SCOTLAND
The Observer

Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 18 May 2013

When news came last week that Cardinal Keith O’Brien was being exiled from Scotland for “prayer and penance”, memories came flooding back to Lenny, the former priest who has accused O’Brien of inappropriate behaviour.

He remembered being a young priest in the 90s and telling O’Brien, then an archbishop, that he could not pledge allegiance to him and was leaving. The cold chill of O’Brien’s disapproval followed him down the path of the archbishop’s official residence and seeped into him in the dole office where he queued for benefits.

Years later, the two were forced to meet again. O’Brien was a cardinal. Lenny reminded him of an unfortunate prank O’Brien had organised when he was spiritual director at Lenny’s seminary. Ah, the cardinal admitted, other staff had later chastised him for bad judgment. “But these days,” he…