Cardinal Keith O’Brien: a victim speaks of sex abuse he suffered as trainee priest

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Friday 15 March 2013

EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal Keith O’Brien is facing legal action stemming from new allegations of sexual misconduct, with a former trainee priest claiming he was abused by the disgraced cleric as a teenager.

The former seminarian, who had known the cardinal since childhood and is the first to speak publicly of his experience, said he had only broken a 30-year silence after recent revelations about the former archbishop’s sexual behaviour made it clear his ordeal was not an isolated episode.

The allegation relates to a period in the 1980s when the man attended a senior seminary college, following four years at Aberdeen’s Blairs College for trainee priests.

He left the priesthood several months after Cardinal O’Brien, who was then rector of Blairs, allegedly groped and kissed him during a visit to the unnamed seminary.

Speaking exclusively to The Herald, the former seminarian, who is now in his 50s and has asked to remain anonymous, said he had instigated legal proceedings against both the cardinal and the Catholic Church.

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