(CNN)Pope Francis has declared support for civil unions for same-sex couples for the first time, according to the Catholic News Agency.
The Pope made the historic remarks in “Francesco,” a new documentary film directed by Russian filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, that premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday.
“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it,” the Pope said in the film, the Catholic News Agency reported.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” the Pope said.
The film also explores the Pope’s work and views in other issues, including climate change, migration and economic equality, according to the film’s website. It is set to premiere in North America on Sunday during the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
Francis has suggested in past interviews that he is not against civil unions, but this is the first time as Pope that he has directly come out in favor of them.
As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis advocated for same-sex civil unions as an alternative when Argentina was discussing whether to legalize same-sex marriage.
Francis’ comments differ from his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who made the news when he labeled homosexuality “an intrinsic moral evil.”
Jesuit Father James Martin, who has advocated for the church to welcome LGBTQ people, said bishops from many countries, including some in the United States and Poland, who are “violently against” civil unions will have to rethink their positions.
“He’s creating a new space for LGBT people … He’s saying it on the record and he’s being very clear. It’s not simply that he’s tolerating it — he’s supporting it,” Martin told CNN’s Christine Amanpour on Wednesday.
In the US, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, asked for more clarification, saying the Francis’ comments contradict the church’s teachings on same-sex unions.
“The Church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships,” Thomas said in a statement. “Individuals with same-sex attraction are beloved children of God and must have their personal human rights and civil rights recognized and protected by law. However, the legalization of their civil unions, which seek to simulate holy matrimony, is not admissible.”
Ed Mechmann, director of public policy for the Archidiocese of New York, described the Pope’s comments as a serious mistake that can lead to a lot of confusion.
“In this case, I think we have to recognize that the Holy Father has plainly erred,”
Mechmann wrote in a blog post. “Catholics cannot promote the legalization of same-sex unions. But we also have to be clear that he isn’t changing the teaching of the Church on homosexuality or same-sex unions in any way.”
PAT SAYS
Francis is not supporting Christian or Catholic marriages for gay couples.
He is merely saying that such couples have the legal and civil right to have their relationship recognised in their country’s laws.
And most modern democracies give couples this right.
Personally, I have always believed that the Church should bless these unions.
Can a same sex marriage be sacramental? Yes it can.
“Wherever there is live, there is God”.
I have been blessing gay couples for over 30 years.
And now I can perform legal weddings for gay couples north and south of the Irish border.
Personally I am a bit uncomfortable with people calling themselves two “husbands”.
1. Who was the Glenstal priest that became Abbot of Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem?
2. What were the circumstances of that priest having to resign as abbot and leave Jerusalem?
3. Were the Israeli police and the CDF involved and did it involve sexual matters?
4. . Did that priest return to Glenstal when he left Jerusalem?
5. Was that priest later given a reference by Glenstal to become a priest of the Church of England in the diocese of Chichester?
6 Was that reference written by you or your predecessor as abbot?
7. Did you appoint a junior monk from the African continent as your secretary.
7. Is that monk still in Glenstal?
8. Did monks of Glenstall drive a junior monk on a regular basis to receive spiritual direction from Richard Purcell OCSO?
SILVERSTREAM:
1. Have you presided over the return of Mark Kirby as a choir monk of Silverstream?
2. In view of all the information you have been given are you claiming not to be aware of Mark Kirby’s sexual behaviours?
3. Are you aware of the accusation that Mark Kirby paid a sum of money to an external worker at Silverstream in a bid to stop him revealing what he witnessed?
4. Are you aware that Mark Kirby kept a large drawer of cash in his office that he handed out wily nily?
5. Are you calling the former monk of Silverstream a liar when he complained of Kirby’s inappropriate behaviour towards him and geave financial mismanagement?
6. Do you stand over the decision to ask the whistleblower monk to leave his home of ten years DURING A PANDEMIC?
7 Is it appropriate for Mark Kirby to be living with a group of young men?
8. Is Richard Purcell srill on Silverstreamvisitation panel?
I’m quite sure you will not answer these question for me.
But I wanted to make readers aware of these important questions.
I am asking these questions on the basis of information and documentation in my possession.
So, I may have to answer the questions on your behalf.
The Anglican and Catholic churches missed crucial opportunities to stop them abusing other children, unredacted reports find
Melissa Davey The Guardian
Tue 20 Oct 2020 0
The Anglican and Catholic churches knew about allegations against notorious paedophile priests years before they were convicted and jailed for child sexual abuse, missing crucial opportunities to stop them from abusing other children.
The findings were outlined in two unredacted and one previously unreleased report published by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday. The findings were previously redacted so as not to prejudice ongoing legal proceedings against the two abusers: the former Anglican dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence and the former Catholic priest Vincent Gerard Ryan.
