McGarry book launch told how previous generation of journalism missed ‘blindingly obvious’ reality of clerical sex abuse

Irish journalism missed the “blindingly obvious” reality of clerical sex abuse for years until a new generation of reporters began to tell the stories that would go on to engulf society, the veteran broadcaster Vincent Browne said.

Speaking at the launch of Patsy McGarry’s memoir Well, Holy God, Mr Browne praised the former Irish Times correspondent’s role at the forefront of the journalism that would ultimately deliver the truth.

“Us journalists, for the most part, didn’t notice what was going on,” he told a large audience at Dublin’s Mansion House on Tuesday. “We didn’t [get the story] and I can’t explain why we didn’t because it was so blindingly obvious.”

Listing off various scandals Mr Browne described how they had been allowed to go largely unexposed in a society “brainwashed” by the omnipotence of the Catholic Church.

“Happily other journalists came along in a different generation and they filled in for us...but the most persistent person in holding the Catholic Church to account was Patsy McGarry.”

Mr McGarry spent over 25 years as Religious Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times, during which he reported on numerous controversies in an era of systemic institutional abuse and cover up. His time corresponded with the unfolding of scandals including the clerical assault of children; industrial schools; mother and baby homes; and Magdalene laundries.

The memoir is an account of his early life and later work, and at the event Mr McGarry praised the bravery of survivors, many of whom were in attendance.

One in particular, Marie Collins, recounted the pain of stepping forward to tell her story, and explained how it could not have been done without the courageous journalism exemplified by McGarry and others. 

“The church leadership thought that its power and authority would silence the survivors. But they reckoned without journalists like Patsy.”

Man who lived in Tuam mother and baby home hopes excavation will reveal his sister's body as search begins for 796 missing children believed to be buried at the site

A pensioner who survived the Tuam mother and baby home is hoping a search of the site may reveal the body of his sister, whose fate remains unknown.

Paul Ford, 79, said he doesn't have many memories of the home, located in County Galway in Ireland, adding that he was 'brainwashed' during his time there.

The institution - which was run by nuns - operated in the area between 1925 and 1961 and housed unmarried women who were pregnant, usually at the request of their families. 

However it was later reported that the bodies of approximately 796 babies may have been disposed of on the site - particularly in a disused sewage tank. 

Nearly a decade after the horrific scandal came to light, a full excavation of the area to recover the remains has begun its preliminary stage, with the full excavation to begin next year.

Paul's sister, Ellen, was born in 1942 and died aged two, before being buried in the mass grave. But until just two months ago, he had no idea she existed.

He told BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour: 'I'm going to take her and going to bury her [with] her mother and if I don't, my family knows and my family will do it for me.'

Paul was born a year after his sibling's death, but his biological mother never told him about Ellen after she was sent to the home and 'punished' for being a pregnant woman who was not married. 

'Every morning when [my mother] went to mass, she lit two candles,' Paul said.  

Paul was around five years old when he left the Tuam mother and baby home and went to live with his new foster family. 

He said: 'My foster family were a lovely family, I was one of the lucky ones and they did everything they could for me.

'They clothed me, fed me and I went to school.'

However, Paul was illiterate up until the age of 13, when he decided to teach himself how to read and write.

After he moved away from the institution, Paul said his peers called him a 'homebird' - a derogatory term for people who had come from mother and baby homes. 

'I remember when I was going to mass as well a few of them [tried] to take advantage and they started prodding me and stabbed me,' he said. 

He said that other members of society would 'look down' on children who had come from the Tuam home.

Paul decided to seek assistance to help him look for his birth mother. Upon tracking her down, he was told he would have to wait a week before contacting her but it 'felt like 10 years'.

'I quizzed her about my father but she wasn't forthcoming for some reason. 

'There was one time where I brought my two sons [to go and see her] and on our way out, one of them, who was around six, said 'I know where I got my brown eyes from'.' 

His mother stayed in the institution 'her whole life' and spent her time folding sheets, Paul says. 

Tuam Mother and Baby Home was set up in a former workhouse that housed destitute adults and children since the 1800s famine era.

The building was turned into a home for mothers and babies in 1925 and was run by an order of Catholic nuns named the Bon Secours Sisters.

In 1961, Tuam was shut down after it was seen to have fallen into a state of disrepair and the remaining residents were transferred to similar homes. 

However, in 1975, two young boys discovered skeletal remains while playing in the area, with locals attributing it to bodies from the famine era. 

In 2012, Catherine Corless wrote about the poor living conditions inside the Tuam mother and baby home and published a journal, detailing the poor living conditions.

Reports found how infants suffered malnutrition and neglect, which caused the deaths of many, while others died of measles, convulsions, TB, gastroenteritis and pneumonia.

A year later, Catherine attempted to collate the death certificates of nearly 800 children who died at the Tuam home, before it started to gain media attention worldwide. 

She also told the BBC today: 'A woman who got pregnant in the village was absolutely frowned upon, whispered about, talked about.

'The priests were called the house and told the family that she could not stay in the village like that, being pregnant. 

'So he would arrange for the woman to be whisked off to a home and even after they gave birth and spent a year in the home, they couldn't even come back to the village.

'Because many a time, and I quote some people, they were told she was a temptation, a bad influencer, a 'loose woman'.'

Catherine said she exposed the story to the media because 'local people wouldn't listen' to her. 

Speaking of the treatment of the babies and children, she said: 'They were treated like... I wouldn't even say treated like animals because you treat your animals better. 

'To put down all these beautiful babies and toddlers, wrap them out and put them down in a sewage facility and forget all about them it's too horrific, I had to be a voice for them.' 

Catherine herself encountered some of the children from the home and said she remembers them being 'pale and skinny and not dressed very well'.

She added: 'I remember the most of all, they were all huddled together at the back and we were told not to talk to them, mix with them or play with them.'

A source close to the investigation told the Irish Mail on Sunday at the time: 'No one knows the total number of babies in the grave.

There are 796 death records but they are only the ones we know of.

'God knows who else is in the grave. It's been lying there for years and no one knows the full extent or total of bodies down there.'

