering people out there choose to believe the Blog is about revenge there is nothing I can say to them.
But their protestations will get them nowhere.
The Mount Mellerary scandal and the resignations of Abbot Purcell and Abbot General Fitzgerald has serious implications for the Bishop of Waterford – Phonsie Cullinane.
For two years now, Phonsie has known about these matters and has done nothing!
Worse than that, he has made a point of concelebrating Mass with Richard Purcell in the most public of ways.
He has also continued to hold diocesan occasions at Mellery and stood for photographs with Purcell.
AN OTHER MC AREAVEY:
As WICKLOW WILLIE said on yesterday’s blog:
“I agree with Anon at 10.49 re Bishop Cullinan.
In some ways he is in a similar situation to Bishop John McAreavey in Dromore who allowed the miscreant abuser Malachy Finnegan to concelebrate mass with him.
Although there is no suggestion that Purcell did anything criminal there was sufficient talk, innuendo, rumour among priests and laity and speculation on this blog that Bishop Phonsie would have known something was not right with the abbot’s personal behaviour. Even though there was no definite proof that he had failed to keep his vows the prudent course of action for Bishop Cullinan would have been to talk with Purcell and say that in light of all the talk it would be better that he ‘lay low’ for a bit until the truth or otherwise was established.
However by being on the sanctuary with RP and even photographed with Purcell exposes the bishop to the allegations that he showed a serious lack of prudent judgement at best or serious bloody mindedness at worst.
Either way his authority as bishop has been diminished and like the aforementioned Former bishop of Dromore I think he should consider his position”.
MR HOURIGAN’S LETTER PHONSIE 13 MONTHS AGO!
2nd November 2020
Dear Bishop Cullinan,
Below for your consideration is an e-mail sent to the Abbot General of the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance. Within the e-mail, I make a number of allegations against the current Abbot of Mount Melleray Abbey, Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO.
Within the present correspondence, I asseverate those allegations in light of conversations that have taken place over the weekend. Again for the avoidance of doubt, I wish to make it unequivocally clear, the sexual act — consensual anal penetration between Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO and the ex-priest of the Diocese of Killaloe, was consensual. The said sexual act took place in the guesthouse of Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, which is located in the Diocese of Killaloe. The nature of Dom Richard Purcell’s sexual activity can be legitimately characterised as an abuse of abbatial authority. And, that is a very serious matter.
As will be asserted in a sworn affidavit, the current Abbot General, Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, OCSO, confirmed in a conversation that the conduct of Dom Richard was known to him, and it was hoped it was a one-off. Nonetheless, in recent days, further evidence has emerged that Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO, has been active on the gay scene for a considerable period of time. Sadly, this is a grave violation of his monastic vows; the promises he made at his diaconal and priestly ordinations, and contrary to the behaviour expected of any Cistercian Abbot.
In light of a number of conversations from people who could be classed as whistle-blowers, it has emerged that the behaviour of Richard Purcell was “known” in the diocese of Killaloe.
Question One.
When, Dom Richard Purcell, was elected Abbot of Mount Melleray Abbey, a monastery that is canonically located within your jurisdiction — was his past behaviour brought to your attention either formally/informally?
Question Two.
If the allegations concerning Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO, was known to the Abbot General, do you consider it unacceptable for Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, OCSO to have “confirmed” his election as the Abbot of Mount Melleray Abbey in accordance to the Constitutions of that Congregation?
Question Three.
On Saturday, November 4, 2017, you were the principal celebrant at a Mass to invoke God’s Blessing on the New Abbot and his abbatial ministry at Mount Melleray Abbey. When you presided at this mass — at that time — did you have personal knowledge of any allegation of past homosexual activity by Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO?
Question Four.
The photographs November 4, 2017 at Mount Melleray Abbey evidence that the Mass was attended by the now Archbishop of Cashel, Kieran O’Reilly SMA, previously the Bishop of Killaloe; the current Bishop of Killaloe, Fintan Monahan, and the bishop emeritus of the diocese, Bishop William Walsh. Did any of these three (3) bishops formally/informally make you aware of any allegation pertaining to Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO?