Lawrence is the most senior Anglican church figure found guilty of child sexual abuse, after being convicted in July 2019 of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 1991 at his home at Christ Church Cathedral in Newcastle, New South Wales. He was sentenced to eight years in jail.
The commission’s report on case study 42, which examined the response of the Anglican diocese of Newcastle to child sexual abuse allegations, found the allegations that Lawrence was sexually abusing children were made on three separate occasions to the then Bishop Roger Herft.
First, Herft was told by leaders of a diocesan youth camp in 1995 that two boys had separately alleged that Lawrence had sexually abused them.
In 1996, the commission found Herft was told by the then archbishop that Lawrence had been sexually abusing young boys. Then, in 1999, he was told by a bishop that Lawrence had been a perpetrator of child sexual abuse.
Herft told the royal commission that he could not recall these allegations being made to him.
“It seems extraordinary to us that the bishop of a diocese would have no recollection whatsoever of numerous people making allegations to him over a number of years that one of the most senior priests and powerful figures in the Diocese – the dean – had sexually abused children … and no recollection of discussing the allegations … We reject Bishop Herft’s evidence that he had no recollection of these matters.”
Herft also told the commission he had no memory of becoming concerned that there was a pattern of allegations against Lawrence. “It seems extraordinary to us that Bishop Herft would not have formed such a concern given the number of allegations made,” the commission found.
The commission also found that Lawrence was not a credible witness, and that his testimony to the commission was “on many occasions contradictory, evasive and implausible”. The commission said it was also satisfied that in 1981, when he was a senior priest in the Diocese of Riverina,
Lawrence began “a sexual relationship with CKH, who was then 16 years old … Mr Lawrence continued to have a sexual relationship with CKH until around 1985, when CKH was 19 years old”.
The commission found Lawrence’s partner, Gregory Goyette, also sexually abused CKH, which Lawrence knew about.
“We reject Mr Lawrence’s submission that our terms of reference do not require us to make these findings,” the commission found. “It is correct that our terms of reference relate to the institutional response to allegations of child sexual abuse, but, in our view, it is highly relevant that one of the leaders of the Diocese, who was himself personally involved in the institutional response to certain survivors, sexually abused a child.”
Meanwhile the commission found in its report on case study 43, which examined the response of Catholic church authorities to allegations of child sexual abuse in the Maitland–Newcastle region, that Monsignor Patrick Cotter was made aware of allegations that Father Ryan had sexually abused multiple altar boys who were students at St Joseph’s primary school in 1975. At the time, Cotter was the priest in charge of St Joseph’s parish, and Ryan was the assistant priest.
Cotter was told by a nun that Ryan was abusing children through “oral and anal penetration, penis sucking and attempts at masturbation”.
“We are also satisfied that Father Ryan admitted to Monsignor Cotter that he had sexually abused altar boys at St Joseph’s,” the report found. “Despite the serious allegations reported to him directly,
Monsignor Cotter professed to have little or no recollection of those events and the substance of the complaints. Given the gravity of the matters, his claimed lack of recollection defies belief.”
Cotter’s evidence was “generally unspecific, unclear or evasive,” the commission found. “Monsignor Cotter sought to minimise the gravity of the conduct reported to him and to present the information provided to him as having been vague or inconclusive, when that was not the case. Monsignor Cotter, who was at the time the most senior priest in the Diocese, did not take appropriate or adequate steps to respond to these serious allegations. No official reprimand or sanction was put in place. The allegations were not properly documented and recorded in the Diocese’s files.”
The only step taken was to refer Ryan to a psychiatrist, and remove him from the parish, which the commission described as “completely inadequate”. Ryan only saw the psychiatrist once.
“Monsignor Cotter sought to protect the Church and Father Ryan,” the report said. “No steps were taken to protect the welfare of the children in the Diocese.”
There is also evidence that the 1975 incidents were reported to one of the diocesan consultors at the time, the report said. No counselling or support was provided to those primary school students at St Joseph’s who reported being sexually abused by Ryan. No one in or associated with the Church authorities reported the allegations against Ryan to police, the report found.
“The allegations should have been referred to the police, and not doing so was an abject failure to act in the best interests of the children of St Joseph’s Primary School and the Diocese,” the report found. “This was an opportunity to bring an end to Father Ryan preying sexually on children within the Diocese. Missing that opportunity had devastating consequences for those children Father Ryan went on to abuse in the future.”
Ryan was released from jail on parole in July, after serving 14 months of a three-year sentence for crimes against two boys in the late 90s. He had previously served 14 years in jail for the sexual abuse of 35 boys aged between six and 14 between 1972 and 1991, and was released from that sentence in 2010.