The Bon Secours Sisters apologised in 2021 and said they had 'failed to protect the inherent dignity' of women and children in the home.

Daniel MacSweeney has been appointed the Director of Authorised Intervention at Tuam, and is in charge of running the current excavation operation.

‘This is the opportunity for people to tell their story in full’: People held in institutions in Northern Ireland urged to come forward

People living in the Republic of Ireland who may have spent time in mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries and workhouses in Northern Ireland have been urged to come forward.

The 10-strong Stormont-appointed Truth Recovery Independent Panel is seeking testimony from anyone held in such institutions as mother or baby from 1922 until the last of them closed in 1995.

The testimonies collected will help to guide the panel’s final recommendations and “help to inform the future statutory public inquiry” that Stormont has agreed to mount into the operation of the institutions.

Gathering the testimonies is “an important part” of the independent panel’s work, it said, yesterday, saying it has created “a sensitive and carefully designed approach, using specially trained staff to hear from those affected.

Widening the appeal, the panel said it now wants to hear not only from people directly affected, but also family members and anyone who “worked, volunteered in or lived in close proximity to one of these institutions”.

The appeal, which is being made to anyone living on the island of Ireland and the wider diaspora internationally, will be backed up by a series of information events to be held across Northern Ireland in October.

The dates of the sessions are :

October 8th, Omagh, Silver Birch Hotel, 6pm – 9.30pm; 

October 16th, Newry Canal Court Hotel, 6pm – 9.30pm; 

October 22nd, Belfast Europa Hotel, 2pm – 4pm and 6pm – 8pm; 

and 

October 30th, Derry, City Hotel, 2pm – 4pm, 6pm – 8pm.

There, people will have the opportunity to meet panel members and testimony facilitators, who will be able to answer any questions about the giving of testimony and any other concerns.

So far, the panel has obtained more than 4,500 records on people held in the institutions as mothers or babies, which are being processed. 

Currently, it is finalising guidance to help survivors or families to access information held about them.

Survivor representatives such as Paul McClarey and Maria Cogley have been ‘pivotal’ in developing the approach being taken, the panel said, and both feature in videos urging others to come forward.

Both were adopted after they were taken away from their mothers who had been sent by their families sent to the Marianville mother and baby institution run by the Good Shepherd nuns in Belfast in the 1960s.

“This is the chance to have what happened to us on record and for many of us, where choice was part of the problem in our experiences, it is crucial that we are able to give testimony in whatever form we choose, whether oral or written,” said Cogley.

“This is the opportunity for people to tell their story in full, however they like, without being questioned or challenged. So many people are living in the shadow of shame and guilt, and it is not theirs to carry,” she said.

Philomena Lee among mother and baby home survivors to 'experience difficulty' accessing redress

Philomena Lee, whose attempts to trace her adopted son were chronicled in the Oscar-nominated film Philomena is among survivors of mother and baby homes to experience "significant difficulties" in accessing redress.

The revelation is contained in a report by the special advocate for survivors on the workings of the State's compensation scheme, which opened to applicants in March.

‘A lot of shame attached’ — How Derry mother and baby home survivor’s ‘miracle’ inspired a powerful play

Caitriona Cunningham should have been enjoying the end of her teenage years, snapping up the latest release from one of her favourite bands, Thin Lizzy, and chatting with her friends about the style on Top Of The Pops.

Instead, she found herself in front of a Mother Superior, weeping for the child who had been taken away from her and begging to find out where her daughter was.

The year was 1979 and at 19, Caitriona was just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of girls who found themselves in Marianvale, a mother and baby institution run by the Good Shepherd Sisters on the outskirts of Newry, Co Down, more than 180km from her Derry home.

Now 64, Caitriona is finally able to speak about what happened to her and has turned her experience into a new play, The Marian Hotel, the nickname she and the friends she made gave to the home they found themselves in.

Already it has sold out dates and is being snapped up for theatres across Ireland, detailing as it does a story of strength in heartbreaking circumstances.

‘I was 19 and had dropped out of school when I fell pregnant,’ Caitriona explains.

‘At that time when you were pregnant and on your own, there was a lot of whispering and judgement, and it’s a very uncomfortable place to be. I had heard of someone who went to Marianvale and kept their baby.

‘Outwardly I would have looked very confident, but on the inside I was very frightened. I was just wondering what was going to happen to me and would I be able to cope with the baby and all that.

‘So I thought if I got away that this would help, that I would get time to think and people to help me.’

Unusually it was Caitriona’s own decision to go into Marianvale as she had decided she would sort out her own problem. She was four months pregnant and her bump was beginning to show.

‘I went in to my parents and said, “I’m pregnant and I’m going to this place called Marianvale for unmarried mothers”, as we were called then. I was quite headstrong and just went in and announced it and that was that, off I went.’

It was during some of the worst times of the Troubles too and she says her parents, though shocked, went along with her decision because they trusted the Church.

‘We had gone to Benburb on a school retreat and it was lovely and they were very nice to us there so I thought Marianvale would be the same,’ she says. ‘It wasn’t. But I had taken that step myself and I suppose I blamed myself for what happened afterwards in a way.’

Caitriona remembers a strange feeling when she went through the doors of Marianvale, with its stained glass windows and tiled floors.

‘The main building was attached to a convent and the first thing that struck me was the feeling of sadness,’ she says. ‘When I got to know a few of the older girls, that changed – those friendships got us through – but it was very regimented. Nobody talked about keeping their baby, it was all geared towards adoption.’

During her time in Marianvale, Caitriona didn’t see anyone being physically mistreated but in the laundry there were a couple of women who were there permanently.

‘They were totally institutionalised,’ she recalls. ‘But I got institutionalised as well – very quickly you got into the rhythm of the place and you went along with everything.

‘You got up in the morning, went to Mass and when you came back you did cleaning and chores. You went into the laundry and hung up sheets. There was a girl who fell carrying a big container and there was a bit of panic around that, so after that we just hung up sheets.

‘In the evenings we did a lot of knitting. Some people made wee stuffed toys – the nuns gave you the stuff to make them and you gave the finished toy back to them. I was told later on that these were sold but I didn’t know that at the time.’

