Sunday, September 30, 2007
The Priest Whisperer
At what point does a priest decide it's time to get his own lawyer?
What if what's best for the Catholic Church isn't the best for say, uh... someone like John Urell. I really don't know, I'm just asking.
Something has gone terribly wrong here, and John Urell is in a heap of trouble and needs some help and I don't mean Southdown Institute help.
What we need here folks is a Priest Whisperer so maybe then John Urell could tell us what the problem is. Blink once for yes and twice for no John.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
It aint no big thang...
500 Irish priests 'having regular sex with women
By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
At least 500 women in Ireland are conducting clandestine affairs with Roman Catholic priests, according to the leader of a support group set up to look after those in forbidden relationships.
An indication of the extent of illicit sexual relationships within the church was given after it was disclosed that Fr Maurice "Mossy" Dillane, 73, had fathered a child with his 31-year-old girlfriend.
Bishop Pat Buckley said an extremely conservative estimate was that one in 10 of the 5,000 Catholic priests in Ireland enjoyed regular sex with women and some even referred to their clerical collar as the "bird catcher".
Studies had shown that 80 per cent of priests had broken their vows of celibacy on at least one occasion, he said.
Bishop Buckley runs the Bethany organisation in Larne, Co Antrim, which he set up to provide support to those in love affairs with the clergy.
Described as Ireland's rebel bishop, Bishop Buckley was sidelined by the Catholic church in the mid-1980s when he pursued his own ministry for those who felt alienated by the traditional church.
When the statistics were widened to take in practising homosexuals, Bishop Buckley said up to 40 per cent of the Catholic clergy in Ireland were sexually active.
Counselling sessions organised by Bethany have disclosed that several women were unwittingly having sex with the same priest.
He claimed the church's hierarchy was prepared to turn a blind eye to sexual indiscretion because it was so widespread. "Bishops are caught between Rome and the priests and, of course, some of the bishops are in the same position (i.e. having relationships)," he said.
"From the top down it is hypocritical. We are preaching compulsory celibacy, but very few are living it."
He said he had met 147 women who had joined Bethany in order to share their stories of adultery and priestly promiscuity.
Romances between an understanding man of God and an unloved wife were commonplace, as were priests and their housekeepers secretly living together as man and wife while relationships between priests and nuns were unofficially known as the "third way" by the church.
Bishop Buckley said Fr Dillane and the mother of his child had nothing to be ashamed of and urged them to come out of the safe houses where they have been hiding since news of their relationship swept through Ireland.
The case of Fr Dillane, a sociable and charismatic priest from Co Galway, has been greeted with a tolerance that was absent 14-years ago when Bishop Eamon Casey, the Bishop of Galway, was disclosed as the father of a teenage son by an American divorcee, Annie Murphy. He was forced to apologise when it emerged that he had siphoned £70,000 from the diocese for their upkeep.
Bishop Buckley has been a long-standing campaigner against compulsory celibacy and points to a recent Irish survey suggesting that 90 per cent of the population thought clergy should be allowed to marry. He also believes that enforced celibacy is an unnatural state that could be to blame for the sexual deviancy that led to the child abuse scandal that erupted in Ireland last year.
"Some priests are in the Jack the lad mould and have several relationships in various parishes. I have heard priests refer to their clerical collar as the bird catcher," Bishop Buckley said.
The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland declined to comment on Bishop Buckley's claims.
By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
At least 500 women in Ireland are conducting clandestine affairs with Roman Catholic priests, according to the leader of a support group set up to look after those in forbidden relationships.
An indication of the extent of illicit sexual relationships within the church was given after it was disclosed that Fr Maurice "Mossy" Dillane, 73, had fathered a child with his 31-year-old girlfriend.
Bishop Pat Buckley said an extremely conservative estimate was that one in 10 of the 5,000 Catholic priests in Ireland enjoyed regular sex with women and some even referred to their clerical collar as the "bird catcher".
Studies had shown that 80 per cent of priests had broken their vows of celibacy on at least one occasion, he said.
Bishop Buckley runs the Bethany organisation in Larne, Co Antrim, which he set up to provide support to those in love affairs with the clergy.
Described as Ireland's rebel bishop, Bishop Buckley was sidelined by the Catholic church in the mid-1980s when he pursued his own ministry for those who felt alienated by the traditional church.
When the statistics were widened to take in practising homosexuals, Bishop Buckley said up to 40 per cent of the Catholic clergy in Ireland were sexually active.
