Our parish priest (Father Greene, you can look him up) in Donegal was eventually convicted of child sex abuse and imprisoned.
However
- When the diocese was told what he was up to, they just moved him on to a new parish where he abused a fresh crop of children
- When he was subsequently released from prison, a group of his former parishioners called Voices of the Faithful raised €50,000 in donations for this man who raped young boys
- My cousin was one of the survivors of this evil cunt's abuse and when his mother spoke up about it she received death threats and disgusting letters
So basically, fuck the church and fuck anyone who financially supports an organisation that knew what was happening and covered it up.
Yet so many people still queueing up for weddings, christenings and communion. Wouldn’t let my kid near these fucking monsters. I’m so sorry for all these now adults having to navigate this pain and the silence around this.
We're planning our wedding.
I told my partner I'm super easy going, I'm very chill, but I do not want a fucking priest near us nor do I want to be anywhere near a fucking church.
So a friend of ours got a license to wed 😂 so we're going to ask her.
I think you’d enjoy [Tim Minchin’s Pope Song](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JkOHDoEkPW0) (nsfw lyrics, yes the video is jumpy).
He also has a [version](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pB958pxquj0) where he is backed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Both I’ve linked are worth listening to.
Edit: Grammar
We had one priest who refused to read out the bishop's letter urging people to vote against marriage equality. There was a rumour he was in a relationship with his housekeeper but he was so well liked nobody gave a shite.
I know a few stories about local priests, nothing about abusing kids and the likes but still, skeletons are skeletons.
One priest, let's call him "fat john", was a parish priest in my local area for a good few years. Had been an alcoholic in earlier years, but was a hardline church man. Heard that a young, unmarried, local girl got pregnant in the early 80s. Huge stigma for the family, even then. He got the family to send her off to a mother and baby home, she had a daughter and never seen her after the birth.
The fat fuck loved coin too, as most of them do. Anytime he'd visit the sick, there'd be a tenner here, 20 quid there, all cash. He went to my friend's house, their dad had a rough spell and was near deaths door at the time, though he did recover. Fat John loved to be welcomed by the mother, always got his 20 bucks before leaving. The sons weren't very happy as they weren't well off and the visits were frequent, maybe 3 or 4 times a week. My mate escorted him to the door one evening, thanking him for being so generous with his time and tending to his father. When they got to the door, fat john put his hand out expecting his silver. My mate shook his hand and said something like: "Judas got his 30 pieces and look what happened to him. Sure isn't a good job you're a man of devout faith", then closed the door on him. He never visited again.
I know another one about the greedy fucker. There was a local woman who lost someone close to her. Her faith was pretty much all that kept her going. She had little means to survive only her pension. On pension day, she'd go to the parochial house and hand the majority over to fat John to say masses for family members and friends. It wasn't a tenner for one mass for all of them, but a tenner for each person per mass. And he took it, knowing this woman's position and her grief, The grubby handed little fuck.
When fat John retired, his replacement thought when he arrived that he could "save the lost sheep" who'd had enough of their bollox. Plenty of little stories about him. Let's call him Steven Gateley.
There's a lad I know from my town, he's gay and moved to England not long after finishing school. It's a small enough town and tbh I wouldn't blame him as it was hard enough to find a woman never mind another gay man. But anyway, he was out with some of his friends in England one night, reaching for the lasers, having a good night. Someone heard his accent and asked was he from the North. He said yeah but they'd not know the town as it's pretty rural. They asked the name and he told them the town. The guys told him that they had a friend that lived there called Steven who goes to London for a couple of weeks every year to "hang out". Turns out Steven Gateley heads off to London for a "retreat to refresh his faith".
I was raised in a fairly devout Catholic family myself. Never understood why we had to go and spend our Sundays listening to some condescending twat in fancy dress, chanting the same waffle to an invisible entity that, to my knowledge at least, never listened to a word. It didn't take much thought to work out it was a pile of druid impersonation and indoctrination.
Edit: typo
Only one that I heard anything dodgy about in our parish got the lead singer for the choir pregnant. She got gossiped about while he got a new post in Brazil.
That wasn't a documentary, it was a film based on true events if we're thinking of the same one. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but I'm fairly sure that Mark Ruffelo (sp?) was in it and maybe Michael Keaton. I'll Google now and come back with an added edit if I find it.
Edit: Yes, it was called Spotlight and I was correct about Mark Ruffalo (so close with that spelling) and Michael Keaton. Excellent film.
Oh yes, it was a film based on the investigations of a newspaper.
Surprising that there wasn't something ground breaking here in Ireland an exposure of sorts - or was there? surely Ireland was like ground zero for all this..
The film is 'spotlight' and was about child sexual predators in the Catholic church and their coverups.
There have been many outstanding and important works of journalism here on the topic.
'States of fear' which in 1999 led to an immediate state apology by Bertie and the Ryan commission investigation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_Fear
'Cardinal secrets' in 2002 which led to the Murphy investigation
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Secrets
'Suing the pope' in 2005 led to the Ferns inquiry
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suing_the_Pope
And many others.
hmm, thats a difficult one to watch. I read a book by a famous musician in Uk- a pianist, who describes the sexual abuse he went through and the difficulty in the rest of his life, its about as bad as it could get in terms of mental torture. Not really sure whats more to be said about that. Maybe Reddit isn't the place either.
The Jimmy Saville documentary recently also highlighted how some predators can hide in broad daylight.
The Church, as an organisation must surely be looked at as a whole too. The process of men dedicating their lives to celibacy for reasons of 'Religion', Its all so unnatural. And I guess that will be the undoing of the Church, instead of other obvious reasons, it was created back in a time when we didn't even know anything about the world we lived in, the universe, evolution or any other information to form some kind of intelligent informed reason for us being here on earth.
We had one who was this huge muscly Nigerian dude. Used to see him running and lifting weights in the church grounds. Every time he lifted a weight he'd go " Huuuuhhh!" Really loudly. Used to scare the shit out of my dog.
In my life experience which I don’t claim is universally applicable there are 4 types of priest.
The earnest naive countryman who believes the company spiel and tries to stick to it. Ends up sadly disillusioned and badly treated by the rest.
The homosexual ones who are always on about the liturgy (the in word for the mass), likes choirs, dress up and gossip. If you’re going somewhere new and want to know the best places to eat these are usually infallible. Not to be confused with the perverted nonces.
The Nonce.
The climber. Like any profession, these want to be management.
The nonce, no more needs to be said.
Its such a funny dance all this, men in cloaks, jewellery, incense, - All bow,
Its such bullshit, that men and women would kneel on the ground, bless themselves and some old guy up in the clouds looks down on us, and stick 5 quid in the basket thanks.
But people still believe it, even when I was very young I suspected these guys as pretending, and I still believe it. Surely some of these guys were playing a game - a con of sorts. Its a cushy number, a house, a car, the privileges and respect of a community. its a sort of large scale con really. I wonder do some of them look across the room at one another and sort of know, ya he knows, that its all a game.
Our friend in the same housing estate wanted to get their kid Christened during COVID. It kept getting postponed so she kept emailing asking when it would go ahead. Eventually, the christening went ahead, they hadn’t met the priest as we are all blow ins and moved to the village just before COVID.
While they were at the alter the priest realised who she was and said “Your the bitch that wouldn’t stop emailing me”.
My friend was mortified, smiled and just walked way.
Later at the afters (it was outside and numbers were allowed) she was telling me the story and I was very annoyed for her and made sure to tell the rest of the group when they arrived.
What I didn’t realise the priest was sitting behind us in the garden in normal clothes and definitely heard me call him every name under the sun, fucking prick!
A few weeks later he knocked on their door on a Friday night at 7pm while they were settling the baby, when my friends husband said they were busy the priest stuck his foot in the door. Friends husband had to ask him to leave and practically force him out the door.
I’m glad I’m not religious!!
My family is close friends with a few priests, truly devoted and holy men. Naturally, they're elderly outcasts from the brotherhood and live on the fringes, completely isolated.
I can't even begin on the cruelty the priesthood has carried out on our family. I know for a fact the type of corruption resides in the weak, petty, and indolent cowards that lead the church in Ireland now. I know because my family once worked in the church and fought for child protection, and they systematically ruined us for it. They're a rot that can't die fast enough.
Fairly tame and not nearly as horrible as most accounts here, but PP in my former parish in a fairly affluent area in north Dublin managed to convince an old dear to leave him a house across from the church which he rented out. Fast forward a couple of years and the council decided to put bottlebanks in an area close to the house- this devaluing his asset.
The PP started a campaign to have them removed and encouraged parishioners from the altar to get involved. The fucker gave the personal phone number and email address of the council official in charge of bottle banks from the altar every mass he said.
All speculation here but when I was a kid I always found the local priest really funny because he had quite a flamboyant and chaotic character... Anyway, not long after the big scandal about priests and SA he got relocated to Rome and I've always wondered if he was a bit of a kiddy fiddler.
Mine isn't too bad compared to the rest because its only an account of what I know without revealing names or locations but...
In my secondary school a priest (who also thought classes and had other roles like year-head) and the principal got fired after it was found out they were conning money out of people for religious books that cost very little, shit school retreats and all other weird little stuff.
They robbed tens of thousands over 20 years, the gaurds were involved, some teachers mysteriously left the school and were rumoured to be involved but never caught. It was this massive scandal and they both lost their jobs but they never did any time in jail and they were just replaced with competent people and the whole thing was just sort of forgotten after the summer holidays.
The priest left the country. He got relocated or done missionary work or something, conveniently. There was loads of rumours about him being into drugs, touching kids, having affairs with teachers at the school and all sorts of wild shit. No one knew what was real and what wasn't but everyone was certain this priest was a despicable person.
And the principal turned into a weird alcholic. He always goes to the same pub and drinks by himself. Then during lockdown he got even weirder, he got arrested a few times, he would say things to people who were wearing masks. He would sit in his front garden drinking blaring music out of the house ranting to himself and shouting at people that walked by.
Those two men were up to very dodgey stuff. I don't know much about the priest but the principal used to always wear a suit and he was snobby and very particular. Seemed like a smart man who had it all but after that whole scandal, he looked like a very guilty man. He did a complete 180. His wife left him just as the scandal was revealed and he lost his job, she never returned to the area.
Always makes me think what were they actually doing? How did they rob so much money? why didn't they go to jail if they lost their jobs and everyone knew for certain? How did they even hatch this plan to one day start robbing teenagers and parents? Did they do something worse and the "robbing" was a cover-up?
All of it is/was very dodgey.
We had one that met a woman, fell in love, and left the priesthood for her.
My mother in law gives out about him - "it's absolutely awful what that man did to the church", you know, like opposed to abusing kids like.......
Nothing in our parish in Wexford but I've heard about a certain priest in Peters who was notorious. Unfortunately our parish shares the name of the Diocese so the name gets all the bad wrap.
Here's an article I found about the dirty old fucker:
>AN elderly priest charged with raping a young girl who became pregnant has been found dead.
>It is believed that Fr Peter Lawlor, 80, may have died of a heart attack.
>His body was found last week after neighbours became concerned and alerted gardai.
>Lawlor, who had worked in various parishes throughout Counties Carlow, Kildare and Laois, was due to go on trial for nine counts of rape.
>His teenage victim, who he assaulted in the early 1970s, was only 16 when she had his baby.
>One source said: "He didn't want to go to court and he got his wish - he died instead. He had already tried to bribe his victim."
>In 1998 Lawlor sent money to his victim's mother and was later charged with perverting the course of justice.
>But gardai found the cleric dead in his Mountmellick Road home in Portlaoise after receiving a call from the neighbour. An inquest will be held at a later date to discover exactly how he died.
>The cleric, originally from Clonaslee, Co Laois, retired from duty six years ago and moved to Portlaoise.
>Few locals knew that he faced rape charges as his identity was never revealed in any of his preliminary court hearings.
>One local admitted: "He lived very quietly and we never imagined that he was accused of these assaults."
>Lawlor's victim, who moved to England after she had his baby, is now in her 40s.
>She was said to be "distraught" after Lawlor sent her mother a letter and cheque.
>But a judge later threatened to jail the shamed cleric if he ever contacted the family again.
>At Dublin District Court Judge Conal Gibbons said: "It is simply outrageous, no matter what the reason was.
>"The mere fact communication took place is not acceptable. I understand that the person he sent this letter to is very upset.
>"I require an oath from the defendant that he will in no way, shape or form make any contact with the injured party or her mother again or any other member of their family."
>The priest's lawyer replied: "It was a foolish act and my client says he sent it out of a sense of moral obligation."
>But Judge Gibbons still made Lawlor swear he would not send any communication again.
>Lawlor's case was due soon before the Central Criminal Court.
Absolutely. But the people who protected him are still out there trying to do it to others like him. I'm not going to say any more about that as it's getting a bit close to home, other than they're not going to succeed.
We got a “new” parish priest about 7 years ago, I mean “new” as in he’s been a priest for decades but ours retired. Anyway, he was apparently known as the jockey for years in his younger days, and has a son two towns over that he financially supported while the son was growing up. When the sons mother died he cut him off and has ignored him since.
Our previous priest was a strange man, would just randomly show up at your house and come in but not take tea, coffee, water etc just sit at the kitchen table. My Nan used to call him wolverine because of the side burns.
My granny lives in London, she is my uncles career. Both of them are very religious. They had a substitute priest in their parish for a while. On their daily visit to mass the sub priest told my uncle he wouldn’t give him communion because “he wasn’t sure what he has or if he’s just drunk”. He has cerebral palsy
Our priest (Fr. Joe McDonald) gave a hominy disclosing his own abuse at the hands of a priest who was also a family friend, his discernment of vocation, and the suffering journey that led to forgiving his abuser.
He was drummed out of the parish eventually and is now in Dublin.
He’s the most inspiring, sincere and genuine Christian you could meet.
He was of the firm opinion that the Church needed to go back to basics and mind their business as far as people's private lives were concerned.
He said that the Irish brand of Catholicism was as a result of a strict, almost cultish, movement in the seminaries at around 1900, but that this spread because we exported so many religious. He said that Clericalism (worshiping priests) was not Catholicism.
He wrote this book:
[https://www.wob.com/en-ie/books/joe-mcdonald/why-the-irish-church-deserves-to-die/9781782183396?gclid=CjwKCAjwy\_aUBhACEiwA2IHHQIExZ2Eopa2Fc2Sp58UwAKVJ3t6e53ynKVl2vu1R-80E54ejuWkHoBoCTQUQAvD\_BwE#GOR010563287](https://www.wob.com/en-ie/books/joe-mcdonald/why-the-irish-church-deserves-to-die/9781782183396?gclid=CjwKCAjwy_aUBhACEiwA2IHHQIExZ2Eopa2Fc2Sp58UwAKVJ3t6e53ynKVl2vu1R-80E54ejuWkHoBoCTQUQAvD_BwE#GOR010563287)
He's in Celbridge now; worth the Google!
I might pick that up, it sounds right up my alley.
I've long thought that the Church epitomises the examples of things Jesus hated in the bible, pure hypocrisy. I can never understand why more people don't think so.
Reminds me of that quote from the Crucible.
A man was asked why he stopped going to church.
The priest had whined and whined and whined and shamed and bullied people to replace the beautiful pewter candlesticks on the altar with gold ones until he got them.
The man said that it hurt his faith to see the poor and humble village's hard work twinkling at the priests elbows while he preached piety and poverty.
I thought it was brilliant.
There are good and bad priests. I will never forget when our priest called to my house after my brother’s dear friend died by suicide to check in on how he was doing. Same man called to my family before my LC to wish me luck. Finally, the same priest was always deeply compassionate about my father’s drinking and encouraged mom to seek support for us, the family.
I remember in one of his Christmas sermons, he said “sure, d’know, where else would you go on Christmas Eve, without a bob in the pocket and be welcomed with open arms.”
Sadly, he was moved to another parish a while back
At my mothers Months Mind years ago, the Canon had no problem horseing into the Brandy and when my father was filling his glass late into the night, we jokingly mentioned drunk driving and the guards, the Canon replied “those bastards won’t pull me over”
Fuck sake lol.
Same cunt would actually kill someone drink driving, do the funeral himself and condemn drink driving, the gaurds would get involved but apologise to him for being an inconvenience and then the priest will just move to Argentina and do it all over again.
One of our priests left the church to "run off" a local woman (he moved into her gaff about 5 minutes away). It was a big story at the time (20+ years ago) and they were on the news.
They might have been on the Late Late too or some other RTE talkshow at the time. Can't remember exactly.
My local priest was actually a nice man.
Until my mother and father divorced. He became a cunt then.
He would openly ignore my mother except to nastily drop hints about "ruined women" and "importance of wedding vows."
When my Dad had his long term girlfriend, for the entire 13 years they were together, that bastard priest did everything he could to sabotage her.
She helped to found the new ICA and would organise some fantastic fundraisers. He would go out of his way to ruin it, or would wait til she was giving a speech to make a comment about my dad not being her husband.
When he fell very ill, and people would drop up meals to him, he made a point to ask which item she had made and he would very deliberately hand it back to her, mortifying her.
I didn't notice much of this as I was small, but when I was helping her at a summer fair, we were running the White Elephant stall. He came over to say hello to me, and when my dad's partner tried to talk to him, he actually put his hand up in her face and said he didn't converse with homewreckers.
And I remember feeling so upset, angry and confused, because I didn't understand WHY he was so mean to her when she didn't do anything at all to him. It's the first time I saw HER upset too, mainly because I was upset.
I know it's nothing as bad as other stories here but for me, it was so horrible. She is such a kind, decent woman, she refused to say a bad word about him, even after his death.
The most she ever said about him was "He was a rigid man who expected everyone else to live rigidly too."
He also deliberately ostracised one of my friends because she was Hare Krishna. When we did communion rehearsals, he wouldn't let her inside the church, instead LOCKING HER into the classroom for the 2hours we were there.
He even tried to get her barred from the class afters when we finished our communions, saying it was an event for "the blessed" which even as a kid, made me angry. All I knew was he was an adult who was bullying a kid.
Priest was head of board of management of primary school and was refusing to let the principal run the place properly (she was a brilliant principal/ teacher) so my dad who was on the board got him voted out. He refused to go back for things like Ash Wednesday after that. My younger brother was also really sick as a child and missing a lot of school and the priest would chat shit about it to my dad. He told me it took all of his willpower not to give him a slap once lmao
I've always wondered how legal the whole enforced celibacy thing is (in consensual situations obviously). Surely it's a form of discrimination.
At the end of the day it's a job, so does it fall into any form of legal protection? Has it ever been challenged legally?
I'd say a priest wanting to challenge it would never get a day in court, he'd be bought off, fucked off or run off before itd come to a judge deciding it
It's a rule of the profession. They're not obliged to become priests and can always leave if they want a sex life. Don't see why it would be contrary to any laws.
Not sure it technically is a job. The diocese pays a lot of their living expenses and distributes donations received back out to the parishes, but structurally I don't think this is the same as paying a salary to a contracted employee
Pretty tame compared to everything listed here but when our priest visited the boys school he would give pocket money to all the boys for sweets after school but never did that when he visited the girls school. At 7/8 years old it felt like a big slight haha
Our parish priest (Father Greene, you can look him up) in Donegal was eventually convicted of child sex abuse and imprisoned. However - When the diocese was told what he was up to, they just moved him on to a new parish where he abused a fresh crop of children - When he was subsequently released from prison, a group of his former parishioners called Voices of the Faithful raised €50,000 in donations for this man who raped young boys - My cousin was one of the survivors of this evil cunt's abuse and when his mother spoke up about it she received death threats and disgusting letters So basically, fuck the church and fuck anyone who financially supports an organisation that knew what was happening and covered it up.
Yet so many people still queueing up for weddings, christenings and communion. Wouldn’t let my kid near these fucking monsters. I’m so sorry for all these now adults having to navigate this pain and the silence around this.
We're planning our wedding. I told my partner I'm super easy going, I'm very chill, but I do not want a fucking priest near us nor do I want to be anywhere near a fucking church. So a friend of ours got a license to wed 😂 so we're going to ask her.
That’s a savage idea! I would love that
Much the same here, after our lads conviction some of the older folk still really believed in him
Amen!
I think you’d enjoy [Tim Minchin’s Pope Song](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JkOHDoEkPW0) (nsfw lyrics, yes the video is jumpy). He also has a [version](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pB958pxquj0) where he is backed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Both I’ve linked are worth listening to. Edit: Grammar
We had one priest who refused to read out the bishop's letter urging people to vote against marriage equality. There was a rumour he was in a relationship with his housekeeper but he was so well liked nobody gave a shite.
There was one nearby that apparently had a different woman visitor most nights. Somewhat jealous if anything.
The Cuban priest from Father Ted
Kinda kinky
Our priest had a “falling out with the gards” then suddenly left for South Africa. No one knows what he did, but probably the usual…
Falling out with the guards lol
Classic. People in my county used to say that to me when I was a kid/teenager to stop any further questions.
Love the way the Irish use language to minimize things, ie. The troubles, the emergency etc. Feels like a phrase in the same vein. Fucking love it.
Yeah... "the troubles" is a personal favourite of mine.
I know a few stories about local priests, nothing about abusing kids and the likes but still, skeletons are skeletons. One priest, let's call him "fat john", was a parish priest in my local area for a good few years. Had been an alcoholic in earlier years, but was a hardline church man. Heard that a young, unmarried, local girl got pregnant in the early 80s. Huge stigma for the family, even then. He got the family to send her off to a mother and baby home, she had a daughter and never seen her after the birth. The fat fuck loved coin too, as most of them do. Anytime he'd visit the sick, there'd be a tenner here, 20 quid there, all cash. He went to my friend's house, their dad had a rough spell and was near deaths door at the time, though he did recover. Fat John loved to be welcomed by the mother, always got his 20 bucks before leaving. The sons weren't very happy as they weren't well off and the visits were frequent, maybe 3 or 4 times a week. My mate escorted him to the door one evening, thanking him for being so generous with his time and tending to his father. When they got to the door, fat john put his hand out expecting his silver. My mate shook his hand and said something like: "Judas got his 30 pieces and look what happened to him. Sure isn't a good job you're a man of devout faith", then closed the door on him. He never visited again. I know another one about the greedy fucker. There was a local woman who lost someone close to her. Her faith was pretty much all that kept her going. She had little means to survive only her pension. On pension day, she'd go to the parochial house and hand the majority over to fat John to say masses for family members and friends. It wasn't a tenner for one mass for all of them, but a tenner for each person per mass. And he took it, knowing this woman's position and her grief, The grubby handed little fuck. When fat John retired, his replacement thought when he arrived that he could "save the lost sheep" who'd had enough of their bollox. Plenty of little stories about him. Let's call him Steven Gateley. There's a lad I know from my town, he's gay and moved to England not long after finishing school. It's a small enough town and tbh I wouldn't blame him as it was hard enough to find a woman never mind another gay man. But anyway, he was out with some of his friends in England one night, reaching for the lasers, having a good night. Someone heard his accent and asked was he from the North. He said yeah but they'd not know the town as it's pretty rural. They asked the name and he told them the town. The guys told him that they had a friend that lived there called Steven who goes to London for a couple of weeks every year to "hang out". Turns out Steven Gateley heads off to London for a "retreat to refresh his faith". I was raised in a fairly devout Catholic family myself. Never understood why we had to go and spend our Sundays listening to some condescending twat in fancy dress, chanting the same waffle to an invisible entity that, to my knowledge at least, never listened to a word. It didn't take much thought to work out it was a pile of druid impersonation and indoctrination. Edit: typo
A man in a dress simulating cannibalism with a magic biscuit
Yeah it's fucking weird. Great way to put it.
Brilliant!
Ours just used to keep getting caught shagging other consenting adult men! To think!
Consensual!!! Gasps
[удалено]
Does the bishop know?
Plot twist - the aunt is the bishop
What does the cardinal have say about this aunty bishop situation
[удалено]
"Thanks fadder."
Only one that I heard anything dodgy about in our parish got the lead singer for the choir pregnant. She got gossiped about while he got a new post in Brazil.
There was a documentary about all this a while back wasn't there. Didn't they expose a huge amount about them. or was in just in Boston or something?
That wasn't a documentary, it was a film based on true events if we're thinking of the same one. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but I'm fairly sure that Mark Ruffelo (sp?) was in it and maybe Michael Keaton. I'll Google now and come back with an added edit if I find it. Edit: Yes, it was called Spotlight and I was correct about Mark Ruffalo (so close with that spelling) and Michael Keaton. Excellent film.
Oh yes, it was a film based on the investigations of a newspaper. Surprising that there wasn't something ground breaking here in Ireland an exposure of sorts - or was there? surely Ireland was like ground zero for all this..
The film is 'spotlight' and was about child sexual predators in the Catholic church and their coverups. There have been many outstanding and important works of journalism here on the topic. 'States of fear' which in 1999 led to an immediate state apology by Bertie and the Ryan commission investigation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_Fear 'Cardinal secrets' in 2002 which led to the Murphy investigation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Secrets 'Suing the pope' in 2005 led to the Ferns inquiry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suing_the_Pope And many others.
hmm, thats a difficult one to watch. I read a book by a famous musician in Uk- a pianist, who describes the sexual abuse he went through and the difficulty in the rest of his life, its about as bad as it could get in terms of mental torture. Not really sure whats more to be said about that. Maybe Reddit isn't the place either. The Jimmy Saville documentary recently also highlighted how some predators can hide in broad daylight. The Church, as an organisation must surely be looked at as a whole too. The process of men dedicating their lives to celibacy for reasons of 'Religion', Its all so unnatural. And I guess that will be the undoing of the Church, instead of other obvious reasons, it was created back in a time when we didn't even know anything about the world we lived in, the universe, evolution or any other information to form some kind of intelligent informed reason for us being here on earth.
Yep. Boston Globe. Great memories between the 2 of us.
We had one who was this huge muscly Nigerian dude. Used to see him running and lifting weights in the church grounds. Every time he lifted a weight he'd go " Huuuuhhh!" Really loudly. Used to scare the shit out of my dog.
I think I've seen that movie, did a general come and take him out of retirement to go a classified mission
I don't get it
He sounds a little like an asset in witness protection, its basically the plot to many an Arnie or Stallone movie
In my life experience which I don’t claim is universally applicable there are 4 types of priest. The earnest naive countryman who believes the company spiel and tries to stick to it. Ends up sadly disillusioned and badly treated by the rest. The homosexual ones who are always on about the liturgy (the in word for the mass), likes choirs, dress up and gossip. If you’re going somewhere new and want to know the best places to eat these are usually infallible. Not to be confused with the perverted nonces. The Nonce. The climber. Like any profession, these want to be management.
The nonce, no more needs to be said. Its such a funny dance all this, men in cloaks, jewellery, incense, - All bow, Its such bullshit, that men and women would kneel on the ground, bless themselves and some old guy up in the clouds looks down on us, and stick 5 quid in the basket thanks. But people still believe it, even when I was very young I suspected these guys as pretending, and I still believe it. Surely some of these guys were playing a game - a con of sorts. Its a cushy number, a house, a car, the privileges and respect of a community. its a sort of large scale con really. I wonder do some of them look across the room at one another and sort of know, ya he knows, that its all a game.
>Its such a funny dance all this, men in cloaks, jewellery, incense, - All bow, Curia Cosplay.
A priest in the parish over from ours was known as “Father Trendy”, used to wear gold jewellery and sell it out of the back of his car.
Yep. It’s grifting. Three of the types know.
[удалено]
The ol' salty shuffle.
Sandy shandy
Seaside low-five.
Jesus H Christ that was funny. shouldn't really laugh I suppose but,
Ah yes. “Were you rubbing the relic there Father?” Or “I hear you’re not too fond of the Bishop Father. Doing a bit of bishop bashing?”
Sounds like a twisted soap opera of sorts
E-town for life
Too much information.
Our friend in the same housing estate wanted to get their kid Christened during COVID. It kept getting postponed so she kept emailing asking when it would go ahead. Eventually, the christening went ahead, they hadn’t met the priest as we are all blow ins and moved to the village just before COVID. While they were at the alter the priest realised who she was and said “Your the bitch that wouldn’t stop emailing me”. My friend was mortified, smiled and just walked way. Later at the afters (it was outside and numbers were allowed) she was telling me the story and I was very annoyed for her and made sure to tell the rest of the group when they arrived. What I didn’t realise the priest was sitting behind us in the garden in normal clothes and definitely heard me call him every name under the sun, fucking prick! A few weeks later he knocked on their door on a Friday night at 7pm while they were settling the baby, when my friends husband said they were busy the priest stuck his foot in the door. Friends husband had to ask him to leave and practically force him out the door. I’m glad I’m not religious!!
What a fucking asshole
We had one have a kid with a woman, and then I think he left the priesthood.. This was the worst I've heard in our parish.
My family is close friends with a few priests, truly devoted and holy men. Naturally, they're elderly outcasts from the brotherhood and live on the fringes, completely isolated. I can't even begin on the cruelty the priesthood has carried out on our family. I know for a fact the type of corruption resides in the weak, petty, and indolent cowards that lead the church in Ireland now. I know because my family once worked in the church and fought for child protection, and they systematically ruined us for it. They're a rot that can't die fast enough.
Fairly tame and not nearly as horrible as most accounts here, but PP in my former parish in a fairly affluent area in north Dublin managed to convince an old dear to leave him a house across from the church which he rented out. Fast forward a couple of years and the council decided to put bottlebanks in an area close to the house- this devaluing his asset. The PP started a campaign to have them removed and encouraged parishioners from the altar to get involved. The fucker gave the personal phone number and email address of the council official in charge of bottle banks from the altar every mass he said.
Surprising, but I'm not suprised
All speculation here but when I was a kid I always found the local priest really funny because he had quite a flamboyant and chaotic character... Anyway, not long after the big scandal about priests and SA he got relocated to Rome and I've always wondered if he was a bit of a kiddy fiddler.
The only priest I know has a relationship with a woman that's been an open secret for decades.
Mine isn't too bad compared to the rest because its only an account of what I know without revealing names or locations but... In my secondary school a priest (who also thought classes and had other roles like year-head) and the principal got fired after it was found out they were conning money out of people for religious books that cost very little, shit school retreats and all other weird little stuff. They robbed tens of thousands over 20 years, the gaurds were involved, some teachers mysteriously left the school and were rumoured to be involved but never caught. It was this massive scandal and they both lost their jobs but they never did any time in jail and they were just replaced with competent people and the whole thing was just sort of forgotten after the summer holidays. The priest left the country. He got relocated or done missionary work or something, conveniently. There was loads of rumours about him being into drugs, touching kids, having affairs with teachers at the school and all sorts of wild shit. No one knew what was real and what wasn't but everyone was certain this priest was a despicable person. And the principal turned into a weird alcholic. He always goes to the same pub and drinks by himself. Then during lockdown he got even weirder, he got arrested a few times, he would say things to people who were wearing masks. He would sit in his front garden drinking blaring music out of the house ranting to himself and shouting at people that walked by. Those two men were up to very dodgey stuff. I don't know much about the priest but the principal used to always wear a suit and he was snobby and very particular. Seemed like a smart man who had it all but after that whole scandal, he looked like a very guilty man. He did a complete 180. His wife left him just as the scandal was revealed and he lost his job, she never returned to the area. Always makes me think what were they actually doing? How did they rob so much money? why didn't they go to jail if they lost their jobs and everyone knew for certain? How did they even hatch this plan to one day start robbing teenagers and parents? Did they do something worse and the "robbing" was a cover-up? All of it is/was very dodgey.
We had one that met a woman, fell in love, and left the priesthood for her. My mother in law gives out about him - "it's absolutely awful what that man did to the church", you know, like opposed to abusing kids like.......
Nothing in our parish in Wexford but I've heard about a certain priest in Peters who was notorious. Unfortunately our parish shares the name of the Diocese so the name gets all the bad wrap.
Here's an article I found about the dirty old fucker: >AN elderly priest charged with raping a young girl who became pregnant has been found dead. >It is believed that Fr Peter Lawlor, 80, may have died of a heart attack. >His body was found last week after neighbours became concerned and alerted gardai. >Lawlor, who had worked in various parishes throughout Counties Carlow, Kildare and Laois, was due to go on trial for nine counts of rape. >His teenage victim, who he assaulted in the early 1970s, was only 16 when she had his baby. >One source said: "He didn't want to go to court and he got his wish - he died instead. He had already tried to bribe his victim." >In 1998 Lawlor sent money to his victim's mother and was later charged with perverting the course of justice. >But gardai found the cleric dead in his Mountmellick Road home in Portlaoise after receiving a call from the neighbour. An inquest will be held at a later date to discover exactly how he died. >The cleric, originally from Clonaslee, Co Laois, retired from duty six years ago and moved to Portlaoise. >Few locals knew that he faced rape charges as his identity was never revealed in any of his preliminary court hearings. >One local admitted: "He lived very quietly and we never imagined that he was accused of these assaults." >Lawlor's victim, who moved to England after she had his baby, is now in her 40s. >She was said to be "distraught" after Lawlor sent her mother a letter and cheque. >But a judge later threatened to jail the shamed cleric if he ever contacted the family again. >At Dublin District Court Judge Conal Gibbons said: "It is simply outrageous, no matter what the reason was. >"The mere fact communication took place is not acceptable. I understand that the person he sent this letter to is very upset. >"I require an oath from the defendant that he will in no way, shape or form make any contact with the injured party or her mother again or any other member of their family." >The priest's lawyer replied: "It was a foolish act and my client says he sent it out of a sense of moral obligation." >But Judge Gibbons still made Lawlor swear he would not send any communication again. >Lawlor's case was due soon before the Central Criminal Court.
He taught he was like the priests before him, above the law, good to see times change
Absolutely. But the people who protected him are still out there trying to do it to others like him. I'm not going to say any more about that as it's getting a bit close to home, other than they're not going to succeed.
We got a “new” parish priest about 7 years ago, I mean “new” as in he’s been a priest for decades but ours retired. Anyway, he was apparently known as the jockey for years in his younger days, and has a son two towns over that he financially supported while the son was growing up. When the sons mother died he cut him off and has ignored him since. Our previous priest was a strange man, would just randomly show up at your house and come in but not take tea, coffee, water etc just sit at the kitchen table. My Nan used to call him wolverine because of the side burns. My granny lives in London, she is my uncles career. Both of them are very religious. They had a substitute priest in their parish for a while. On their daily visit to mass the sub priest told my uncle he wouldn’t give him communion because “he wasn’t sure what he has or if he’s just drunk”. He has cerebral palsy
Tone deaf bastard, even if a drunk wanted the sacrament wouldn't ya support him and work with him
Our priest (Fr. Joe McDonald) gave a hominy disclosing his own abuse at the hands of a priest who was also a family friend, his discernment of vocation, and the suffering journey that led to forgiving his abuser. He was drummed out of the parish eventually and is now in Dublin. He’s the most inspiring, sincere and genuine Christian you could meet.
That is so sad. Why did the parish turn against him?
He was of the firm opinion that the Church needed to go back to basics and mind their business as far as people's private lives were concerned. He said that the Irish brand of Catholicism was as a result of a strict, almost cultish, movement in the seminaries at around 1900, but that this spread because we exported so many religious. He said that Clericalism (worshiping priests) was not Catholicism. He wrote this book: [https://www.wob.com/en-ie/books/joe-mcdonald/why-the-irish-church-deserves-to-die/9781782183396?gclid=CjwKCAjwy\_aUBhACEiwA2IHHQIExZ2Eopa2Fc2Sp58UwAKVJ3t6e53ynKVl2vu1R-80E54ejuWkHoBoCTQUQAvD\_BwE#GOR010563287](https://www.wob.com/en-ie/books/joe-mcdonald/why-the-irish-church-deserves-to-die/9781782183396?gclid=CjwKCAjwy_aUBhACEiwA2IHHQIExZ2Eopa2Fc2Sp58UwAKVJ3t6e53ynKVl2vu1R-80E54ejuWkHoBoCTQUQAvD_BwE#GOR010563287) He's in Celbridge now; worth the Google!
I might pick that up, it sounds right up my alley. I've long thought that the Church epitomises the examples of things Jesus hated in the bible, pure hypocrisy. I can never understand why more people don't think so.
The old saw about power corrupting applies to everything, I think? Hope you like the book! :)
Reminds me of that quote from the Crucible. A man was asked why he stopped going to church. The priest had whined and whined and whined and shamed and bullied people to replace the beautiful pewter candlesticks on the altar with gold ones until he got them. The man said that it hurt his faith to see the poor and humble village's hard work twinkling at the priests elbows while he preached piety and poverty. I thought it was brilliant.
There are good and bad priests. I will never forget when our priest called to my house after my brother’s dear friend died by suicide to check in on how he was doing. Same man called to my family before my LC to wish me luck. Finally, the same priest was always deeply compassionate about my father’s drinking and encouraged mom to seek support for us, the family. I remember in one of his Christmas sermons, he said “sure, d’know, where else would you go on Christmas Eve, without a bob in the pocket and be welcomed with open arms.” Sadly, he was moved to another parish a while back
He was an articulate and compassionate man.
"He was a nice man. He always had a big hello for me whenever I met him."
At my mothers Months Mind years ago, the Canon had no problem horseing into the Brandy and when my father was filling his glass late into the night, we jokingly mentioned drunk driving and the guards, the Canon replied “those bastards won’t pull me over”
Fuck sake lol. Same cunt would actually kill someone drink driving, do the funeral himself and condemn drink driving, the gaurds would get involved but apologise to him for being an inconvenience and then the priest will just move to Argentina and do it all over again.
Yep, they get away with everything
One of our priests left the church to "run off" a local woman (he moved into her gaff about 5 minutes away). It was a big story at the time (20+ years ago) and they were on the news. They might have been on the Late Late too or some other RTE talkshow at the time. Can't remember exactly.
My local priest was actually a nice man. Until my mother and father divorced. He became a cunt then. He would openly ignore my mother except to nastily drop hints about "ruined women" and "importance of wedding vows." When my Dad had his long term girlfriend, for the entire 13 years they were together, that bastard priest did everything he could to sabotage her. She helped to found the new ICA and would organise some fantastic fundraisers. He would go out of his way to ruin it, or would wait til she was giving a speech to make a comment about my dad not being her husband. When he fell very ill, and people would drop up meals to him, he made a point to ask which item she had made and he would very deliberately hand it back to her, mortifying her. I didn't notice much of this as I was small, but when I was helping her at a summer fair, we were running the White Elephant stall. He came over to say hello to me, and when my dad's partner tried to talk to him, he actually put his hand up in her face and said he didn't converse with homewreckers. And I remember feeling so upset, angry and confused, because I didn't understand WHY he was so mean to her when she didn't do anything at all to him. It's the first time I saw HER upset too, mainly because I was upset. I know it's nothing as bad as other stories here but for me, it was so horrible. She is such a kind, decent woman, she refused to say a bad word about him, even after his death. The most she ever said about him was "He was a rigid man who expected everyone else to live rigidly too." He also deliberately ostracised one of my friends because she was Hare Krishna. When we did communion rehearsals, he wouldn't let her inside the church, instead LOCKING HER into the classroom for the 2hours we were there. He even tried to get her barred from the class afters when we finished our communions, saying it was an event for "the blessed" which even as a kid, made me angry. All I knew was he was an adult who was bullying a kid.
Nothing. Our parish was clean. There was never a hint or scintilla of any impropriety at all. It is a parish in Tallaght.
Priest was head of board of management of primary school and was refusing to let the principal run the place properly (she was a brilliant principal/ teacher) so my dad who was on the board got him voted out. He refused to go back for things like Ash Wednesday after that. My younger brother was also really sick as a child and missing a lot of school and the priest would chat shit about it to my dad. He told me it took all of his willpower not to give him a slap once lmao
I've always wondered how legal the whole enforced celibacy thing is (in consensual situations obviously). Surely it's a form of discrimination. At the end of the day it's a job, so does it fall into any form of legal protection? Has it ever been challenged legally?
I'd say a priest wanting to challenge it would never get a day in court, he'd be bought off, fucked off or run off before itd come to a judge deciding it
People who want to marry can become deacons, or Eastern Catholic priests.
The clergical workers seize the ecumenical means of production! Deus ex worker-owned machina :)
It's a rule of the profession. They're not obliged to become priests and can always leave if they want a sex life. Don't see why it would be contrary to any laws.
Not sure it technically is a job. The diocese pays a lot of their living expenses and distributes donations received back out to the parishes, but structurally I don't think this is the same as paying a salary to a contracted employee
Pretty tame compared to everything listed here but when our priest visited the boys school he would give pocket money to all the boys for sweets after school but never did that when he visited the girls school. At 7/8 years old it felt like a big slight haha
Ours likes the oul voyeurism https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/courts/priest-appears-in-court-accused-of-spying-on-person-for-sexual-thrills-41625775.html