For some time, Caitriona was sure she would be able to keep her baby but when the social worker from the Catholic Adoption Agency came in, things changed dramatically for her.

‘We had a conversation and I knew afterwards that that woman had control over me and my child – I felt totally helpless,’ she says. ‘I realised this was not a place for unmarried mothers. This was what I now call an adoption factory.

‘I had always intended to take my baby home, I just thought I would get helped in some way by going there. But after talking to her I realised that wasn’t going to be the way.

‘She was telling me things like, “You have nothing to offer a child, the child is going to go to a family with two parents, you can go back and get on with your own life and have your own family some day.” I was just sitting looking at her. I felt very helpless and thought, what can I do about this?

‘This woman said to me, “If you keep your baby you are going to end up in a council estate flat with men calling to you at all hours.” I was 19 and someone was telling me that – to me that is very cruel and manipulative. When you are in a place like that, you are so far from home. I felt I didn’t have a lot of choice, that I had relinquished any right to say anything or do anything. What I tried to do was keep my mouth shut until I got up to the hospital.’

But in Daisy Hill, the girls from Marianvale were treated differently from other women who were there to have their babies.

‘I was induced because I was two weeks overdue, the labour was terrible and I was left on my own until the very last minute,’ Caitriona recalls.

‘I was very ill afterwards and I had to get three pints of blood. I was mentally and physically sick.

‘A nice nurse sneaked me down to the nursery to see my daughter, but I don’t remember leaving the hospital.

‘I spent a couple of weeks in Marianvale after that and I don’t remember any of that except the day I left.’

Traumatised and bereft, that one day when she had to leave Marianvale without her child is etched in Caitriona’s memory.

‘I hadn’t been told when the baby was taken out of the hospital, I wasn’t told where she was, nothing,’ she says. ‘I was crying non-stop and I felt totally helpless. I was taken up to the Mother Superior on the day I was leaving and I just sat and cried and cried. She gave me a pair of rosary beads and told me to get on with my life. There was no empathy but I realise now she had probably done this hundreds of times.’

Caitriona went home to Derry. ‘I was asking where my daughter was but I hadn’t the means to pursue it,’ she says. ‘I came home and I went between the sofa and my bed for three months, really ill and desperately upset.’

But then, something happened that was nothing short of a miracle. ‘I was on the sofa feeling depressed when one of my sisters answered the door to a social worker,’ she says.

‘I didn’t particularly want to see her because of my experience with the Catholic Adoption social worker but this young woman walked in and introduced herself as a social worker from the Health Board.

‘She said: “When did you last see your baby?” and I told her it was three months ago when I had got down to see her in the hospital nursery. She then said, “Would you like to see her?” I couldn’t believe it. I sat up and said, “Of course!”

‘She went into the hall and rang the Catholic social worker – they had a row, I heard them arguing on the phone. She came back in and she took me to the foster home.

‘I saw my daughter Críonna and I was able to hold her. When we got into the car she said, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “I want to keep her. I want her back.”

‘The very next day we went out and took her home and she was welcomed with open arms.’

Caitriona and her partner Gerry are now proud grandparents and Críonna is 44 and a mother herself. Caitriona knows that she was one of the lucky ones.

‘It was a miracle, really, that that social worker came into the house. Since then I have met women who have said to me, “I wish she had walked into my house.” Because she got my daughter back for me when I thought she was just gone.’

Caitriona never spoke about her experiences for 35 years.

‘There is a lot of shame attached to it but I went on with my life, I worked as a nurse,’ she says.

But once the details of what happened in Mother and Baby Homes began to emerge, she started to talk about her own experience. When she retired from nursing, Caitriona started doing some acting as a hobby. The women she had met in Marianvale were on her mind as more details of Mother and Baby Homes became public.

‘I started thinking about these women all the time,’ she says. ‘I did a creative course in the Playhouse in Derry and we had to write a scene to be acted out. The scene I wrote is now in my play, The Marian Hotel.’

The play tells the story of Kitty, a young woman who arrives in a Mother and Baby Home where young women hold each other up with humour in the most heartbreaking circumstances.

‘I was trying to write about these women, and I felt a play was the best way to do it,’ Caitriona says. ‘I took the scene to a theatre lab and the other women, some of whom were experienced playwrights, were so encouraging to me. Patricia Byrne, the head of Sole Purpose productions, said, “If you write the play, I’ll read it.”‘ The powerful play has now already sold out three nights in Derry and in Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, with other dates in Letterkenny, Strabane and Armagh for now. It has been an emotional experience watching her life unfold on stage but Caitriona credits the young cast with doing an excellent job.

Though her daughter Críonna doesn’t want to speak publicly, she is fully supportive of her mum.

‘When Críonna was older, I told her about it,’ Caitriona reveals. ‘She has always been very supportive of me because there is that guilt that I didn’t see her for her first three months of her life and I nearly lost her.

‘When Oisin was born nine years later, I didn’t want to be in the hospital afterwards and I didn’t want to let him out of my sight. I didn’t understand my own behaviour at the time but afterwards someone said, “Well of course you were like that because the last time you were in hospital having a baby, your baby was taken away from you.”

‘Críonna doesn’t mind me using her name but she doesn’t want to talk about it because she says she had a very happy childhood and doesn’t remember the first three months of her life.

‘She has booked to go to the play twice and even my father, who is 92, is coming to see it.’

Though Caitriona’s story ended with her daughter’s return, she knows there are so many other women out there who have not seen their children since the day they gave birth in a cold hospital ward.

‘There is a public inquiry going on in the North at the moment and they are taking testimonies from women and their adult children,’ she says. ‘I know women who got their children back like me, I know others who made contact in later life but I also know women who are still looking for their children to this day.’

Recently at an exhibition called Sunflowers that Caitriona and other women who were in Mother and Baby Homes did with Sole Purpose, she met a person from Newry who had no idea Marianvale existed.

‘They knew they were born in Newry and adopted but they had no idea that a mother and baby home existed there, so they were going to find out,’ she says.

