SCOTLAND
Christian Today
Mark Woods CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 20 April 2015
A Roman Catholic priest in Scotland who alleged there was a culture of sexual bullying in seminaries stretching back decades has been found guilty by a Church tribunal of injuring the reputation of the Church and its clergy.
The church of St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, where Fr Matthew Despard was priest.
Father Matthew Despard, who was suspended from his parish at St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, made the claims in a self-published book entitled ‘Priesthood in Crisis’.
The e-book has been removed from sale on Amazon’s Kindle service following legal threats by priests who said they had been defamed, but its description says that it is “a story of one priest’s experience in the priesthood and his efforts to live out his vocation honourably despite his awareness of corruption in parts of the Church that he loves”.
Fr Despard alleged that a “powerful gay Mafia” was at work. He said that as a trainee priest he was approached inappropriately and that other seminarians who spurned the advances of others were bullied.
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