A Catholic priest at the centre of a gay mafia row is being
pressurised to resign as parish priest after a three-year battle with
the church.Father Matthew Despard was sent a three-page letter from Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal, calling for him to quit his post at St John Ogilvie’s Parish in Blantyre.
Father Despard wrote a book claiming that a “powerful gay mafia” was operating at the top of the Catholic Church in Scotland and was responsible for sexual bullying.
The Amazon-published book, Priesthood in Crisis, was later withdrawn from sale.
It’s understood that the 52-year-old priest was expected to resign before the Tuesday deadline set by the bishop.
The missive hit out at Fr Despard, who was ordered to leave the parish house last year after a legal battle with the Diocese of Motherwell.
Bishop Toal wrote: “This caused considerable scandal which affected the church in general but in particular the parish of St John Ogilvie… and some of whose parishioners were written about in a derogatory manner in the book.
“Your behaviour on being called to account for publishing such a book caused serious division in the parish and showed disregard for authority.”
He also said a church investigation into his behaviour found him guilty of behaviour “unbecoming” of a priest.
The bishop added: “From the evidence… you seemed to have clashed with parishioners in a manner that caused them to leave the parish distressed and offended by the way they had been treated.”
Bishop Toal said the publication of the book was “a grave violation of your duty of care towards your parishioners and a serious wounding of their good name”.
He added: “It caused great unrest within the parish and across the whole diocesan community.
“This cannot be denied in any way and because of that, I do not want you to return to ministry in this parish.”
Fr Despard declined to comment, but one of his supporters, Helen Duddy, said: “He feels he hasn’t got any other option than to resign. I think it’s been a kangaroo court and he hasn’t been able to respond or defend himself.
“The parishioners haven’t had the full story from the church. It’s been very one-sided.”
Fr Despard’s infirm parents face losing the home in Motherwell they have lived in for more than 30 years, with the courts moving to seize his assets after he lost a battle with the Catholic Church to stay in the parish house and costs were awarded against him.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Motherwell said: “Bishop Toal cannot comment on correspondence with Fr Despard in order to respect his right to reply in confidence to him before making any public statement.”