‘I was one of the lucky ones, I got my daughter back.’

Virginia school board agrees to pay $575k to teacher fired for refusing to use transgender pronouns

To settle a lawsuit brought by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a former Virginia high school teacher who was fired for avoiding the use of pronouns to refer to one of his students, the West Point School Board has agreed to pay $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.

In addition, the school board cleared Peter Vlaming’s firing from his record and, separate from the settlement agreement, changed its policies to conform to the new Virginia education policies established by Gov. Glenn Youngkin that respect fundamental free speech and parental rights. 

The settlement follows last December’s landmark Virginia Supreme Court opinion in Vlaming’s favor affirming that the Virginia Constitution contains robust free speech and free exercise protections for public employees.

“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say. The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, adding”

As a teacher, Peter was passionate about the subject he taught, was well-liked by his students, and did his best to accommodate their needs and requests. But he couldn’t in good conscience speak messages that he knew were untrue, and no school board or government official can punish someone for that reason. We’re pleased to favorably settle this case on behalf of Peter and hope other government and school officials will take note of the high cost involved in failing to respect an American’s constitutionally protected freedoms.

“I was wrongfully fired from my teaching job because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with school administrators who mandated that teachers ascribe to only one perspective on gender identity – their preferred view,” Vlaming said. “I loved teaching French and gracefully tried to accommodate every student in my class, but I couldn’t say something that directly violated my conscience. I’m very grateful for the work of my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to bring my case to victory, and hope it helps protect every other teacher and professor’s fundamental First Amendment rights.”

ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit against the school board in September 2019. Vlaming taught French in the district for nearly seven years. 

The West Point School Board fired him after he stated he couldn’t in good conscience comply with the superintendent’s demand that he refer to one of his students using pronouns inconsistent with the student’s sex. 

Vlaming tried to accommodate the student by consistently using the student’s new preferred name and by avoiding the use of pronouns altogether. 

But school officials ordered him to stop avoiding the use of pronouns to refer to the student, even when the student wasn’t present, and to start using pronouns inconsistent with the student’s sex.

In December, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that it would reinstate Vlaming’s lawsuit after a lower court dismissed his case. 

In its opinion, the commonwealth’s high court wrote that the Virginia Constitution “seeks to protect diversity of thought, diversity of speech, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinion.”

Shawn Voyles, one of more than 4,800 attorneys in the ADF Attorney Network, served as co-counsel on Vlaming’s behalf.

In light of the settlement agreement, ADF attorneys filed a voluntary dismissal of the case, Vlaming v. West Point School Board, Monday.

Diocese of Aachen warns of alleged archbishop

The diocese of Aachen warns "of current occasion" against a man who pretends to be archbishops in various North Rhine-Westphalia cities. 

The man claims to belong to a "Catholic Apostolic Church of Europe" or to a "autonomian episcopal prelature", according to a warning published in the current Aachen Official Journal (Tuesday). 

The cres fields Gioacchino "Gino" Collica maintained itself mainly in the area of Krefeld (Bistum Aachen), Kaarst and Düsseldorf (Erzbistum Köln) as well as Duisburg (Bistum Essen) and are close to the Syrian Orthodox Church.

According to the diocese, Collica is a "catholic Catholic apostolic after Catholic doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church". He was neither valid as priest nor ordained bishop, as the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has already been established. 

The diocese therefore warns congregations against making churches and buildings available to the man and his community for its activities. 

"Alike, Mr. Collica is also forbidden to participate in liturgical celebrations, especially in churches and in holy places in the Diocese of Aachen."

Collica has been appearing as Archbishop since at least 2014. At that time, the local press reported plans to build a monastery estate in Kaarst. 

Already in 2016, the Archdiocese of Cologne warned against the "Autonomous Episcopal Prelature". 

According to the warning at that time, Collica in Kaarst had specified in a chapel in the basement of a rental house to celebrate masses and to donate further sacraments. 

According to the Archdiocese, the grouping describes itself as "autonomous and roman-independent". 

It is not in any connection with the Catholic Church and must not lead the name "Catholic" under ecclesiastical law.

New Bishop of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart will be announced

Pope Francis will, on Wednesday (2nd. October), appoint the new bishop of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. 

As the Württemberg diocese announced on Tuesday, the new bishop will introduce himself to the public at noon in Rottenburg Cathedral. 

Those who have been appointed and elected by the Rottenburg cathedral chapter are not yet known. 

The name will be made public at 12 noon at the Vatican and in Rottenburg at the same time. 

The presentation of the new bishop will also be broadcast via live stream on the diocese website. 

After the age-related resignation of the office of Bishop Gebhard Fürst last December, Vicar General Clemens Stroppel temporarily headed the south-western German diocese until a new bishop was appointed.

The election was based on the Baden Concordat, closed in 1932. 

Accordingly, the Rottenburg cathedral chapter in the Vatican first submitted a list of "suitable candidates". 

For the first time, representatives of the ecclesiastical congregations and associations were also called upon to make proposals. 

The Vatican ambassador in Germany, Nuncio Nikola Eterovic, played an important role behind the scenes.

However, neither the Rottenburg proposals nor the Nuncio's report were binding on the Pope. He has freely created his own three-way list. 

According to the Baden Konkordat, at least one priest in the biscuit of Rottenburg-Stuttgart had to be among the three candidates. 

From these three proposals, the Rottenburg cathedral chapter then elected the future head of the Württemberg diocese.

Preacher prepares synod for cultural divides

The English Dominican priest Timothy Radcliffe has encouraged the participants of the Synod on Synodality in the Vatican. 

On Tuesday, the second day of reflection before the start of the deliberations, he said: "We must dare to trust that Divine Providence will richly bless this Synod. (...). We are not here to eat a meagre meal, but to savour the haute cuisine of the Kingdom of God," said the religious.

He described the inclusion of all cultures as the greatest challenge. This is even more important than overcoming the "poisonous opposition between traditionalists and progressives" and a polarisation that is alien to Catholicism. 

Alluding to a story in the Bible, Radcliffe asked: "How can we catch the net with its fish from all the cultures of the world? How can the net not be torn?" 