It is my understanding that Dom Purcell’s behaviour was known in the Chancery of the Diocese of Killaloe. It is my further understanding that this created a lot of angst in the Diocese, and pressure was put on certain persons to remain silent. But, the ex-priest spoke about what happened in the monastery guesthouse, i.e., Mount St. Joseph Abbey to a number of priests in the Diocese of Killaloe, so these assertions about Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO are not unfounded hearsay. And, it is a complex matter that is still unfolding.
In any event, it raises further questions about the conduct of Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO that need to be addressed by this diocese of Waterford & Lismore. I am aware that canonically you have no jurisdiction over Mount Melleray Abbey, however, you do have responsibility for the pastoral governance of your diocese in which the abbey is located.
Question Five.
Have you granted by a Decree, priestly faculties to Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO, to minister in the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore?
Question Six.
Will you upon the presentation of a sworn affidavit attesting to the behaviour of Richard Purcell, preventively suspend the priestly faculties (if they have been previously granted) and/or prohibit by a Decree (and publish same), the said Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO, from ministering/functioning as a priest anywhere in the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore?
Question Seven.
It will be established in an affidavit that the allegations against Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO have been known by the Abbot General, Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, OCSO, since at least the 13th of September, 2020, and he has ignored same with alacrity.
Will you now write to the competent Dicastery, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life to invite said Dicastery to begin an Apostolic Visitation of Mount Melleray Abbey, because the Abbot General, Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, OCSO, appears to have abrogated his responsibility?
Question Eight.
In light of the fact that so many people appear to know about Purcell’s behaviour, the fact, that he is ministering in your diocese with impunity — is it unreasonable to suggest there has been a cover-up of his behaviour in the Diocese of Killaloe?
Question Nine.
Has anybody previously brought the allegations pertaining to Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO, to your attention? If so, who? And, why have you done nothing about the situation?
In conclusion, it gives me no pleasure to write this e-mail, however, now that you have been formally notified of the accusations; there is no excuse for inaction by the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore and/or the Abbot General. But, if there is anything that is untrue in the allegations, Dom Richard Purcell, OCSO, can rely on the present to commence proceedings against me under the provisions of the Defamation Act, 2009.
I would be grateful for an acknowledgement of the present correspondence, and a considered reply to by 5 p.m., tomorrow the 3rd of November, 2020.
Sincerely,
Robert Hourigan
PHONSIE’S ATTEMPT TO AVOID ANSWERING HOURIGAN BY SENDING AN EMAIL FROM THE PERSONLESS “DIOCESAN OFFICE”!
HOURIGAN MESSAGE AFTER PHONSIE FAILED TO PROPERLY ACKNOWLEDGE LETTER:
FINALLY, PHONSIE REPLIES PERSONALLY TO HOURIGAN:
Phonsie did nothing that we know of!
MY EMAIL TO PHONSIE AT THE TIME”
Phonsie, your moral credibility is totally gone! Do the right thing and GO! NOW!
PHONSIE’S METEROPOLITAN
Francis has made plans that bishops can be investigated by their metropolitan archbishop.
I wonder where O’Reilly stands on the Purcell / Cullinane issue and other such issues.
24 hours after the resignation of Richard Purcell as Abbot of Mount Melleray the Abbot General of the OCSO Cistercians has resigned on “health grounds”
Fitzgerald himself is a former Abbot of Mount Melleray.
He is also the man who told me on the telephone of the incident in Roscrea kitchen involving Purcell and a Killaloe priest.
The Cistercians have brought forward their General Chapted from September 2023 to February 2022 to elect a new Abbot General.
In my opinion the Richard Purcell Affair has caused not only his own resignation but has been responsible for the fall of the Abbot General.
Only those on the inside know the whole story
In any event, the cat is very much among the Cistercian pigeons as we speak.
Could more heads roll over the Purcell Affair?
Inside and outside the order.
Why has the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore not issued a statement on Mount Melleray.
EMAIL TO PHONSIE AND ALL OCSO ABBOTS AND ABBESSES.
Dear Bishop Alphonsus,
I direct your attention to the announcement made yesterday morning that Fr. Richard Purcell has resigned as the Abbot of Mount Melleray Abbey. I took no pleasure in reading the news. https://ocso.org/2021/11/25/mount-melleray-abbey/
However, it is long overdue, because Fr. Purcell’s scandalous lifestyle has been known about for a considerable period of time. In fact, he was NOTORIOUS within the Diocese of Killaloe. And, he was notorious in your own diocese; however, you overlooked this reality with wilful and deliberate intent. Hence, you were part of the problem and not part of the solution.
