SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
Friday 19 September 2014
A PRIEST has claimed a crisis in the Catholic church provoked him to release a controversial book that included allegations of a gay mafia in the priesthood.
Father Matthew Despard said the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien and a lack of leadership from senior church figures last year led to him publishing Priesthood In Crisis, a book he had written three years before.
Cardinal O’Brien resigned from the church in disgrace amid allegations of sexual misconduct from three priests and one former priest.
Father Despard, 49, was later ordered to leave his home at St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, on the orders of the Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal, but he refused.
The civil hearing before Sheriff Joyce Powrie at Hamilton Sheriff Court had earlier heard Father William Nolan deny he targeted Father Despard after being offended by his book. Father Nolan, 60, replaced Father Despard at St John Ogilvie Church following the dispute with Church authorities.
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