The long-serving Master General of the worldwide Dominican Order continued: "We live in a multipolar world in which many people from the global South see the West as decadent and doomed. We live in a post-Western world."

"Many felt betrayed"

Radcliffe also addressed the controversy in the Church over the blessing of homosexuals. When the Vatican authorised this last year with the document "Fiducia supplicans", many members of the synod felt betrayed. 

But the Church can only become a community of trust if everyone "takes the risk of trusting each other, even if we have been hurt", emphasised the clergyman and continued: "We trust that this synod will bear fruit with the grace of God, even if we cannot foresee what that will be and it may not be what we want."

Radcliffe spoke at length about the duty of clergy to be accountable to the grassroots. He explained: "A failure of transparency and accountability corrupts the core of priestly identity. The transparency of Peter the sinner is the foundation of his authority. There can be no cover-up. We are not expected to confess all our sins openly, but at least we must not be hypocrites. The people of God are quick to forgive everything except hypocrisy."

Bishop of the Society of St Pius X seriously injured after fall

One of the three bishops of the Society of St Pius X is seriously injured after a fall. 

The Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X announced on Monday that Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais is now out of danger.

According to the statement, the bishop fell on Saturday after the Angelus prayer in the community's seminary in Econe and lost consciousness. He suffered a fractured skull with internal haemorrhaging. 

However, his condition has since stabilised. He is not yet able to communicate, but is gradually coming out of his induced coma. 

The hospital staff are optimistic, "but his condition remains serious and the consequences of the trauma are uncertain". The Society of St Pius X is asking for the prayers of the faithful for the bishop.

Fraternity of St Pius X not in communion with the Church

Born in France in 1945, Tissier de Mallerais was ordained a bishop in 1988 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991) without the Pope's permission, together with three other priests of the Society of St Pius X. 

The Vatican Congregation for Bishops subsequently excommunicated Lefebvre and the four bishops he had consecrated. 

Excommunication is one of the highest church penalties. Among other things, those subject to this penalty may not receive or administer the sacraments and may not hold any ecclesiastical office. 

Pope Benedict XVI had the excommunication of the four living bishops lifted in 2009.

The Society of St Pius X rejects most of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). 

The main points of contention are the liturgy, religious freedom and ecumenism. 

To this day, the Society of St Pius X is therefore not in full communion with the Catholic Church. 

All of its clerics are suspended, which means they are not allowed to assume or exercise ecclesiastical offices. 

As the Society of St Pius X has no legal status in the Church, it relies on its own bishops to confer ordinations. 

Most recently, deacons and priests were ordained in June at the community's seminary in Zaitzkofen, Bavaria. 

As in previous years, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg , in whose diocese the seminary is located, had expressly forbidden ordinations.

Before the Synod: Pope meets with advocates of women's ordination

A few days before the start of the second session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis met with advocates of women's ordination during a general audience. 

The meeting was organised by the Latin American church conference CEAMA to "reflect on the issue of women's ministry and bring in voices from other parts of the world who are travelling with those from the Amazon region", the co-director of the"Discerning Deacons" project, Casey Stanton, told the"National Catholic Reporter" (Monday). 

The group wanted to express their gratitude for the Synod on Synodality, which "created a way to dream together about what is possible in our church," Stanton said. "We have pursued this dream of a prophetic, synodal diaconate."

All over the world, there are women who carry out their ministry in marginalised areas, which is diaconal in nature, said Stanton. 

Pope Francis had thanked them for their work and together with him, the women had prayed for the Pope and the Synod in the audience. 

Stanton saw it as a positive sign that the Vice-President of CEAMA, Franciscan Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso, had emphasised that the door had not yet been closed, even after the Pope's negative statements on the ordination of women deacons. 

Pereira Manso had met Francis a few weeks after he had spoken out against the ordination of women as deacons in an interview and emphasised: "An interview is not the magisterium of the Church".

"He continues to be open to that conversation and recognises that it's really important that he continues to have an open attitude and model openness and encounter as pope," Stanton said. "I think he wants all of his other brother bishops to do the same." 

The Synod on Synodality is now about establishing this structure of openness throughout the Church, he said. "That is the invitation. Can we continue to build a culture where this is the norm? Where our bishops welcome us and we can have an honest conversation?" asked Stanton. "I think the more we multiply these kinds of encounters, the more the possibility of women deacons will emerge."

The Synod's second and final session on synodality begins on Wednesday and runs until 27 October. 

Prior to this, the topic of the diaconate of women, which had appeared in a large number of the reports submitted by the local churches, was outsourced by Pope Francis to one of ten study groups, which will give an interim report at the beginning of the synod, but whose results will not be available until after the end of the synod. 

There has been widespread criticism of the outsourcing, most recently at the autumn plenary assembly of the German Bishops' Conference in Fulda from Bishops Georg Bätzing and Felix Genn, who will be attending the Synod on Synodality.

Priest abused women during exorcism

A priest from the Archdiocese of Madrid is alleged to have abused several women during various exorcisms that he performed on them. 

During the prayers and ritual acts in church buildings in front of the exposed body of Christ, the priest allegedly made the women undress, the Spanish magazine "Vida Nueva" reported on Sunday, citing those affected by the abuse. 

The exorcist then touched the sexual organs of his victims, claiming "that this is where the demons are". 

The priest is said to have recorded some of his acts with a hidden video camera. The abuse took place over the past decades.

The Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo Cano, has now taken action against the priest, who is popular in his archdiocese, according to "Vida Nueva": since July, the priest has been banned from preaching, hearing confessions, performing exorcisms or providing spiritual counselling to the faithful for a period of ten years. 

In addition to these temporary pastoral consequences, the Archdiocese of Madrid has attempted to initiate a canonical trial against the alleged perpetrator of abuse in the Vatican, with the accusation being "false mysticism". 

However, the competent Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome did not take up the exorcist's case.

Those affected by the abuse told "Vida Nueva" that they were appalled that the exorcist had not been dismissed from the clergy by the church. 

However, they praised the Madrid cardinal for his actions: "More has been achieved in one year than in the 30 years of silence before." 