Counselling sessions organised by Bethany have disclosed that several women were unwittingly having sex with the same priest.
He claimed the church's hierarchy was prepared to turn a blind eye to sexual indiscretion because it was so widespread. "Bishops are caught between Rome and the priests and, of course, some of the bishops are in the same position (i.e. having relationships)," he said.
"From the top down it is hypocritical. We are preaching compulsory celibacy, but very few are living it."
He said he had met 147 women who had joined Bethany in order to share their stories of adultery and priestly promiscuity.
Romances between an understanding man of God and an unloved wife were commonplace, as were priests and their housekeepers secretly living together as man and wife while relationships between priests and nuns were unofficially known as the "third way" by the church.
Bishop Buckley said Fr Dillane and the mother of his child had nothing to be ashamed of and urged them to come out of the safe houses where they have been hiding since news of their relationship swept through Ireland.
The case of Fr Dillane, a sociable and charismatic priest from Co Galway, has been greeted with a tolerance that was absent 14-years ago when Bishop Eamon Casey, the Bishop of Galway, was disclosed as the father of a teenage son by an American divorcee, Annie Murphy. He was forced to apologise when it emerged that he had siphoned £70,000 from the diocese for their upkeep.
Bishop Buckley has been a long-standing campaigner against compulsory celibacy and points to a recent Irish survey suggesting that 90 per cent of the population thought clergy should be allowed to marry. He also believes that enforced celibacy is an unnatural state that could be to blame for the sexual deviancy that led to the child abuse scandal that erupted in Ireland last year.
"Some priests are in the Jack the lad mould and have several relationships in various parishes. I have heard priests refer to their clerical collar as the bird catcher," Bishop Buckley said.
The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland declined to comment on Bishop Buckley's claims.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Did the singing nun commit suicide
Dear Smoking Jesus:
A friend and I were discussing the fate of the "singing nun," popular for a time in the 60s when we were kids. We agreed she left the convent, entered into a lesbian affair and, in a state of despondency over money matters, committed suicide. But neither of us can remember exactly why. Could you possibly help? --Hethryn Haryse (?), Los Angeles
Smoking Jesus replies:
Let's not make this any more lurid than it already is, Hethryn (or whatever your name is--I swear, what this country really needs is a good course in handwriting). It's true that the "singing nun," also known as Janine (spellings vary) Deckers, committed suicide in Belgium in 1985 along with her companion of ten years, Annie Pecher. However, popular belief on this score notwithstanding, Cecil does not know if the two were lovers, and frankly does not feel it is any of his business. Or, if you don't mind my saying so, of yours.
The two women were in despair because the center for autistic children they had founded had gone under for lack of funds. The Belgian government was also dunning Deckers for back taxes of between $47,000 and $63,000, although she said she had given all her music earnings to her convent. Deckers, who had become a Dominican nun in 1959, recorded "Dominique" as a tribute to the founder of her order. In 1963 it made number one in the U.S., selling 1.5 million copies. Deckers left the convent in 1967 before taking final vows, partly to pursue a recording career, but never repeated her earlier success. After her death at 51 or 52 (the two women washed down massive doses of barbiturates with alcohol).
A friend and I were discussing the fate of the "singing nun," popular for a time in the 60s when we were kids. We agreed she left the convent, entered into a lesbian affair and, in a state of despondency over money matters, committed suicide. But neither of us can remember exactly why. Could you possibly help? --Hethryn Haryse (?), Los Angeles
Smoking Jesus replies:
Let's not make this any more lurid than it already is, Hethryn (or whatever your name is--I swear, what this country really needs is a good course in handwriting). It's true that the "singing nun," also known as Janine (spellings vary) Deckers, committed suicide in Belgium in 1985 along with her companion of ten years, Annie Pecher. However, popular belief on this score notwithstanding, Cecil does not know if the two were lovers, and frankly does not feel it is any of his business. Or, if you don't mind my saying so, of yours.
The two women were in despair because the center for autistic children they had founded had gone under for lack of funds. The Belgian government was also dunning Deckers for back taxes of between $47,000 and $63,000, although she said she had given all her music earnings to her convent. Deckers, who had become a Dominican nun in 1959, recorded "Dominique" as a tribute to the founder of her order. In 1963 it made number one in the U.S., selling 1.5 million copies. Deckers left the convent in 1967 before taking final vows, partly to pursue a recording career, but never repeated her earlier success. After her death at 51 or 52 (the two women washed down massive doses of barbiturates with alcohol).
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