He was only stripped of his priestly faculties in August.
Pat says
We now know many many sexual abuse victims have been abused twice or co abused by bishops and other covering up for them.
Its quite clear that covering up should also be a serious imprisonable crime.
But the RC church at least is still as much a cover merchant as ever.
See the Purcell and Kirby cases.
Of course there us no suggestion of minors being involved in these cases.
But still, serious and scandalous allegations have been made.
And no one has assured anyone that there will be an independent and thorough investigation into them.
Stories are emerging from various international sources of Kirby’s strange life of homosexual orientations/actions and his efforts to come across as a holy monk.
He has also portrayed himself, internationally, as a man to whom Jesus speaks to from the Eucharistic Tabernacle.
He has confessed to several people about his life as an active homosexual monk.
He has indicated his homosexual activity both inside monasteries and outside of them.
One person remembers being present when Kirby introduced himself to young men as “a same sex attracted man”.
Much of this behaviour happened in Canada.
I could go into more detail – and will if necessary.
His behaviour in Canada, etc, gives massive credibility to the complaint made by the now “missing” Silverstream monk.
This monk spoke of Kirby asking him to look under his clothes at an alleged insect bite and then showing the younger monk his genitalia.
The exclusion if men over 35 years old from Silverstream is a very strange requirement. Has this anything to do with Kirby’s personal predelicitions?
It has become absolutely clear that Kirby is not suitable to monastic life and most certainly not suitable to be a monastic superior involved in the formation of young men.
There are you men responsible for sorting out Silverstream:
By Stephen Kurkjian and Matt Carroll Boston (MA) Globe July 9, 2002
New Hampshire Bishop John B. McCormack acknowledged under oath last month that he accepted without question the denials of two priests in the Boston Archdiocese that they had molested youngsters despite receiving repeated sexual abuse allegations against the men.
McCormack also said he did not think he was obligated to inform authorities about the allegations against the Rev. Ronald H. Paquin and the Rev. Joseph Birmingham because as a priest he was not covered by state law at the time requiring reporting of sexual abuse of minors, according to a transcript of the confidential deposition obtained by the Associated Press.
McCormack, who served as Cardinal Bernard Law’s top deputy for investigating clergy abuse before being named bishop of Manchester in 1998, was deposed in connection with a civil lawsuit filed by three men who allege they were sexually abused by another Boston-area priest, the Rev. Paul R. Shanley.
The lawsuit accuses Law, McCormack, and several other top archdiocesan officials of failing to stop the alleged abuse by Shanley, who was indicted last month by a Middlesex County grand jury on charges of raping three youths during the 1980s while assigned as pastor of a Newton church.
Although the suit focuses on Shanley, Boston attorney Roderick MacLeish is seeking to show that archdiocesan officials put children and youngsters in harm’s way by failing to properly respond to sexual abuse allegations made against priests in their charge.
Questioned by MacLeish, the attorney for the alleged victims, McCormack acknowledged that he had accepted Shanley’s explanation in 1985 that he had been quoted out of context in a speech Shanley had made stating that when adults have sex with minors, children are often the seducers.
McCormack said he was wrong to have accepted Shanley’s account that he was only speaking about child prostitutes. ”I saw Paul as a person who was an honest guy, who was always trying to help the church reach out to the alienated, the marginalized,” McCormack said during the deposition held June 4 in Manchester. ”I had no reason to think that he was, when he reported to me, that he was being dishonest. In hindsight, I do, but then I didn’t.”
The AP said the transcript of McCormack’s sworn testimony was provided by Massachusetts sources. The public release of the information is likely to prompt a response from Superior Court Justice Constance M. Sweeney, who is overseeing all civil cases involving alleged sexual misconduct by Boston archdiocese priests.
Sweeney has denied media requests to obtain transcripts of depositions taken in the civil case involving convicted pedophile and defrocked priest John J. Geoghan, saying the sworn testimony by Law and other archdiocesan officials could only be released 30 days after the deposition was complete.
Sweeney is likely to toe the same line with all sworn testimony involving clergy sexual misconduct suits in which depositions have not been finished, according to some attorneys involved in the cases.
McCormack’s deposition will be continued at a date yet to be determined.
According to selected portions of the transcript, which the AP released last night, MacLeish spent most of the deposition questioning McCormack about his handling of allegations the archdiocese had received about Paquin and Birmingham.
In an account previously reported in the Globe, McCormack said that he had confronted Paquin in 1991 about information he had received from a priest who alleged that Paquin was having inappropriate contact with a Haverhill youth.
”I spoke with Father Paquin. He assured me there was no sexual contact, that this was a boy he had known, that he was trying to be helpful to, so I took him at his word,” McCormack said. Paquin was indicted last month by an Essex County grand jury for having sexually abused the youth.