Cobo, who has been archbishop of the Spanish capital since 2023, has worked to ensure that they receive psychological and spiritual help and has taken legal and canonical steps. 

Before his retirement, the perpetrator of abuse was a spiritual director at the seminary in Madrid and a theology professor at a church university. 

He is also the founder of an emergency shelter for the homeless in Madrid.

Pope Francis feels unfairly treated by the University of Louvain

Pope Francis has defended his controversial remarks at the Catholic University of Louvain on the fundamental difference between men and women in the Church. 

On his return flight from Brussels to Rome on Sunday afternoon, he said that it was inhumane to masculinise women. 

The Church is feminine, she is the bride of Christ, therefore the feminine in the Church is more important than the masculine.

Anyone who does not understand this is not thinking hard enough and does not want to hear these words. 

"The woman is equal to the man, and in the life of the Church the woman is more important because the Church is feminine. The feminine mysticism is more important than the ministry of men," said the Pope. Saying this is not antiquated. Exaggerated feminism works just as little as masculinism.

The Pope harshly criticised the university's statement, which was distributed after his lecture on Saturday afternoon. 

In it, the university distanced itself from the Pope's words on the nature of women and condemned them as "reductionist". 

This statement had already been prepared while he was still speaking, the Pope complained. That was immoral.

Admonition to the Middle East

He also admonished the warring parties in the Middle East following the recent Israeli bombardments in Lebanon. All states must abide by international law and maintain the proportionality of attack and defence, he stressed. "I don't know the details. But defence must always be proportionate in the face of attacks. If it becomes disproportionate, a tendency towards supremacy becomes visible that goes beyond what is morally required."

The Pope continued: "When a country - no matter which country - does something so extreme with its armed forces, these are immoral actions. There are also moral standards in war. Even if war itself is immoral, the conventions of war indicate a certain moral order. But if you don't follow this, it shows, as they say in Argentina, the 'bad blood' of these actions." The Spanish phrase "mala sangre" means "mean" or "malicious" in German.

He also emphasised once again his call for the church to take a proactive approach to the issue of abuse. "I have listened to those affected by abuse, I believe this is a duty." 

He went on to say: "We have a responsibility to help those affected by abuse and to look after them." Some need psychological help, others also need financial support. Above all, the perpetrators must be punished, Francis emphasised. 

Abuse is not something temporary, but a psychiatric illness that needs to be treated. 

"No perpetrator of abuse can be left free in normal life, with responsibilities in parishes or schools," the Pope emphasised and continued: "The shame, indeed, is the cover-up."

Apostolic Visit of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) has issued a press release, available on its website, dated September 26, 2024, announcing an “apostolic visitation” to be carried out by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

The communiqué states that the FSSP “has recently been informed” by the aforementioned Dicastery “of the opening of an apostolic visitation of the Fraternity.” 

The communiqué adds that, “As the Prefect of this Dicastery himself made clear to the Superior General and his assistants during a meeting in Rome, this visit does not originate in any problems of the Fraternity.”

The press release continues that it “is intended to enable the Dicastery to know who we are, how we are doing and how we live, so as to provide us with any help we may need.”

To explain this contact, the communiqué adds that the “last ordinary apostolic visit of the Fraternity was undertaken in 2014 by the Ecclesia Dei Commission. As the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has been in charge of the FSSP and other former Eccelsia Dei institutes for the past three years, it [is] now the competency of this Dicastery to look after the FSSP.” 

The names of the visitors appointed by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life have not yet been revealed.

A generally well-informed blog takes a somewhat different view. It states that “the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life acts by order of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.” 

It goes on to explain that we should not expect a text limiting the traditional Mass, but “a targeted intervention of individual realities.”

It gives as an example “the visit the superiors of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest made to the Pope in the Apostolic Palace, which was based” on a modification of the Statutes. 

Christian teacher sacked for Facebook posts on LGBT classes heads to Law Courts for landmark freedom of conscience trial

A teacher who claims she was sacked over her Christian beliefs regarding teaching LGBT-related issues to young children is going to the Royal Courts of Justice in a case that could be “profoundly important for free speech and Christian freedom” in the UK.

Kristie Higgs, 47, has also highlighted the emotional torment caused by the saga dragging on for five years and said she “wouldn’t want any parent to go through” what she has had to undergo as a result of speaking her mind based on her conscience on a social media platform.

In 2019, Mrs Higgs was dismissed for alleged gross misconduct by Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, after sharing Facebook posts criticising plans to teach about LGBT-related relationships in primary schools, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Mrs Higgs specifically raised concerns about relationship education at her son’s Church of England primary school. Pupils there were to learn about the No Outsiders In Our School programme, which is a series of books that proclaims to deliver the objectives outlined in the Equality Act 2010 and to prepare “children for life in modern Britain”.

In 2018, Mrs Higgs, who at the time posted on Facebook under her maiden name, shared two posts in October of that year to about 100 friends.

One of the posts referred to “brainwashing our children”, and, referencing the No Outsiders In Our School classes, suggested: “Children will be taught that all relationships are equally valid and ‘normal’, so that same-sex marriage is exactly the same as traditional marriage, and gender is a matter of choice, not biology, so that it’s up to them what sex they are.”

She added: “We say again this is a vicious form of totalitarianism aimed at suppressing Christianity and removing it from the public arena.”

Subsequently, an anonymous complaint was made to the school and Mrs Higgs was suspended and, after a disciplinary hearing, dismissed for gross misconduct.

Following her dismissal, Mrs Higgs took the school to an employment tribunal, arguing she had been unlawfully discriminated against because of her Christian beliefs.

In its ruling in 2020, the tribunal concluded that while the religion of Mrs Higgs is a “protected characteristic”, as defined by the Equality Act, the school had lawfully dismissed her.

Mrs Higgs lawyers have since successfully won the right to have her case heard by Court of Appeal judges, the Telegraph reports.

Ahead of the hearing, which is due to begin at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday 2 October, Mrs Higgs said: “I wouldn’t want any parent to go through what I have over the past five years. Nobody should be sacked for raising the concerns that I did in the way that I did.