The announcement on the website of the Order Cistercians of the Strict Observance is an exercise in obfuscation. It is also a demonstrable example of an egregious and unacceptable cover-up. I submit that the Apostolic Visitation of Mount Melleray Abbey was a sham. I would further submit that this so-called “visitation” was a half-hearted and ignominious attempt to salvage the utterly compromised and utterly discredited Abbot General, Dom Eamon Fitzgerald. Why do I make this assertion?
Because, it can be irrefutably established that Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, OCSO, knew that Fr. Richard Purcell was sexually active as a monk of Mount St. Joseph Abbey. And, he did so for a considerable period of time.
On September 13, 2020, at 6.39 p.m., Dom Eamon Fitzgerald called me [Pat Buckley], and we had a free-flowing conversation lasting eighteen (18) minutes and (39) seconds about Fr. Richard Purcell. Dom Eamon admitted to me [Pat Buckley] that Purcell had been sexually active at Mount St. Joseph Abbey, and he [Fitzgerald] further acknowledgement that they [the Cistercians] had hoped it was a one-off.
As I have made clear in the past due to the advances in mobile (“cell phone” for my American readers) phone technology it would be and deeply imprudent of Dom Eamon Fitzgerald to deny the conversation and what he admitted about Fr. Purcell on the evening of September 13, 2020.
Bishop Alphonsus: did the two (2) visitators of Mount Melleray Abbey: a) the Abbot of Tilburg, Dom Peeters and, b) Mother Fourmentin, Abbess of Arnhem, know about this conversation. And, did they interview Dom Fitzgerald about same?
Did Dom Peeters and Mother Fourmentin visit the Dublin-based “Boilerhouse” with a photograph of Fr. Purcell?
Did Dom Peeters and Mother Fourmentin ask the proprietors of this house of ill-repute if they recognised Fr. Purcell from his frequent visits in the past?
And, if they did visit the Boilerhouse: did they ask any of the patrons present if they recognised Fr. Richard Purcell and/or know about Fr. Purcell’s known proclivity for barebacking? Because you are probably innocent “barebacking” is the term of reference for unprotected sex, i.e., sex without a condom.
Did the Dom Peeters and Mother Fourmentin review the accounts of Mount Melleray Abbey? Did they review the credit card statements?
Did Dom Peeters and Mother Fourmentin ask Richard Purcell about how he paid for his visits to the Boilerhouse? Presumably, he must have paid with cash in order to avoid creating an electronic trail that could be picked up by forensic accountants and/or officials from the Charities Regulator, or indeed any abbot or abbess that might have investigated Mount Melleray Abbey.
It is, of course, noteworthy that the allegations that I have repeatedly made against Fr. Purcell were not explicitly DENIED. And, it is also the case that Dom Peeters and Mother Fourmentin were never going to find any corroborating evidence; because, the visitation was instituted to beget/facilitate an agreed outcome.
In light of the allegations that I have repeatedly made against the now Fr. Purcell, I find it surprising that I was not contacted. I could have provided Dom Peeters and Mother Fourmentin with the identity of the ex-seminarian from the Diocese of Killaloe who alleges that he had consensual anal sex with Richard Purcell at the Boilerhouse. The said ex-seminarian recognised the now Fr. Purcell from a retreat conducted by the latter when the former was a seminarian in Maynooth.
Bishop Alphonsus, you have known about these allegations for some time. In fact, you were among the first to know. In fact, like a white sepulchre you have overlooked a significant sexual scandal within a monastery within your own diocese. Moreover, you afforded to the now Fr. Purcell every opportunity to minimise and dilute the severity of the scandal by permitting Purcell to celebrate the Eucharist beside you at functions within the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore. Therefore, instead of being part of the solution you were part of the problem. You let your animus towards me cloud your judgement to the detriment of the greater good of Mount Melleray Abbey and the diocese that was entrusted to your pastoral governance by Pope Francis. And, that raises serious questions about your integrity.