McCormack acknowledged in the deposition that he did not question Paquin’s account even though he had ordered Paquin removed from a Haverhill church in 1990 after receiving credible allegations of abuse from two other youths.
McCormack also dismissed the concerns of a Gloucester parent who asked in 1987 if Birmingham, who until recently had been assigned to his parish, was the same priest he had heard had abused children elsewhere.
Church officials received abuse allegations for years against Birmingham, who died in 1989. The Globe has previously reported that at least three people say they told McCormack, or that McCormack knew, that Birmingham was abusing children during the 1960s and 1970s.
McCormack said he confronted Birmingham at the time, and Birmingham assured him he was ”clean” of any problems.
Later in his exchange with MacLeish, McCormack acknowledged learning of another complaint against Birmingham. Asked whether he contacted the unidentified Gloucester parent with that information, McCormack said he could not recall having done so.
McCormack acknowledged having reservations about Birmingham, but said he advised the man not to worry about Birmingham and said he saw no need for him to raise the issue with his son.
”I can’t explain why I didn’t tell the full story,” McCormack said.
Sweeney had issued no formal order prohibiting the release of the depositions taken in the Shanley case. But J. Owen Todd, an attorney for the archdiocese, said he believes that a Massachusetts Appeals Court order last month referring all civil cases involving clergy abuse to Sweeney prohibited the leaking of depositions taken in the Shanley case.
”I am astonished by what’s happened here,” Todd said, adding that he was certain that Sweeney would hold an immediate hearing regarding the disclosure of McCormack’s deposition.
MacLeish last night vehemently denied being responsible for providing the transcipt. If the deposition was provided by an attorney, he or she could be held in contempt by Sweeney, MacLeish noted.
IMPORTANT VIDEOS ON THIS STORY
PAT SAYS
The current fay clergysex scandal involving Silverstream and Kirby, Mount Mellary and Purcell, yhe Domicans, the Redemptorists and many others is not new.
The above story and videos is a similar US story 28 years old.
It involves priests, monks and bishops engaging in high level promiscuous sex.
And it involves bishops, priests and abbots doing cover up jobs.
At the moment the Abbot if Glenstal is the temporary superior of Silverstream.
There are claims that Purcell was involved with two Glenstal monks.
Coffey- cough it up!
Coffey has allowed Kirby back to Silverstream.
KirbyPurcell
And, according to a Meath PP is sitting on further information about Kirby and his past.
This is not good.
This is cover up.
This blog is in possession of.much information sent to us by a number of people including a diicesan priest who currently resides in Rome and has known of the Kirby Problem for a long time
Instead of covering up the Kirby and Purcell situations should be quickly resolved.
Otherwise, people from these men’s pasts will come forward. To this blog.
Explainer: What is the Retention of Records Bill and why is it so controversial?
ByEva Wall – Extra.ie
The Retention of Records Bill was approved by the Cabinet in February 2019, but its passage into legislation has been controversial.
The Retention of Records Bill pertains to the records transferred to the National Archives by the Ryan Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) and the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee.
Purportedly seeking to replace existing legislation that dictates the destruction of all records and submissions gathered by these three bodies, the Retention of Records Bill proposes ‘sealing’ the documents for a period of at least 75 years, or until 2094 at the earliest.
The Retention of Records Bill proposes ‘sealing’ the documents relating to institutional child abuse for a period of at least 75 years, or until 2094 at the earliest.
Established in 2000, the Ryan Commission or CICA was instigated to investigate the extent and impact of institutional abuse perpetrated in State and Church bodies from 1936 onward, and to hear testimonies from those who claimed to have suffered such abuse.
Two years later, the RIRB was set up to make awards to survivors of institutional abuse, while the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee was established to review these awards.
All told, the three bodies hold over two million records concerning institutional abuse in Ireland from 1936.
The Retention of Records Bill pertains to the records transferred to the National Archives by the Ryan Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) and the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee. Pic: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland.
The essential stated aim of the Retention of Records Bill, as outlined by Minister for Education Joe McHugh, is to ensure that all records are preserved to ensure that the extent of institutional child abuse in Ireland is neither forgotten nor repeated, thereby supplanting earlier obligations to destroy the evidence while respecting the wishes of the 15,000 survivors who submitted testimonies, as well as confidentiality clauses reportedly outlined in the establishment of the Ryan Commission.
The proposed bill has been opposed by a number of survivors of institutional abuse, as well as legal, historical and archival experts, some of whom appeared before the Oireachtas Education Committee on Tuesday November 26 to outline their concerns.