“My posts were a warning and so much of what has happened in the [public] debate over the past five years has vindicated me.

“I pray now that the Court of Appeal will make the right judgment and will make a ruling that protects Christian employees and parents’ freedom to express their beliefs without fear of being silenced.”

The school has denied dismissing the mother-of-two because of her religious beliefs and said she was sacked because of the language used in the posts.

“This case is profoundly important for free speech and Christian freedom,” says Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre. “Its outcome will set an important legal precedent for many years to come.

“This case has exposed at every stage systemic prejudice against the Christian faith and its teachings. First at her school and then in the courts. Now is the time to put things right.

“The outcome of this case will be huge and has been a long five-year journey.

“We pray now for justice for Kristie and that there will be a ruling that not only protects Christian freedoms, but also protects freedom for everyone in the UK.”

The Royal Courts of Justice recently ruled on another important case regarding the issue of continuing life-saving treatment for children when doctors and parents disagree over continuing treatment.

The case followed the remarkable survival of a 4-year-old boy who was expected to die shortly after his life support was removed.

His survival not only “confounded” medical expectations, said a judge, but raised “challenging questions” about how the courts intervene in disagreements between doctors and parents over the treatment of ill children.

Boarding school ends 200 years of Catholicism to rebrand as ‘Christian’ and attract pupils

A boarding school has ended its centuries-long relationship with the Catholic Church in order to reposition itself as a Christian school in an effort to attract more families and better reflect its increasingly “diverse” student body.

Ben Horan, the headmaster of Prior Park College, which was founded by Bishop Baines in 1830 as a Catholic seminary and school for boys, and has been described as one of the most beautiful schools in England, has also noted how the imposition of VAT on fees has heightened the pressure for the school to remain competitive, reports the Daily Telegraph.

By changing its faith designation from Catholic to Christian, Prior Park College has ended an almost 200-year relationship with the Catholic Church. The school said the move followed a “lengthy re-evaluation” about “how well our college reflects the students we have today”.

On the school’s website it now describes itself as a “co-educational Christian school in the Catholic tradition”.

Mr Horan has claimed that many parents have expressed frustrations over the “restrictive nature of being a Catholic school and the limited educational choices and outcomes that come with that”.

The school also claims it has previously been told it should “censor student-led publications if they expressed a view contrary to Catholic teaching”, and that the school’s support for Pride celebrations “have been criticised by some for being contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church”.

Announcing the break with the Catholic Church, Mr Horan said Prior Park had become “increasingly diverse in recent years, with people from different backgrounds and sexual orientation now represented across both the student and teaching body”.

The school’s website notes that gay former pupils had voiced concerns over “how difficult they found their education at the college – both historically and relatively recently”.

In March 2024, Mr Horan sent a letter to parents warning them that a new inspection framework for Catholic schools was “attempting to exercise a far greater degree of control” over the school’s teaching, reports the Telegraph.

Established in 2022, the Catholic Schools Inspectorate (CSI), which aims to combine the diocesan school inspectors of England and Wales into one body, launched a “rigorous” new inspection framework that year to scrutinise Catholic schools’ teaching.

On its website the CSI declares: “Inspection is one of the ways the bishop acts as a ‘good shepherd’ to his schools.”

An inspection report following the CSI’s visit to Prior Park earlier in 2024 stated that the school must “strengthen the centrality of Christ in the daily experience of students and staff”, adding that this would help pupils “better understand the Catholic life and mission of the college”.

Mr Horan criticised the report’s findings, telling parents in March that his teachers “pride ourselves on not proselytising to our young people, but instead in encouraging them to engage with faith and spirituality on their own terms”.

The school accepts pupils from all faith backgrounds, and fewer than one in five currently enrolled students describe themselves as Catholic, the Telegraph reports.

Mr Horan has also said that a switch to a broader Christian underpinning would also help the school remain attractive in an educational sector that was “crying out for help” amid increased financial pressures, including the Government’s imposition of VAT that will come into force at the start of January in 2025.

The school said that while the decision to ditch its Catholic roots “has been under consideration for many years…the pressure that a tax on education brings to schools like Prior Park has undoubtedly sharpened the college’s focus to complete the process”.

The co-educational boarding school, which is listed by the Oxford Royale Academy as one of the most beautiful boarding schools in the UK and charges more than £40,000 annually for full boarders, will raise fees by an initial 10 per cent from the start of 2025.

Mr Horan said he had already been in contact with “several other Catholic schools” that were asking for advice on how they might follow Prior Park’s lead.

The decision to axe ties with the Catholic Church means that Prior Park will no longer face mandatory inspections by the CSI, nor will students be required to study theology at GCSE.

The school said it would continue to offer Sunday Mass in its Grade I-listed chapel during term time, as well as to “pray together as a school” and employ a lay chaplain.

“The relationship with the Catholic Diocese remains important to us, but as society has changed, so have the pressures put upon schools to better reflect the needs and ambitions of those they serve,” Mr Horan said during the announcement.

A statement on the school’s website denied that the decision was directly linked to the CSI inspection, but added: “In a world of falling church attendances, it is perhaps unsurprising that there appears to be a greater level of expectation by the Catholic Church’s hierarchy for its Catholic schools to do the job of bringing young people to ‘the faith’.”

Historic private schools in the UK, especially Catholic ones, are having to scramble to remain competitive amid increasing pressures coming from both the government and a changing and more secular society.

While a number of private Catholic schools have recently had to close in the face of such pressures, Downside School is leading the charge against Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to impose VAT on private school fees.

In a recent letter to parents and members of the Downside community, John Ludlow, the school’s Chair of Governors, outlined the school’s position and its efforts to engage with the government regarding the new VAT policy.

Downside has made several key recommendations to the Treasury that it claims would mitigate the potential negative impacts of the new policy on schools, students and the surrounding local communities.

Vatican spokesman defends papal record on sexual abuse, chides non-Catholic institutions

Recalling the Pope’s words on abuse in Belgium and his two-hour meeting with abuse victims there, a leading Vatican spokesman deplored the sexual abuse of minors while praising the Church’s record in addressing abuse when compared to other institutions.

