A TOP Catholic priest is spending nights in a home he bought with a divorcee. Monsignor Joseph Creegan and Anne Ogden grew close after he was asked to help save her marriage. Friends say her university professor husband Graham blames the priest for the breakdown of their relationship.
The pal said: "He feels the friendship with the monsignor distracted Anne."
The 66-year-old priest and community nurse Anne, 48, took out a joint mortgage on a s335,000 luxury home while she was still married.
The pair also went on a foreign holiday together before Anne was divorced.
Friends say Graham only found out the priest and his wife were close when he returned to his marital home to pick up clothes and they turned up together.
The monsignor last night defended the friendship with Anne and said there is no sexual element in their relationship.
Anne and her husband met Monsignor Creegan at his St Peter & St Paul's parish church in Dundee as they tried to save their 23-year marriage.
They had counselling sessions between March and September 2006 when Graham - one of the UK's leading mouth cancer specialists - gave highly personal information about the relationship.
A friend of Graham, 47, said last night: "He is very upset about how his marriage ended and about the whole issue of the new house.
"The monsignor has befriended a woman 18 years his junior. She has hardly any friends left to speak with because of this.
"Graham is understandably upset that Anne was buying a house with Creegan while they were still married.
"Graham went through the counselling with her and then by himself for dozens of sessions.
"He got to know the monsignor so well that he called him Joe.
"He was acting as a confidant and now he feels betrayed.
"The priest has taken a joint mortgage with a woman who has just been through a bitter divorce and is emotionally unstable as anyone would be."
Monsignor Creegan, a Dundonian who has risen through the ranks to become one of the most senior priests in the country, went on holiday to Italy with the professor's wife last summer - before her divorce was finalised.
They took in a tour of the country that included the Eternal City of Rome, the ancient seat of the Catholic faith.
Shortly afterwards, the pair completed the purchase of the converted steading in Balmerino, near Newport-on-Tay, Fife, for s335,000 in October. The Land Register of Scotland shows a pending disposition with both their names entered on the agreement for January.
Monsignor Creegan spent the night at the property on Friday night alone with Anne.
We confronted him as he left yesterday at lunchtime and at first he denied having stayed in the house overnight.
When pressed, he said: "I did stay here but not in the way you think. This is a three-bedroom house, I have my own room and sometimes I stay over.
"There is no sexual relationship, we are very good friends.
"I only counselled Anne after the break-up.
"In fact, it was Graham who came to me first and asked me to help them.
"I tried to help but I only became friends with Anne after the break-up. To suggest anything else is wrong." When asked about his stake in the home, he said: "You have to be very careful about that. I am helping her have this home.
"She needed my name on the mortgage too and that's the size of it. I'm not telling you why.
"Just because I have a joint mortgage with her doesn't mean I have put money into this house.
"This is a three-bedroom house and I have my own room here. It has nothing to do with you, I don't know why I'm defending this.
"I have been on holiday with Anne, to Italy, where we rented a villa and slept in separate rooms.
"We are friends - there is no sexual relationship here."
Monsignor Creegan is known and respected by Catholics in Tayside and Fife.
He also has a fun-loving side, enjoys regular trips abroad and has a share in a boat called Three's Company.
The title Monsignor is given to priests by the Pope in consultation with local senior clergy.
The Roman Catholic Church believes marriage can never be dissolved or ended by divorce.
Should a Catholic be granted a divorce by a court, they would still be considered wed in the eyes of the church.
They cannot get remarried while their ex-spouse is still alive. Only in extreme cases can Catholics have their marriage annulled.
These circumstances include one or both partners being forced into marriage or lies being told during the vows.
Anne has also been spotted visiting the priest's mortgage-free s200,000 waterside apartment in Dundee.
Complete with a balcony overlooking the River Tay, the flat was bought by the Dunkeld diocese of the Catholic Church.
A spokesman for the church said Monsignor Creegan had spoken to his Bishop Vincent Logan yesterday.
The spokesman said: "Bishop Logan has received no complaints either formally or informally about Monsignor Creegan's alleged relationship with Anne Ogden.
"The Monsignor told him the house in Fife was owned solely by Mrs Ogden. As far as future conduct is concerned, Bishop Logan will keep a watching brief on this situation."
A source said that the Monsignor had agreed not to make any claim of ownership on the property despite the joint mortgage.
Professor Ogden, who sold the s400,000 marital home as part of the settlement with his wife, declined to comment.
'We sleep in separate rooms. There is no sexual relationship.. we are very good friends'
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