The opposition towards the proposed bill centres on perceptions that the Government, by sealing the records for such a long period, risks ‘creating cynicism’, and concerns have also been voiced at the inability of survivors of abuse to access their own personal data and at the lack of investigation into the preferences of survivors concerning the storage and availability of their records.
Minister for Education Joe McHugh has said that the Retention of Records Bill is to preserve evidence and therefore to ensure that the extent of institutional child abuse in Ireland is neither forgotten nor repeated
The full written submissions made to the Oireachtas Education Committee in opposition to the Retention of Records Bill may be accessed online.
Among the recommendations made to the Committee were the enactment of legislation to allow survivors who submitted testimonies access to their own records, the possible anonymisation or redaction of records made available for public access, and the provision of legislation to enable individual survivors to decide how they would prefer to handle their records.
In her submission to the Committee, Maeve O’Rourke, a lecturer in Human Rights Law in NUI Galway, said: ‘We cannot overstate the potential impact of this Bill’s contents on our country’s historical record, on survivors’ and their families’ personal lives, and on our State’s ability to prevent abuse in the future.
‘The Bill deserves the most careful and survivor-focused scrutiny possible.’ Catriona Crowe, former Head of Special Projects at the National Archives of Ireland, also addressed the Committee.
Describing the records as ‘a comprehensive account of atrocious treatment of vulnerable children over a long period of time’, Ms. Crowe said: ‘The records will provide a unique account of institutional childcare in a small country new to independence, of poverty and its consequences, of the close links between Church and State in the delivery of welfare services, of the damage done to families from loss of their children and siblings, and of the suffering of a large cohort of children in these institutions.
Caitriona Crowe, former Head of Special Projects at the National Archives, said: ‘The loss of the records, or the inappropriate restriction of access being contemplated, would be a significant and profound loss to historical scholarship on 20th century Ireland’. P
‘The loss of the records, or the inappropriate restriction of access being contemplated, would be a significant and profound loss to historical scholarship on 20th century Ireland.’
Ms. Crowe added: ‘The fact that so many survivors of this regime have managed to make normal lives for themselves is testimony to their courage and resilience. Let us not harm them again by treating their hugely important testimonies as outside the archival norms which operate for all other citizens.’
Researcher and survivor of institutional abuse Dr. Mary Lodato told the Committee: ‘The proposed 75-year sealing of our files creates cynicism. It makes it look as though the state is hiding something. This state has already robbed survivors of so much, and profited from our suffering. It must give us our history, and let us share it with the nation.’
PAT SAYS
I think it is an utter disgrace that the Irish Government are planning to hide abuse records from victims and their families for 75 years on the basis of a Finna Fianna Fail promise made to the corrupt Irish Catholic Church and its religious orders.
Amy communicated with the Armagh clergy together in recent days to ask them to accept a 25% cut in wages.
There was all out war and the Armagh clergy told Amy to put his pay cut where the monkey put his nuts.
Amy was left with her tail between her legs.
One senior Armagh cleric was heard saying:
“What credibility Amy had – and that was precious little – is now gone”.
Oops!
I wonder what Amy’s wages and expenses amount to?
In 1983 Cackle Daly asked for £ 120.000 a year to support himself and two auxiliaries.
£120,000 in 1983 is £ 407,607.29 today.
So if three bishops get £ 407,607.29 then one bishop gets £ 135,869.
Does Amy and other bishops get £ 135,869 between salary and expenses?
If they do then they get about £110,000 per annum more than priests.
Or do bishops, like in the past, have a free hand with diocesan funds?
Bishop Michael Brown of Galway used to have a cigarette box in his study with special cigarettes with His Lordship the Bishop of Galway printed in gold on each cigarette!
Browne
Brown also liked champagne every afternoon at 4 pm with his afternoon tea.
We know Diarmuid Martin’s extravagance is business class flights.
Eaton Casey liked cars, women and cognac laced with milk.
Casey
Mc Quaid liked his black limousin with darkened windows and a Citroen DS for informal driving with his chauffeur.
Presumably, bishop’s salaries come from public donations?
Why are their wages and expenses not published?
FATHER PADDY MC WILLUAMS – DOWN AND CONNOR – ILL.
News in – the PP of Toomebridge is ill.
FROM 2017
Duneane parish priest Fr Patrick McWilliams marks ordination golden jubilee 10 August, 2017 01:00
Fr Patrick McWilliams, parish priest of Duneane in Down and Connor, has marked the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood.
Fr McWilliams was born in The Moorings, Creagh in Toomebridge – right beside his current parish – and returned to the area just over 20 years ago.
He attended Anahorish school until the age of nine, when his family moved to Portstewart, and from a young age he developed a love of animals and the outdoors – he still enjoys these today, as the community learned when they gathered for Mass to celebrate the anniversary in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Moneyglass.