Your demonstrable hypocrisy, both personal and ecclesiastical adds significant credence to the calls of the Labour Party for the removal of church patronage in Irish schools. Sadly, you lack the insight to discern how abominable your handling of the scandal has been for the past eighteen months or so, and it has been nothing short of scandalous. If you had any decency you would resign immediately as the Ordinary of Waterford and Lismore.
When you celebrated the funeral liturgy of the late Monsignor Michael Olden and when you ordained Fr. John Dineen, both at Mount Melleray Abbey, you were aware of the severity of the allegations that had been made against then Dom Richard Purcell. You [Bishop Cullinan] were as I wrote previously “complicit in the corporate silence of the Cistercians and their concomitant failure to deal with Purcell”. Hypocrisy, thy name is: Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan.
Thus, the question remains: will you now preventively suspend the priestly faculties of Fr. Richard Purcell within the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore? The actions of Fr. Purcell bring the Cistercian monastic life into disrepute. It is the case that Fr. Purcell is no longer an Ordinary — so will Fr. Purcell be subject to a canonical investigation conducted in accordance with Canon 1717?
This e-mail will be published on my blog. It is been copied to the Irish Apostolic Nuncio and to the Cardinal Prefect of the so-called Congregation for Religious, so that they have “knowledge” of this scandal.
I am copying this to Bishop Erik Varden, because, he, too is also complicit in this cover-up. Because, he inexcusably failed to reply to a letter that was sent to him about the Purcell scandal, so, he, too, is another Cistercian hypocrite.
I am also bringing this matter to the attention of Sr. Eleanor Campion; she is a member of the Law Commission of the Order. Perhaps, she and the other members of the “Commission” may wish to look at the procedures to deal with complaints against abbots and abbesses; because, clearly the current system has not worked, as Dom Eamon “Ostrich” Fitzgerald, has reverted to type when he was the Abbot of Mount Melleray, utterly incapable of making a decision.
It is been further copied to the English-speaking and French-speaking Cistercians, so they can see the real nature of: a) the despicable abbatial tenure of Richard Purcell; and, b) the lamentable handling of a “known” scandal by the Abbot General, Eamon Fitzgerald, OCSO.
Thereby, when they come to elect a successor to Fitzgerald as Abbot General, they will elect an individual who will not (we hope) in the future show the same moral ambiguity and lack of leadership as Dom Eamon. And, who bring about renewal within the Congregation and not be a mindless steward who oversees decline.
Finally, I take great heart that the resignation of Purcell followed the death of Fr. Jean-Pierre Schumacher, the last surviving monk and sole survivor of the assassination of the monks of Tibhirine. It gives me hope for the renewal of the Cistercians. Let us seek the intercession of the Altas Martyrs for the renewal of Mount Melleray Abbey and the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance.
+ Pat Buckley
As of 6 am this morning RICHARD PURCELL resigned as the abbot of Mount Melleray.
The abbot general in Rome published the following statement on the Cistercian website.
So your bosses find you innocent…….
And then you resign for….”personal reasons”..
But sure this is the way the RCC PR machine operates.
The statement is interesting in the words it uses.
Richard Purcell’s resignation is not an occasion for celebrating and rejoicing.
It is an occasion of sadness for the world wide Cistercian order, for that order”s aging and dwindling monks and monasteries in Ireland and indeed for the Irish Catholic Church.
Had Richard Purcell’s resignation come two years ago it would have saved an awful lot of hurt and scandal for everyone.
The fact that it has been allowed to drag on for two years casts a great shadow over the Abbot General Eamon Fitzgerald. We can no longer look upon the Irish Cistercians as Holy men or spiritual guides, for they have all sat back and tolerated the intolerable and thereby have forfeited their right to be regarded as authentically Christian or spiritual. St Bernard of Clairveaux must be turning in his grave.
It also costs a great shadow over the incumbent of Waterford, Phonsie Cullinane, who likes to portray himself as a great “defender of the faith” but who has sat and tolerated this situation in his own diocese for two years – and indeed took every opportunity to invite Purcell to every diocesan event.
Phonsie Cullinane, your toleration of this matter destroys your credibility on matters of faith and morals and you have proven yourself to be a faithless and cynical “clashing cymbal and booming gong”. You are indeed a whitened sepulchre – and everyone in Ireland sees it.
