Irish Bishops Ignore Homosexual Problems in Irish Seminary
By Rodney Pelletier
MAYNOOTH, Ireland (ChurchMilitant.com) - Ireland's Catholic hierarchy is ignoring the homosexual infestation of Maynooth seminary, instead claiming the solution to recent scandal is more women and less internet. Despite recent public exposure of St. Patrick Seminary — the national seminary for Ireland — as being a hotbed of homosexual activity, a recent meeting of the trustees reveals a failure to deal with the source of scandal: homosexuality. The trustees of St. Patrick Seminary — a group of the four archbishops of Ireland and 13 senior bishops — met on August 23 to discuss "the needs of the students and staff." They claim the anonymous reporting of accusations has created an "unhealthy atmosphere," causing social media comments to be "speculative or even malicious." To address the situation the trustees are deciding to review policies currently in place to determine the best way to deal with "whistle-blowers," and revise seminary policy regarding "appropriate use" of the internet and social media. A component of the seminary's recent scandal is frequent and open usage of the gay online dating app., Grindr, by gay seminarians. They are also establishing "a subcommittee to examine ... the pastoral needs of priestly training in contemporary Ireland," adding a comment by Pope Francis from his encyclical, "Joy of Love." He states, "The presence of lay people, families and especially the presence of women in priestly formation, promotes an appreciation of the diversity and complementarity of the different vocations in the Church." ChurchMilitant.com reported in June how seminarians were kicked out when they complained their professor — who was a Catholic priest — professed he didn't believe in the True Presence of the Holy Eucharist; or how in 2015 seminarians were dismissed for being too "theologically rigid," while others were sent packing when they expressed their preference to kneel for the Consecration at Mass. It was also reported a seminarian went to the Irish National Police to accuse his vocation director — a priest — of abusive behavior. He alleges the priest inappropriately touched him multiple times, asked questions about his sexuality, and told offensive and sexually graphic jokes. He comments, "When I was in Maynooth there was an atmosphere of neurotic fear among seminarians who loved the Church and wanted to be holy priests. Seminarians felt they had no support from their bishops in relation to voicing their concerns about problems with priests or formation programs in the seminary. This type of atmosphere protects and enables abusers." In reaction to the scandal, Dublin archbishop Diarmuid Martin — one of Maynooth's trustees — decided to remove his three seminarians, instead sending them to the Irish College in Rome. He commented, "I've never criticized the teaching in Maynooth, this is something people have said is behind my activity, that isn't what I've been talking about at all." Rather, he notes, "It seems like a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around. I don't think this is a good place for students." He recently commented, "I offered, initially, to provide a person — totally independent person — and that they could go and in all confidence provide the evidence that they had — this is for whistleblowers. And the answer to that was simply more anonymous letters. That's not a healthy culture."
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.