IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
Fr Michael Mullaney has been appointed president of the national seminary, St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, for the next three years as the Catholic bishops announce plans to separate out the seminary from the Pontifical University there. The Pontifical University is a separate entity from NUI Maynooth.
In time, a rector will be appointed to oversee the seminary with a separate office of president appointed to run the associated university.
Last August the college had been at the centre of controversy when it emerged the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said he was no longer going to send seminarians there because of its “poisonous” atmosphere. He said students were accessing gay dating apps and anonymous letters were being circulated accusing seminarians of misconduct.
In June 2016, Fr David Marsden, vocational growth counsellor at St Patrick’s, resigned unexpectedly due chiefly to concerns about theological formation there.
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