The abuse scandal was in the spotlight during the Pope’s visit to the nation.

“The Pope cited statistics showing that the majority of abuses occur within families, at schools, and in the world of sports,” said Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication. “With unprecedented clarity, he aimed to eliminate any alibi for the misuse of those numbers by those who would seek to defend themselves by highlighting others’ responsibilities and minimizing the issue.”

Tornielli also defended the steps taken by Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to address sexual abuse:

It is true that the Church has undertaken, in the last quarter century, a path that has led to very strict emergency laws against abuse. It is true that others have not taken the same steps. However, it is equally true that abuse within the Church is something horrible, which always begins with an abuse of power and manipulation of the conscience of those who are defenseless...

The Successor of Peter, following in the footsteps of his two predecessors, has thus promulgated very strict new laws to stop abuse, and has stated that even a single case of abuse against minors within the Church would be one too many. He indicated to the entire Church that the most appropriate attitude is one of shame, humiliation, and the request for forgiveness. It is the same penitential attitude that Pope Benedict XVI proposed - though he was misunderstood - when he affirmed that the greatest enemy for the Church is not external but the sin within it.

Australian bishop pleads ‘not guilty’ to abuse charges

Bishop Christopher Saunders appeared in Australian court Monday to enter a plea of not guilty to 28 criminal charges, including allegations of sexual assault and indecent dealings with a minor.

The former bishop of the Diocese of Broome stands accused of a long slate of alleged crimes of grooming and abusing young Aboriginal men over a period of eight years, beginning in 2008. Saunders, 74, confirmed to the court that he understood the charges and entered a plea of not guilty on all counts.

He is due back in court for the next hearing in the case in January, having last appeared in June as his lawyer argued against a petition to change the bishop’s bail conditions.

The bishop also faces several separate firearms charges, including illegal possession of a weapon. He did not enter a plea on those charges during the Sept. 30 hearing.

Saunders was arrested in February of this year, following a January police raid on his former residence in the Diocese of Broome, carried out by Child Abuse Squad detectives.

The bishop led the Diocese of Broome in Western Australia until 2021, when he resigned citing “ill health” amid allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming against young Aboriginal men.

The bishop’s resignation followed a decision to step back from governance of the diocese in 2020, after accusations surfaced that he had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of Church funds on gifts for vulnerable young men, including cash, phones, alcohol, and travel.

The police investigation which led to the raid and the bishop’s arrest came after Church authorities handed over a 200-page investigation conducted into Saunders alleged misconduct, ordered by the Vatican in 2022, after a separate police investigation had been closed the previous year due to lack of evidence.

In a statement at the time of Saunders’ arrest, Australian bishops’ conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth said that “It is right and proper, and indeed necessary, that all allegations be thoroughly investigated,” and promised that the Church would “cooperate fully with police and take every necessary step to avoid any actions which may compromise the integrity and autonomy of the police investigation.”

Saunders now faces 28 criminal charges related to alleged sexual abuse, including two counts of rape and 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault related to alleged victimization of young Aboriginal men in towns throughout the diocese between 2008 and 2016.

In April, Saunders’ former secretary told The Pillar that she had been ordered by the bishop to make “hush money” payments to the bishop’s alleged victims during her time working for him.

“There was a list of names on the wall in the secretary's office with victims, potential victims, and their bank account details,” Cherrille Quilty told The Pillar. “It was so urgent that I pay them. It wasn't for odd jobs, I can tell you that now. It was hush money. One of the first victims that came forward was the one that I paid most frequently and it was to shut him up.”

“You didn't dare ask why [Saunders] was paying them. Didn't dare,” Quilty said. “He wasn't the sort of person you would ever cross or ask him anything.”

Leaked portions of the report produced by the Church’s investigation, which triggered the renewed police action against the bishop last year, identified a pattern of behavior by Saunders consistent with grooming dozens of young men over a period of decades.

According to media reports on the leaked text, one man told Vatican-commissioned investigators that Saunders had employed him to do gardening work at his residence and offered him the use of his shower afterwards. According to the alleged victim, the bishop then climbed into the shower with him.

“I was scared. He was a big fella and I was just a teenager at the time,” he told investigators, and that the bishop subsequently started showering him with gifts of cash, phones, cigarettes and alcohol.

Another man testified that Saunders threw so-called “bunga bunga parties,” to which only male guests were invited and at which he saw the bishop ask attendees to strip, and kiss and grope young guests. 

“The bishop has been variously described by witnesses as … a sexual predator that seeks to prey upon vulnerable Aboriginal men and boys,” the report said.

“That independent report has been provided to the Holy See, with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith continuing the investigation,” the bishops’ conference said in September 2023, while promising continued cooperation with police.

However, the Australian bishops’ conference has faced questions about its public statements related to Saunders, and the extent to which Vatican restrictions on the bishop have been observed.

The Australian bishops’ conference previously said in public statements that the Church investigation concerned “alleged canonical crimes, as defined by Vos estis lux mundi, and alleged breaches of the Church’s Integrity in Ministry protocols,” and was overseen by Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane but carried out by independent investigators.

But statements issued by conference in September 2023, and carried by the official Vatican media portal, also stated that the accusations against Bishop Saunders did not concern minors and that the investigation did not identify any alleged or potential victims under the age of 18, even while Saunders has now been criminally charged with multiple sexual offenses against a person under 18 — the canonical age under which a person is considered a minor in sexual abuse cases.

It is unclear whether the Australian criminal investigation, which according to police was triggered by the Vos estis file, discovered new allegations unknown to Church authorities, or if they drew different conclusions from the same evidence.

Following his resignation and the opening of the Vos estis investigation, Saunders was ordered by the Vatican to reside outside the diocese, a directive he ignored, continuing to live in a Church owned house in Broome and to exercise considerable influence over diocesan affairs.

As of December 2023, Saunders was still listed as the “responsible person” for nine Catholic charities in his former diocese, several of which are affiliated with local parishes.

Saunders has insisted he is innocent of the alleged misconduct. 

The next court hearing is set for January 2025.