RICHARD PURCELL HIMSELF:
I hope that Richard Purcell is allowing himself to feel and experience all the contradictions and agony of his situation and not hiding in or behind some horrible cynicism or denial.
Maybe he even has a certain sense of relief that it has finally come to a head?
I cannot see Richard Purcell becoming an invisible monk spending his days praying the office, milking cows and shovelling sillage.
If the Cistercians or someone else does not offer him a “high office” of some sort (and that would be difficult) I can see him leaving the Cistercians and priesthood and making a name for himself on the Irish organ and classical music circut.
But then, as a private citizen, without ecclesiastical office and obligations, his private life would be nobody’s business.
PAT SAYS,
These beatitudes were not composed by Francis but he has adopted and recom ended them
The words that stand out:
POVERTY.
TRUE CLOSENNESS TO PRIESTS AND PEOPLE
HAVING A SERVICE OF MINISTRY AND NOT POWER.
NOT SHUT AWAY IN A PALACE.
BISHOP TO GET HIS HANDS DIRTY.
NO DUPLICITY.
CREATING UNITY, NOT DISUNITY.
PREPARED TO GO AGAINST THE TIDE.
How do readers feel our bishops in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales fair in living out these beatitudes?
Wikipaedia
Josephite marriage, also known as spiritual marriage, chaste marriage, and continent marriage, is a religiously motivated practice in which a man and a woman marry and live together without engaging in sexual activity.
Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi lived in a Josephite marriage after they had a family of four children.
Catholicism
A feature of Catholic spiritual marriage, or Josephite marriage, is that the agreement to abstain from sex should be a free mutual decision, rather than resulting from impotence or the views of one party.
In senses beyond spiritual marriage, abstinence is a key concept of Church doctrine that demands celibacy of priests, monks, nuns and certain other officials in the Church. The doctrine established a “spiritual marriage” of church officials to their church; in order to better serve God, one had to disavow the demands and temptations of traditional marriage. This rule was enforced by Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, whose marriage to Cunigunde of Luxemburg was also a very famous spiritual marriage.
Saints Louis and Zélie Martin professed to enter a spiritual marriage, but consummated a year later when directed by their confessor to do so. Of their nine children the five who survived to adulthood all became nuns, including Saint Thérèse de Lisieux.
Occasionally, spiritual marriages may also be entered later in life, with the renunciation of sexual relations after raising a family to fully dedicate oneself to God. In October 2001, John Paul II beatified a married couple, Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini, who bore four children, but later in life lived separately and committed to a Josephite marriage.
PAT SAYS
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ITS OBSESSION WITH SEX.
These Josephite marriages were invented by the RCC for couples not validly married married in the eyes of the RCC to allow them to live together but not have sex!
In Ireland these relatioships were called “brother and sister” relatiohips. They could live together but not have sex.
They were based on the belief that St Joseph and Mary lived together but never had sex.
But how does anyone know that Joseph and Mary NEVER had sex?
I have no desire to formally deny the “Virgin Birth”.
But the New Testament does speak of “the brothers and sisters of Jesus”
The RCC wants us to believe that they were his cousins and that the translations mean cousins as well as brothers and sisters.
The RCC demands that for a marriage to be valid it must be sexually consummated.
You can even get an annulment for non-consummation and remarry in the RCC.
But they also claim that the marriage of Joseph and Mary was not consummated out of respect to God, the father of Jesus.
This seems to be to be having your cake and eating it.
It’s because the RCC thinks sex is DIRTY and certainly TOO DIRTY for God, Joseph and Mary.
In fact in Confession in Ireland in the old days, refusing your husband his conjugal rights (sex) was a sin women had to confess.
I had ladies in Belfast confess to me: “Far, I refused my old fella his jungle rights”
AND ANOTHER THING:
The RCC maintains that procreation is a wonderful gift from God to bring new babies into the church and the world.
Why did God go to all that trouble to create the miraculous human reproductive system but then send his son into the world by bypassing what he had created and what he called GOOD?
Do we mean the ordinary way is good enough for the rest of us but not good enough for God, Joe and Mary.