Bishop Farquhar and Fr Luke McWilliams celebrated Mass, which had been organised by the Duneane parish pastoral council.
Stories were shared of Fr McWilliams’s time in Belfast, where the greater part of his formative years as a young curate and as a parish priest were spent in Turf Lodge and in Polegate.
These were difficult times; Turf Lodge was a parish starting from scratch – it wasn’t only a church, schools, and youth facilities that had to be built; a community had to be gathered, as the people had been uprooted from their homes and were feeling isolated.
Fr McWilliams’s first move to parish priest came at an unusual time. He remembers that his phone rang in the early hours of the morning, and he expected it to be a sick call. It was, in fact, Bishop William Philbin, asking him to take on the role of PP of the newly established parish of Poleglass.
He agreed to take the job but lay awake wondering had it been a prank call – surely a Bishop wouldn’t ring at 4am?
He celebrated his silver jubilee in Poleglass and shortly after that he was transferred to Duneane, and Moneyglass and Toome.
The crowds assembled in Our Lady of Lourdes Church were a testament that in Duneane, just like in his earlier parishes, Fr Paddy has the support of the community.
He was congratulated on his golden jubilee – a night of nostalgia and for reminiscing, but also a night to look forward.
Dom Michael Ryan – New Father Immediately of Mount Mellary
Mount Melleray website
October 12, 2020 8:27 am
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
The Conventual Chapter of Mount Melleray Abbey responded to the efforts of the General Chapter of 2017 to arrange the Paternity of Communities, whose traditional Paternity line had been altered, by requesting to be a Daughter House of Bolton Abbey.
The 2017 Chapter had assigned Mount Melleray to the Abbey of Val Notre Dame. In addition to the Abbot of Val Notre Dame’s Regular Visitation, other meetings between the Communities were arranged.
The Conventual Chapter of Val Notre Dame concluded that their fragility did not allow them to accept the responsibility of a geographically distant Community of another culture.
Upon the request of Mount Melleray Abbey, the Conventual Chapter of Bolton Abbey accepted the responsibility of being the Mother House of Mount Melleray Abbey, and so Dom Michael is the Father Immediate.
Since the relationship of Mother House to Daughter House is foundational to the Order, rather than delaying until the next General Chapter to finalize this relation, the Abbot General and his Council acting in the name of the General Chapter (C. 82.2) approved the change that the Paternity of Mount Melleray Abbey is now the responsibility of Bolton Abbey.
The effective date of the change is 28 September 2020.
Purcell
THE FATHER IMMEDIATE
In accordance with the Charter of Charity, Cistercian communities are autonomous but united in a communion implemented by the institutions of the Father Immediate, the Regular Visitation, and the General Chapter. The Father Immediate is the abbot of another monastery, whose responsibilities include a formal visit to the community every two years. The purpose of this “Regular Visitation” is to strengthen and supplement the pastoral action of the local superior, to correct where necessary, and to renew the nuns’ or monks’ spiritual fervor.
LETTER TO NEW FATHER IMMEDIATE:
Abbot Michael Ryan Father Immediate of Mount Mellary Abbey Bolton Abbey. Moone, Co. Kildale. Ireland.l
My Dear Abbot Michael,
I have been informed you you are now the Father Immediately of Mount Mellary. I wish you well inp your new Paternal role.
The Abbot General may have told you about my communications and telephone call with him with regard Dom Richard Purcell, Abbot of Mount Mellary?
However as Father Immediate, I now wish to formally ask you to investigate allegations of sexual misbehaviour by Richard Purcell.
1. The allegation, told to me by the Abbot General himself, of Richard Purcell’s sexual misbehaviour with xxxxx xxxxx the former priest of Killaloe diocese who was in Roscrea to consider monastic life.
2. The allegation that Richard Purcell has attended the Boiler House gay sauna in Dublin to have anonymous sex with men, including a former seminarian.
3. The allegation that Richard Purcell is sexually involved with other priests including monks of Glenstal and the Dominican order.
4. The allegation that Richard Purcell organised a gay orgy within the environs of Mount Mellary
I have been a lifetime admirer of the Cistercian order and was a regular visitor to Mellifont Abbey.
For me the Cistercian.life is typified by prayer, reflection, silence, sparseness, spirituality and self control.
I am horried at the above allegations which are typified by scandal, self-indulgdnce, cynicism and a total disregard not only for Christian teaching, but a total disregard for the 900 years of monks striving for holiness.
Father Abbot, please investigate fearlessly and restore the reputation of Mount Mellary.
It is over a month since I communications with the Cistercian Abbot General about the sexual activities of Abbot Richard Purcell.
Purcell
The fall back approach in the Church with regard sexual complaints is that the accused step aside while the investigation is ongoing.
In the case Abbot Purcell,he is still fully in office and behaving as if nothing had happened!
If Richard Purcell was the manager of a business and it emerged that he used the premises to have sex with a fellow worker – as happened in Roscrea Abbey he would have immediately dismissed for “gross misconduct”.
But in the RCC, which PREACHES from the rooftop about justice, such behaviour is still BRUSHED UNDER THE CARPET!
And the highed your rank the more dust is brushed under an even bigger carpet.
See the Cardinal McCarrick case.
McCarrick and victim
We have been sold the story that monasteries are the epitome of love, truth justice right behaviour, respect etc.
But that was a GREAT BIG LIE!
We are once again seeing that the RCC monasteries are as corrupt as they were in the middle ages – places of money grabbibg, debauchery and materialism.
Mount Mellary is in the diocese of Waterford where Phonsie Cullinan is bishop.
Phonsie
I wrote to him about Purcell – who seems to be his best made.
Not even an acknowledgement.
But Phonsie hypocritically lectures the Irish people about vacine cancers for young girls, the evils of same sex and marriage etc.
But he tplerates and protects a monastic debaucherer in his own diocese. He even uses the monastery for his Waterford Catholic Family Days.
Bareback Purcell and Phonsie
Phonsie we always knew you were a Opus Dei hypocrite.
And now you are proving us right.
Hang your head in shame Phonsie Cullinan!
Your patron saint Alphonsus Lugori must be turning in his grave.
SILVERSTREAM
Deenihan
Meanwhile in Meath Deenihan & Co are trying to pull off their own cover up.
I’m told that Tabernacle Kirby has been secretly brought back to the monastery during the night and is to serve, temporarily an an ordinary monk!
What about the sexual complaints?
What about the missing millions?
Meanwhile they whistle blowing monk is sent into exile and they are trying to blacken his reputation with false allegations of mental health issues and financial impropriety.
The RCC acts under pressure, when it comes to safeguarding issues.
But on everything else it is 1700 years of business as usual.
And because the RCC is part of this world’s establishment the other parts of the establishment leaves them alone.
Jesus did tell us who was the Prince of this world was and always would be.
I wrote this blog early yesterday afternoon. I then celebrated Mass at 5.30 pm and was struck by the relevance of the readings to today’s topic.
First reading Galatians 5:18-25 To belong to Christ, crucify all self-indulgence
If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit.
Gospel Luke 11:42-46 You overlook justice and the love of God
The Lord said to the Pharisees: ‘Alas for you Pharisees! You who pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and overlook justice and the love of God! These you should have practised, without leaving the others undone. Alas for you Pharisees who like taking the seats of honour in the synagogues and being greeted obsequiously in the market squares! Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that men walk on without knowing it! A lawyer then spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said ‘when you speak like this you insult us too.’ ‘Alas for you lawyers also,’ he replied ‘because you load on men burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not move a finger to lift.’
Did Abbot Purcell read those readings at Mass yesterday?
Archbishop Aymond reconsecrates church and altar; calls priest’s acts ‘demonic’
Christine Bordelon October 13, 2020 Catholic Herald
In an act of solidarity with the 350 parishioners of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Pearl River, a visibly upset New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond celebrated Mass on October 10 for a second consecutive week for the parish and reconsecrated its church and its new altar.
The parish had learned a week before that its 13th pastor appointed in July 2019, Father Travis Clark, was arrested on September 30 for alleged obscenity with two women in their church. Before he began celebrating Mass, Archbishop Aymond reiterated to those present his shock and anger over what happened — calling Father Clark’s behavior inside the church obscene. He said he knew the Sts. Peter and Paul parishioners were shocked and angry, too.
“The desecration of this church and altar is demonic, demonic,” he said. “Let me be clear, there is no excuse for what took place here. It is sinful, and it is totally unacceptable. Travis has been unfaithful to his vocation; he’s violated his commitment to celibacy; and also, he was using that which was holy to do demonic things.
“He will not be able to serve in priestly ministry, and he will not be able to serve as a priest anytime in the future.”
Archbishop Aymond encouraged parishioners to move forward and said God will move forward with them. He asked them not to judge the church or priesthood by the actions of a few priests.
“Let us continue to focus on the Lord Jesus and his mission and ministry here,” he said, and then introduced them to Spiritan Father Carol Schirima, who was in residence at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Slidell, Louisiana, as the new shepherd and administrator of the parish.
Just the week before on October 3, Archbishop Aymond celebrated Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul and heard the feelings of disappointment, anger and surprise from parishioners who never expected their pastor — whom several said was personable and involved in the church — would let them down as he did.
“I came last week and asked for God’s spirit to be in all the parishioners and in this place of worship, the church,” Archbishop Aymond said. “However, after hearing the details about what had happened, it was clear that there was desecration. In that case, the church requires that we consecrate the church and the altar.”
Father Clark, 37, was booked October 1 on obscenity charges, and the archdiocese removed him as pastor the same day. He is accused of engaging in sex acts with two women on a church altar, which is “clearly visible from the street,” the police report said. The two women, identified as Melissa Cheng, 23, and Mindy Dixon, 41,were booked on the same count as the priest.
Also on October 1, Father Patrick Wattigny, 52, disclosed his sexual abuse of a minor in 2013. The New Orleans Archdiocese immediately removed him as pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church in Slidell. Archdiocesan officials said law enforcement had been notified and the priest’s name will be added to the archdiocese’s clergy abuse report.
The previous wooden altar at of Sts. Peter and Paul Church was removed and burned October 9 and replaced with a wooden altar from St. Francis de Sales Church in New Orleans, which closed in 2008.
At the October 10 Mass, Archbishop Aymond blessed the people and the church with holy water. He used chrism oil and incense to bless the new altar and place a relic of Sts. Peter and Paul inside the altar, representing the risen Christ in our midst.
“The church is a very holy place and when a church has been used for unholy things and has been desecrated, we must drive away the evil spirit … and doing so we reconsecrate it to Christ,” Archbishop Aymond said.
Reconsecrating a church and altar signifies that the church and altar are set apart from any other building.
“It means the altar is not to be used for anything other than the worship of God,” said Betty-Ann Hickey, associate director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship. “It is really a sanctifying and setting apart, and means it is only for sacred use.” Parishioners were thankful that Archbishop Aymond came to be with them during this trying time at Sts. Peter and Paul Church.
Cathy Downey, whose late husband, Pat, was a deacon, has been in the parish just shy of its founding 50 years ago. She said Sts. Peter and Paul parishioners are devoted to Jesus and are close-knit. In fact, the same night as the consecration, Downey was helping out with the parish’s 50th-year celebration, which had been delayed because of COVID-19.
“It’s like a church family,” Downey told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese. “The parish is really upset, but this event shows how the parish comes together. We are not going to let the devil take over. With Archbishop Aymond here and consecrating a new altar, we feel like the church is backing us up.” Bonnie Milczarek, parish secretary and a 40-year parishioner, also expressed their distress.
“We’re glad that Archbishop Aymond came here,” Milczarek said. “He’s not only blessing us but ministering to us and our community. … The biggest thing is to have a new consecrated altar. … The people will see that it is holy.”
Archbishop Aymond acknowledged that it’s tough to be a Catholic today in the Archdiocese of New Orleans but said Catholics should remain steadfast in their belief in the church. There is a strong fraternity of good priests in the archdiocese who are equally upset and embarrassed as he is by recent events. He plans to meet with them in a few days to discuss what has happened.
“2020 has been a terrible year,” Archbishop Aymond said. “We have COVID, the reorganization of the diocese, financial challenges and now two priests who have been removed from the priesthood. “I will discuss these things and others with the priests to be able to be in solidarity with their feeling of betrayal and to strive to move forward as we try to continue the ministry of Christ.,” he continued. “We will pray together and renew the promises of ordination for two reasons — it is appropriate, and secondly, we were not able to do it at the chrism Mass because of COVID.” Christine Bordelon is associate editor of the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans
MY CATARACT TREATMENT.
Sorry for being a bit absent in the past couple of days.
On Monday morning I had cataract surgery on my right eye. It was necessary because I was finding it difficult to read and had a major problem with night time sriving.
Currently in Northern Ireland we have an NHS cataract waiting list of two years plus.
A couple of years ago my optician encouraged me to join a partial private health insurance scheme that costs £ 10 a month.
Did so and have paid my monthly premiums. £ 10 a month is not a great burden by any means.
As a result I was able to have one eye treated on Monday and the second eye will be treated at the end of November.
The total cost is £ 5400 and will be paid for by the insurer.
PAT SAYS
At least the New Orleans man did something about the sex on the altar priest.
Lomasney
Whereas Crean in Cloyne did nothing after Big Mick Lomasney seduced the Maynooth seminarians on the altar in Kildorrey
Crean
What kind of mindset does a priest have to have sex on an altar that represents God and goodness.
But it can be a slippery slope from the dark room in the sauna to demonic sex on an altar.
The sexual appetite can grow to the point it cannot be satiated.
Satan has many of the clergy by the short and curries.
And his chief weapon these days is wild, out of control gay sex.
Some years ago a priest friend told me of a black Mass in the Vatican with different chalices contains human blood, semen and urine.
We have not even heard yet how deep these evils go.