And to bolster this up they teach the Immaculate Conception of Mary, bypassing her parents Joachim and Anne?
We Catholics are called to believe in:
The Immaculate Conception of Mary
And
That Mary was FOREVER a virgin.
Does this means that poor old Joe never got his jungle rights?
Of course we are in all this trouble because of ORIGINAL SIN and the ancient belief that the original sin was SEX.
What was it Oscar Wilde that said:
“These is no such a thing as an original sin. They’ve all been done before”.
In the early church the ministeries
that developed quickly and hopefully under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, were: overseers (bishops), presbyters (priests) and deacons.
These were the ministeries that developed in the early church communities.
The apostles were not given by Jesus to individual Christian communities, but rather instead to the whole church – all the communities.
Very few of the apostles played the role of overseer in specific church communities. James was the exception. He became the overseer / bishop in Antioch and was both an apostle and a bishop.
The rest of the apostles had a travelling commission to preach and convert in all the many church communitied: “Go out to the whole world……”.
So it’s ridiculous nonsense for the RC bishops to call themselves the successors of the apostles.
A bishop is simply the senior elder or presbyter in a particular place.
Jesus appointed only 12 apostles.
There are 5,000 plus RC bishops today.
PETER
Another “myth” is that Peter was the bishop of Rome.
There were no bishops in Rome in Peter’s time.
It is doubtful if Peter ever was in Rome.
Certainly the “bones” buried in the Vatican are not Peter’s bones.
Why are the Scriptures not enough for RC clerics and Hierarchy?
Why add on unnecessary and unproveable claims.
The papacy is also a political and man made entity.
The bishop of Rome is simply that – the bishop of Rome.
CONCLUSION
If the RCC wants to reproduce the church Jesus founded why they abandoned the ministry of APOSTLE?
Why not have those eleven the “cardinals” instead of 120 Cardinals?
Why not have Francis and 11 other apostles?
And let the world’s bishops be what they should be – the overseeing elders / presbyters of their local churches?
In the man made history of the church the office of Bishop has been moved from being an everyday pastor to being a BIG KNOB.
Very few of them are real pastors and very many of them are behaving as if they were something special and elevated.
How long is it since you saw a bishop sitting in his cathedral in private prayer?
How long is it since you saw a bishop going into a poor home with a box of groceries and an envelope in his pocket to cover the gas or electricity?
GUESS WHO
There once was a bishop called Tom,
Who was not even loved my his Mom,
The thoughts of him made her sick,
He was so like her great uncle Dick.
After 26 loyal years service as a sacristan Mr Michael Keohane was dismissed by Fr Mccarthy who used the drop in church income to justify the sacking.
But the WRC – Workplace Relations Commission in the Republic found against the PP and ordered that the sacristan be given his job back.
The WRC adjudicator, Ms Patsy Doyle said: “the justice of this case dictates an order of re-engagement”.
Fr McCarthy had dissed the quarter of a century sacristan by way of a registered letter!
The tribunal backdated the re-engagement back to July of this year.
Ms Doyle found that Mr Keohans “was unfairly selected for redundancy amidst an attempt to address the diminution of income at the church”.
The WRC also found that Fr Mccarthy had cleary excluded Mr Keohane from discussions around his redundancy.
Fr McCarthy was also angry because Mr Keohane had protested at the church gates.
Fr McCarthy said he could not entertain Mr Keohane’s return.
Fr McCarthy is awaiting legal advice as to whether he can appeal the WRC’s judgement to the Labour Court.
PAT SAYS
For a long time in Ireland bishops have been dictators in their dioceses and parish priests dictators in their parishes.
These “men” were invincible and untouchable.
And the Garda and lawyers and judges let them away with blue murder.
But the times they are a changing.
As the size and influence of the RCC decreases and Ireland becomes moreand more a European democracy the church, its hierarchs and its clergy will become more and more subject to civil and criminal law and its courts and tribunals.
This is a very, very good development.
When Daly terminated me in 1986 I did drag him before the Industrial Tribunal and High Court.
But that was 35 years ago and things were very much not up to scratch.
Anyone who thinks they have endured an injustice a the hands of any one or any organisation should have recourse to civil proceedings.
This now includes the once exempted, Roman Catholic Church and it various “operatives”.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY