Pope to priests: 'No one here is alone'

As part of the Jubilee of Priests taking place from June 25-27, Pope Leo XIV held an audience with priests, seminarians, and formators at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome for an international meeting titled, “Joyful Priests—I have called you friends.”

A fraternal experience

About 1,700 people gathered in the Auditorium to listen to opening words from Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy.

The Prefect pointed out that this meeting is more than “simply a conference or a formation session”. Rather, he insisted, it was “above all a true ecclesial, synodal, and fraternal experience.”

Cardinal Lazzaro stressed the goal is to return to the heart of the priestly life. That is, being friends with Jesus. He argued being happy priests is not a slogan but a “real, concrete possibility, something to be lived out day by day.”

Three insights in the priesthood

In his message to those present, Pope Leo echoed the Prefect’s words. He highlighted that Jesus’ words, “I have called you friends,” are not just a nice statement. Instead, the Pope shared, they are “a true key to understanding the priestly ministry.”

Reflecting on this, Pope Leo offered three insights into priestly formation. The first is that formation is a path of relationship, and this means “being formed in relationship, not just in skills.”

Therefore, the Pope warned against letting formation simply be focused on acquiring knowledge but be centered on growing in familiarity with God.

The second insight Pope Leo shared was that fraternity is a crucial part of priestly life. He encouraged the priests and seminarians to live as brothers and not rivals or isolated individuals.

He stressed how important this insight is with a question: “How could we, as ministers, build vibrant communities if there is no real and sincere brotherhood among us?”

Thirdly, Pope Leo argued that the formation of priests means forming men capable of loving, listening, praying, and serving together. It is for this reason “we must take great care in preparing formators.”

The seminary itself is a great reminder that priestly formation cannot take place in isolation but in community.

Do not be afraid

Speaking about vocations and the “signs of crisis affecting the life and mission of priests,” Pope Leo highlighted that men continue to be called to the priesthood and strive to live out their mission faithfully.

He encouraged all priests “not to be afraid to make bold and liberating proposals” that can inspire young people to hear the call to their vocation.

This international meeting took place on the eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Pontiff took the opportunity to recall Pope Francis’ encyclical, Dilexit nos, which is a reminder that every person is made for God.

He urged priests to rediscover the enthusiasm of mission because “when someone truly believes, you can tell—the joy of the minister reflects his encounter with Christ.”

“One for all”

Before closing the meeting, one priest asked the Pope for a hug before giving him a zucchetto. Pope Leo told the crowds that this one hug would be for them all. He then reiterated a message from his speech on the importance of the spiritual life of the priest.

“No one here is alone,” he said, because there will be many times when a priest will seek “a good accompanier, a spiritual director, a good confessor.” This once again stressed the importance of fraternity in formation and priestly life.

Even in the most remote and distant mission fields, the Pope said, no one is ever alone. He encouraged the formators, priests, and seminarians to live the “closeness” Pope Francis often called for.

“Always count on God’s grace and my closeness too,” Pope Leo explained, “and together we can truly be this voice in the world.”

Kilkenny community appeals to Bishop of Ossory to stop transfer of their local priest to another parish

A community in Co Kilkenny have launched a petition to stop the transfer of their parish priest to another Co Kilkenny parish.

It comes as earlier this week, Bishop Niall Coll announced new clerical appointments and retirements in the Diocese of Ossory which will impact parishes across Co Kilkenny.

All changes take effect from August 30, 2025 with five priests retiring and multiple pastoral area coordinators changing roles.

However, some parishioners in Lisdowney, Ballyragget and Ballyouskill are appealing to Bishop Coll to reconsider his decision to transfer Fr. Eamonn O’Gorman from the parishes of Ballyragget, Lisdowney and Ballyouskill to the pastoral area of Galmoy, Johnstown and Urlingford.

In a petition posted on the Ballyragget Development Association & Forum Facebook page, parishioners argue that Fr. Eamonn O’Gorman’s departure “would be a profound loss to many.”

"We, the undersigned members of the parish community, respectfully appeal to the Bishop of Ossory, Bishop Coll, to reconsider the decision to transfer Fr. Eamonn O’Gorman from our parishes,” read the petition.

"Fr. Eamonn O’Gorman has been a deeply valued and spiritual leader, offering unwavering support, compassion and dedication to the people he serves.

"His presence has greatly enriched our communities, and his departure would be a profound loss to many.

"With heartfelt sincerity, we ask that this decision be reviewed in light of the strong pastoral bond he has formed with us all.”

The petition is available to sign at local businesses in Lisdowney, Ballyragget and Ballyouskill and outside weekend masses this weekend.

‘We’ll keep fighting’: search persists for priest thought to be murdered on Pinochet torture ship

No trace has ever been found of Michael Woodward, but almost two years since Chile assumed responsibility for finding victims, cautious progress is being made

In the weak winter sunshine forensic investigators in white suits cast long shadows as they stepped between gravestones at Playa Ancha cemetery in the Chilean coastal city of Valparaíso.

But as the rhythmic click of spades and the throb of an excavator faded, a third search for the remains of Michael Woodward reached a frustrating conclusion.

No trace has ever been found of Woodward, an Anglo-Chilean priest who is thought to have been murdered on the Esmeralda, a Chilean navy corvette which Gen Augusto Pinochet’s bloody regime used as a floating torture centre after its coup d’état on 11 September 1973.

But almost two years since the Chilean state assumed responsibility for finding the missing victims of Pinochet’s regime for the first time, cautious, methodical progress is being made.

“The fact that they managed to carve out a space for a permanent, ongoing public policy commitment is no mean feat,” said Dr Cath Collins, director of the transitional justice observatory at Diego Portales University in Santiago.

In August 2023, the National Search Plan for Truth and Justice became an official state policy, with the aiming of centralizing information, finding the remains – or trace the final movements – of 1,469 disappeared people, and seeking reparations for their families.

In the harrowing, uncertain days after Pinochet’s coup, Miguel Woodward, as the tall, cheerful priest was known to his Chilean friends, laid low in the valleys around the city.

Born to an English father and Chilean mother in Valparaíso and educated in the UK, he had returned to Chile to become a priest, joining a leftist political movement under the banner of socialist president Salvador Allende’s Unidad Popular coalition.

Early on 22 September 1973, Woodward was kidnapped from his home by a navy patrol and taken to the Universidad Santa María, which had become a makeshift detention centre.

He was beaten and submerged in the campus swimming pool, before being transferred to a naval academy and then on to the Esmeralda, where he is thought to have died of the injuries sustained under torture.

“That’s when our search began,” said Javier Rodríguez, 58, an affable, wild-haired construction worker with an unbreakable will to find the priest he remembers vividly as a family friend.

Rodríguez founded the Friends of Miguel Woodward organisation, and has set up a cultural centre in Woodward’s name, a narrow room a few doors down from where the priest was abducted, where a faded poster promoting the National Search Plan is stuck in the window.

“If Miguel were alive now, he would be marching for Palestine, for the Mapuche [Indigenous people], for all injustices,” he said. “They murdered him because they were afraid of him.”

Since democracy returned to Chile in 1990, human rights cases have made halting progress through the Chilean courts.

Woodward’s sister, Patricia, was able to file a case in 2002, but it was soon closed for lack of evidence. Eventually, when it was reopened on appeal, 10 low-ranking officers were implicated in his torture. Two were convicted, but neither ever served jail time.

Michael Woodward’s final moments have been pieced together from eyewitness accounts and testimonies, but those of many others have not – and activists fear that time is running out.

“The easy cases are all done,” said Dr Collins, “Some of the people who might have been going to talk have died.”

In Chile, the armed forces have long tried to obstruct progress, either by remaining silent or handing over partial or misleading information.

Progress has been achingly slow.

“The state never did enough to find any of the disappeared, but now the resources are there,” said Rodríguez.

“Maybe the [search] plan came late, but it represents the state coming to settle its debts.”

Searches are being carried out at 20 sites up and down the country, but as yet, no finds have been made – and some fear that progress could soon be checked.

“Of course there is going to be disappointment that there haven’t been any big discoveries yet, but if the plan survives the next administration, that’s almost an achievement in itself,” said Dr Collins.

In November , Chileans will vote in a presidential election in which three of the four current leading candidates offer rightwing agendas to replace leftist president Gabriel Boric, who ratified the national search plan.

Woodward’s last home, painted bright blue, still stands on a Valparaíso street corner; neighbours still use “Miguel’s house” as a reference when giving directions.

And despite its dark history, the Esmeralda is still in service in the Chilean navy. It is frequently picketed by protestors at ports around the world, returning periodically to haunt its victims from Valparaíso’s wide bay.

Chile’s forensic medical service says that further searches for Woodward’s body will be carried out in the cemetery in Playa Ancha imminently.

“If we find Miguel, the fight doesn’t end there,” said Rodríguez. “He lived with us and we have a history with him, but he’s just one of those we are missing – there will still be hundreds more to find.”

“We’ll keep fighting until we have justice, whatever that may look like.”

Canonical case to begin for Candy Crush priest

A Philadelphia priest who pleaded guilty to using $40,000 of parish funds for cell phone video games is facing a canonical investigation for theft. 

But an expert in parish financial fraud said he hopes the case of Fr. Lawrence Kozak will end with a merciful response for archdiocesan officials.

Kozak, 52, pleaded guilty April 25, to one misdemeanor charge — ​theft by receiving stolen property — after stealing $41,179.83 from St. Thomas More parish in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

The priest was sentenced to two years of probation, 80 hours of community service, pay $41,179.83 in restitution to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and write an apology letter to St. Thomas More parish, according to court documents obtained by The Pillar.

The court also stated that Kozak could not “hold a position of financial responsibility without oversight and the review and disclosure of the conviction,” while referring the priest for a mental health evaluation and treatment.

Kozak, the former pastor at St. Thomas More parish in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, was removed from parish ministry and reported to police in 2022 after internal parish audits found an "astronomical amount of Apple transactions” in the parish’s credit card records.

Police found evidence that Kozak had spent more than $214,000 between 2018 and 2022 on Apple charges, mostly on credits for cell phone video games and gambling apps, among them Wizard of Oz slots, Cash Frenzy slots, Mario Kart Tour, Pokemon GO, Candy Crush Friends Saga, Candy Crush Jelly Saga, Credit Sesame, and Willy Wonka Slots Vegas Casino.

Police identified that of those charges, $43,397 were charged to a parish credit card, with the rest charged to cards in the priest’s name.

With the criminal case concluded, Kozak is expected to soon face a canonical case in the Philadelphia archdiocese.

The priest’s lawyer told The Pillar there is currently a formal preliminary investigation — the first step in the canonical process — underway. Archdiocesan judicial vicar Msgr. Paul DiGirolamo told The Pillar that the case has not yet reached a formal judicial stage. It is not clear whether Kozak will face a full canonical trial, an administrative penal process, or see the process conclude after the preliminary investigation.

Kozak’s lawyer told The Pillar June 25 that the case is likely to face delays after the priest’s canonist, Father David Deibel, died unexpectedly on June 16th.

Canon 1376 establishes that “a person who steals ecclesiastical goods or prevents their proceeds from being received” could face several canonical penalties, including the loss of office, faculties, or a fine.

During interviews with police, Kozak insisted that he had not meant to charge the parish credit card for “power ups” in his video games. The card was connected to his Apple ID, he said, to pay for the Microsoft suite on his devices, and when he exceeded credit limits on his own credit with game expenses, his account charged the parish credit card.

Kozak told police that he is not a “detail guy,” and that he had paid $10,600 of the parish credit card balance to repay the charges he had incurred.

But while Kozak remains on “administrative leave,” it is not clear whether the priest will be found canonically responsible for his actions, especially in light of a 2016 brain injury.

In August of that year, Kozak was struck by a car in Newton Square, Pennsylvania. He faced several surgeries, and reportedly suffered a serious brain injury, in addition to undergoing a partial amputation of one leg.

After his injury, the priest was out of ministry for almost a year, before he was assigned a parochial vicar in June 2017, and was at the same time on the faculty of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. In 2019, he was appointed administrator at St. Thomas More, and in 2020, appointed the pastor. He was removed from ministry in 2022.

When he was interviewed in October 2022, the priest told police that he had been seeing a therapist for addictive tendencies, and that he had deleted all of the games on his phone.

The priest insisted he had not deliberately used the parish credit card to support his gaming habit, and that he had paid $10,600 of the parish credit card balance to repay the charges he had incurred and had been working to repay the amount in full. Kozak’s lawyer shared that their position is the restitution previously had been paid in full.

Robert Warren is an assistant professor of accounting at Radford University, a retired IRS investigator, and an expert in theft and fraud in ecclesiastical contexts.

While Warren has frequently argued that stiff penalties in Church theft cases could serve as effective deterrents, he had a different view of Kozak’s case.

“I have reviewed and investigated over 120 of these cases, never have I seen a case so heartbreaking as Kozak’s,” Warren said.

“This is a man who was hit by a car, had part of his leg amputated and incurred a head injury. He gets addicted to these video games as he is recovering. I understand why the church called the DAs office — because they want to file a police report so they can get an insurance claim and they want to appear to be transparent with the parishioner’s money,” he explained.

“But if there is any case where you can have an excessive mercy shown and return a priest to good standing, I think Father Kozak qualifies.”

Priest denies MP holy communion over his support for assisted dying bill

A Liberal Democrat MP was denounced by his Roman Catholic priest before his congregation and banned from communion after voting in favour of the assisted dying bill.

Chris Coghlan, the MP for Dorking and Horley, described his treatment as “outrageous”. He has complained to Richard Moth, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton.

In the days before the vote, Coghlan was contacted by his local priest, Father Ian Vane, who suggested a vote in favour would be “obstinately persevering” in sin and that Coghlan would be refused communion if he did so.

Vane, the priest at Coghlan’s local church, St Joseph’s Catholic church in Dorking, Surrey, wrote: “As priests, we are custodians of the sacraments.”

Writing in The Observer Coghlan said: “Although he made no reference to it, this priest is also well aware that he is responsible for signing off my children’s education forms for the Catholic state school they attend.”

Despite the threat, Coghlan supported the bill, which was passed in the House of Commons on 20 June with a majority of 23 MPs.

Two days after the vote, Vane told the congregation at the 8am mass that the MP would be refused communion because of the way he had voted. He repeated the announcement at the 10am mass, which typically attracts a congregation of more than 150 parishioners. Coghlan did not attend either of these services.

“It is completely inappropriate,” Coghlan told The Observer. “It undermines the legitimacy of religious institutions in this country if representatives think it is acceptable to try to coerce members of parliament.”

Coghlan said he was moved by messages of support from constituents who had been in church when Vane denounced him. He added that he knew other MPs of faith who had been put under pressure prior to the assisted dying vote.

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who introduced the assisted dying bill, said: “Religious leaders and people of faith have every right to communicate their views to their MPs and to parliament as a whole, but this is totally unacceptable. Chris Coghlan was very brave and principled to resist that pressure.”

Last year, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, issued a ­pastoral letter on assisted dying for the churches in his diocese, calling on people to write to their MPs to oppose the bill.

Justin Welby, the former Archbishop of Canterbury who led the Church of England until his resignation in January, and Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, have both also expressed their opposition to the legislation.

In 2021, the Vatican warned bishops in the US against denying communion to politicians who support abortion rights. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican official, said: “The concern in the Vatican is not to use access to the Eucharist as a political weapon.”

Vane is an experienced priest, who served for more than a decade at St Charles Borromeo church in Worthing. He is a relative newcomer to St Joseph’s where he has a reputation for his strict interpretation of scripture.

When approached about the incident, Vane declined to comment and directed inquiries to the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton.

In a statement, the diocese said: “The recent vote on the assisted dying bill was a complex one for all involved and while many in our society are deeply saddened by the result, we recognise the difficult task faced by MPs in seeking to represent their constituents.

“The Catholic church believes in the sanctity of life and the dignity of every person. Prior to the vote, Bishop Richard Moth encouraged members of clergy and lay faithful to write to their MPs in a private capacity to express their concerns about the bill, and to ask them to vote against the proposed legislation.

“Bishop Richard spoke to Mr Coghlan earlier this week and has offered to meet him in person to discuss the issues and concerns raised. Our prayers remain with all those impacted by the passing of this bill, and the peers in the House of Lords who are engaged in the next stage of this debate.”

Br Aidan Clohessy’s career of predatory abuse

This week, St John of God brother, former principal at St Augustine’s School, Blackrock, and predatory paedophile Br Aidan Clohessy, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison for the indecent assault of six minors.

The two main witnesses against him came forward due to previous coverage in this publication, when we revealed Clohessy’s identity, which was previously cloaked as ‘Brother D’ in a 2015 Safeguarding Report into the order.

This week, we reveal approx €3m in settlements and fresh victims of abuse in Malawi, where, until 2012, Clohessy was revered in the country’s third-largest city, Mzuzu, as a righteous man of God.

The following timeline details the painstaking, expensive and at times frustrating lengths to which our journalists went to unmask a monster, and to hold to account an order’s shocking inaction in the face of mounting allegations, to leave street children in harm’s way.

These children have now become men and have made numerous sickening allegations, in Irish court documents and to Extra.ie, which, given the nature of his convictions, are very likely to be true but which, in any case, St John of God is in no position to deny.

1969: Aged 30, Br Aidan Clohessy is assigned to St Augustine’s School for intellectually disabled boys.

1969 – 1971: On an unknown date during these years, Patsy Carville, a pupil who lives at the school, is sexually assaulted by Clohessy in a gym store room.

1972: Clohessy, who becomes known to pupils as Br Aidan becomes principal of St Augustine’s.

1973 – 1989: On various dates between these years, Clohessy sexually assaulted five other pupils, including Joe Devine, Gerry Quinn and Wayne Farrell.

1985: THE St John of God (SJoG) order receives its first child sex abuse complaint about Clohessy. It is disregarded and not referred to the gardaí. He continues to abuse.

1991: The SJoG order implements its first-ever code for dealing with abuse allegations. It stipulates that anyone accused of abuse should be suspended or assigned duties that ‘remove him from other children or clients’ pending an investigation.

1993: Clohessy takes a five-year ‘career break’ and is dispatched to Malawi by then Irish Provincial, Br Donatus Forkan.

1994: In Rome, Br Forkan is elected a general councillor of the order, making him one of the five most senior members globally.

1995: Makaiko Chimaliro, a 12-year-old homeless child in Mzuzu, Malawi, is taken from the streets by Br Aidan to live in his home. He is routinely sexually abused.

1997: Back in Ireland, Clohessy’s order receives a second abuse complaint against him relating to St Augustine’s. Then-Provincial Br Fintan Whitmore forbids Clohessy from having any contact with children in Malawi. This instruction is ignored and never enforced. Meanwhile, in Mzuzu, John Phiri, an eight-year-old living on the streets, is taken in by Br Aidan, who later begins abusing John when he turns 12.

1999: Br Aidan invites Edward Phiri, an 11-year-old sleeping rough at the Mzuzu bus station, to his home. In the same year another street child, Stephen Chiumia, also moves in. Both are routinely abused. Meanwhile, back in Ireland, then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, below, makes an unreserved State apology to all victims of child abuse in publicly funded institutions such as St Augustine’s. This paves the way for the Ryan Commission and a compensation scheme, the Redress Board.

2000: In Rome, Br Forkan is elected First General Councillor – making him the second most powerful member of the St John of God order worldwide.

JUNE 12, 2001: The Government publishes the legislation to set up the Redress Board. St Augustine’s is not initially listed as a qualifying institution.

MARCH 28, 2002: The Redress Board legislation is passed by the Dáil with last-minute changes that include St Augustine’s for the first time. Now, anyone abused by Clohessy at St Augustine’s can be compensated via the Redress Board in secret. He, meanwhile, remains living with and abusing children in Malawi.

2003: Redress Board payments begin to be made in secret to some of those abused by Clohessy at St Augustine’s. By now, SJoG has received 10 abuse complaints against him directly. These are separate from any unknown number of complaints about him processed in secret by the Redress Board [a number the order still refuses to disclose]. SJoG writes to Clohessy (in Africa) to tell him ‘not to have direct responsibility for programmes attended by children’. This instruction is again ignored and again not enforced. Some of those who received Redress Board compensation make criminal complaints to gardaí. These go nowhere.

JULY 16, 2004: Then-Irish Provincial Br Fintan Whitmore testifies before the Ryan Commission. He misleads the inquiry by saying his order never received any abuse complaints until 1996, though the first complaint against Clohessy had been received more than a decade earlier in 1985. He also does not mention that he had instructed him to have no contact with children in 1997, while leaving Clohessy responsible for the care of children in Africa regardless. Asked why his order decided to contribute €1m to the Redress Board despite never having had any arrests or prosecutions for abuse, Br Whitmore tells the commission the indemnity provided by the Redress Board was an ‘attractive proposition.’

JULY 16, 2006: The Criminal Justice Act 2006 becomes law, making it a criminal offence for people in authority to recklessly endanger children by knowingly placing them at risk of abuse.

OCTOBER 14, 2006: In Rome, Br Forkan is elected Prior General of the St John of God order, making him the global leader of the organisation.

OCTOBER 28, 2006: In an address to the Irish bishops, Pope Benedict, right, focuses on child abuse in the Irish Church. He instructs the bishops to ‘establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected, and above all, to bring healing to the victims and all those affected by these egregious crimes.

2007: In order to begin receiving funding from German children’s charity Kindernothilfe, Br Aidan lies by signing a false declaration to say he has never been accused of child abuse. He goes on to secure more than €1m for the children’s services he is overseeing in Mzuzu, even though his order has instructed him to have no contact with children.

MAY 20, 2009: The Ryan Commission report is published. The St John of God order escapes any negative criticism, and St Augustine’s is not mentioned at all. Clohessy, meanwhile, remains working with children in Africa as a new complaint relating to his time at St Augustine’s is received.

2010: Clohessy and Br Forkan celebrate their Golden Jubilee together. Br Forkan goes on one of his frequent trips to Malawi, staying in Br Aidan’s home. St John of God receives a new abuse complaint about Clohessy. Reacting to the publication of the Murphy Commission of Inquiry report into child abuse in Dublin, Pope Benedict issues a pastoral letter to the people of Ireland demanding ‘urgent action’ from the Irish Church saying ‘a misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church and the avoidance of scandal’ has failed to safeguard child abuse victims.

2011: The St John of God order, continues to receive new complaints against Clohessy, dating back to his time as principal of St Augustine’s. After carrying out a ‘risk assessment’ the order concludes Clohessy represents a ‘low risk of physical or sexual abuse’ because, according to the order, he is ‘not in a position of authority over children’. Yet Br Aidan remains living and working with children in Malawi, where no one has yet been informed of the allegations against him or the secret settlements made via the Redress Board

2012: After yet another complaint by a victim who first came forward in 1998, Clohessy is finally withdrawn from public ministry and his access to children restricted. But the reason for his withdrawal is kept secret. No efforts are made to establish if children under his care in Malawi since 1993 were abused. Twenty-seven years after the first 1985 complaint against Clohessy, his order belatedly forwards it to the gardaí. The complaint goes nowhere.

2013: Three more complaints relating to Clohessy’s period at St Augustine’s are received by his order, and a canonical inquiry is commenced by the Vatican. No one in Malawi, where Br Aidan lived and worked with children for 20 years, is informed of the Vatican investigation.

2014: Another three complaints relating to Clohessy’s period at St Augustine’s are made. He now faces 20 different sets of allegations from his time at the school. One of the complainants makes a formal garda statement. Clohessy denies any wrongdoing when interviewed by gardaí, and the DPP declines to prosecute at that stage.

DECEMBER 2015: An audit by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) is critical of SJoG’s management of the complaints against Clohessy. The audit identifies him only as ‘Brother D’. It also does not refer to his presence in Africa for two decades. The audit is welcomed by Br Donatus Forkan (who is Irish Provincial again) as evidence that no member of the order has ever been arrested or prosecuted for abuse.

JULY 2016: Extra.ie publishes an investigation into €1.6m secret pay top-ups to SJoG executives.

APRIL 13, 2017: As part of our continuing SJoG investigations, we inform Br Whitmore that we intend to report his inaccurate testimony to the Ryan Commission. In response, Br Whitmore and his order claim we have libelled him in our questions: ‘Please note that our clients demand that you immediately, unequivocally and in writing, without any pre-conditions of any sort, retract these statements and comments and issue an unequivocal apology in writing to Br Fintan Whitmore, the St John of God Order and St John of God Community Services in default of which we expressly reserve our clients’ rights to issue defamation proceedings.’

APRIL 16, 2017: We publish the story about Br Whitmore’s misleading commission testimony. Despite its threat, the order does not sue. Its reaction makes us want to establish the identity of ‘Brother D’ and track down victims. It quickly becomes clear that Br Aidan Clohessy is Br D. We resolve to prove and publish this.

JUNE 22, 2017: We find and speak with former homeless heroin addict and St DWYER Augustine’s pupil Con Carroll. He tells how he was abused by SEÁN Clohessy and how complaints to gardaí were dismissed by the DPP. With his help, we locate four other victims in Ireland.

OCTOBER 2017: We travel to Malawi and speak with street children Br Aidan was allowed to have control over despite allegations against him.

DECEMBER 2017: We confront Clohessy in Dublin. ‘I don’t think anybody is guilty until they’re proved guilty,’ he tells us. ‘Innocent until proven guilty,’ he adds.

JANUARY 21, 2018: We name Br Aidan Clohessy as ‘Brother D’, an alleged paedophile, and outline the decades-long inaction that allowed him to continue to be in a position of power over children despite the allegations. Joe Devine, a former St Augustine’s abuse victim who is unable to read or write, sees a photo of Clohessy on our front page. He and other victims, including Patsy Carville, right, come forward as a result of the coverage. Shortly afterwards, a Garda criminal investigation is launched.

AUGUST 2018: Pope Francis visits Ireland and meets child abuse survivors. He tells them that priests who abuse children and those who cover up for them are nothing more than ‘filth in the toilet’.

JANUARY 4, 2019: Clohessy is interviewed voluntarily but under caution by gardaí. He denies abusing Patsy Carville and Joe Devine.

2021: Tired of waiting for a criminal prosecution, some St Augustine’s victims begin to lodge civil cases in the High Court against Clohessy and SJoG. In an unprecedented legal move, Dublin law firm Coleman Legal also launches civil actions in Dublin on behalf of Br Aidan’s victims in Malawi. The order will go on to settle these cases privately rather than let the cases be heard in open court.

JUNE 9, 2021: Clohessy is interviewed, under caution, about another victim, Michael Duignan, right, who has come forward. Clohessy again denies everything.

JANUARY 24, 2022: Another St Augustine’s victim, Wayne Farrell, contacts Extra.ie. Despite reporting his abuse to his local Garda station in 2018 when he saw our coverage, his case has been ignored. Now, five years later, we refer him to the garda team prosecuting Clohessy, and he becomes the State’s lead witness.

FEBRUARY 28, 2022: Clohessy is charged with multiple counts of indecent assault relating to four victims from St Augustine’s. They include Joe Devine and Patsy Carville, who both came forward after they saw Clohessy’s photo in the Mail on Sunday. His lawyers secure a court gagging order to prevent the charges from being reported publicly.

MAY 7, 2022: A campaign of intimidation by parties in Malawi loyal to Br Aidan is launched against victims in Mzuzu. Victims are directly threatened with violence and offered cash to withdraw their complaints. In Dublin, St John of God condemns the intimidation.

JUNE 20, 2022: Clohessy attends Blackrock Garda Station to be interviewed under caution about Wayne Farrell and Gerry Quinn. He denies everything.

JUNE 25, 2022: Extra.ie and other media groups successfully apply to the Dublin Circuit Court to have the gagging order lifted. Clohessy is named in relation to the charges for the first time.

OCTOBER 13, 2022: Clohessy is arraigned, and a trial date is set for November 2024, which is over two years away.

NOVEMBER 7, 2022: An RTÉ Documentary On One: Blackrock Boys is broadcast. It sparks a renewed focus on historical abuse in religious-run schools and a Scoping Inquiry, which includes St Augustine’s, is ordered by the Government.

FEBRUARY 21, 2023: Clohessy is further charged with fresh counts against two new victims, including Wayne Farrell.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024: The Scoping Inquiry report is published. It confirms 112 allegations of abuse, involving 29 alleged abusers, that took place at St Augustine’s. Many of the allegations relate to Clohessy. The Government approves a new Commission of Investigation into religious-run schools as recommended by the Scoping Inquiry. In the same week the report is published in Ireland, St John of God’s lawyers negotiate settlements with more than a dozen victims in Mzuzu, without admitting any liability.

APRIL-MAY 2025: After repeated adjournments and delays, two separate but back-to-back abuse trials against Clohessy begin at the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin. Due to recent changes in the law, he can’t be named until convicted. He pleads not guilty, forcing his victims to testify in court even though St John of God has already paid civil settlements to most of them. Jurors remain ignorant of these pre-trial settlements.

MAY 13, 2025: Clohessy is found guilty of 10 counts of abusing Gerry Quinn, right, and four counts of abusing Wayne Farrell in the first trial.

MAY 30, 2025: Clohessy is found guilty of five additional counts of abuse against four others, including Joe Devine and Patsy Carville, in the second trial.

JUNE 23 & 24, 2025: Clohessy is sentenced to four years for abusing Gerry Quinn and Wayne Farrell by Judge Elva Duffy. The next day, he is sentenced to a further 16 months for abusing Patsy Carville, Joe Devine, Michael Duignan and one other by Judge Martin Nolan. His total sentence is five years and four months. He informs the court he will not appeal the verdict of either trial. He is sent initially to Mountjoy Prison, where his prison number is 126787

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV Saint Peter's Basilica Sunday, 29 June 2025

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we celebrate two brothers in faith, Peter and Paul, whom we honour as pillars of the Church and venerate as patrons of the diocese and city of Rome.

The story of these two Apostles has much to say to us, the community of the Lord’s disciples, as we make our pilgrim way in today’s world. Upon reflection, I would like to emphasize two specific aspects of their faith: ecclesial communion and the vitality of faith.

First, ecclesial communion. Today’s liturgy reminds us how Peter and Paul were called to share a single fate, that of martyrdom, which united them definitively to Christ. In the first reading, we see Peter in prison awaiting judgment (cf. Acts 12:1-11). In the second reading, the Apostle Paul, also in chains, tells us, in a kind of last will and testament, that his blood is about to be poured out and offered to God (cf. 2 Tim 4:6-8, 17-18). Peter and Paul were both ready to lay down their lives for the sake of the Gospel.

Yet this communion of the two Apostles in the one confession of faith was the conclusion of a long journey on which each embraced the faith and lived out his apostolate in his own particular way. Their brotherhood in the Spirit did not erase their different backgrounds. Simon was a fisherman from Galilee, while Saul was highly educated and a member of the party of the Pharisees. Peter immediately left everything to follow the Lord, while Paul persecuted Christians before his life-changing encounter with the risen Christ. Peter preached mainly to the Jews, whereas Paul was driven to bring the Good News to the gentiles.

As we know, the two were at odds over the proper way to deal with gentile converts, so much so that Paul tells us that, “when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned” (Gal 2:11). At the Council of Jerusalem, the two Apostles would once more debate the issue.

Dear friends, the history of Peter and Paul shows us that the communion to which the Lord calls us is a unison of voices and personalities that does not eliminate anyone’s freedom. Our patron saints followed different paths, had different ideas and at times argued with one another with evangelical frankness. Yet this did not prevent them from living the concordia apostolorum, that is, a living communion in the Spirit, a fruitful harmony in diversity. As Saint Augustine remarks, “the feast of the two Apostles is celebrated on one day. They too were one. For although they were martyred on different days, they were one” (Serm. 295, 7.7).

All this invites us to reflect on the nature of ecclesial communion. Awakened by the inspiration of the Spirit, it unites differences and builds bridges of unity thanks to the rich variety of charisms, gifts and ministries. It is important that we learn to experience communion in this way — as unity within diversity — so that the various gifts, united in the one confession of faith, may advance the preaching of the Gospel. We are called to persevere along this path, following the example of Peter and Paul, since all of us need that kind of fraternity. The whole Church needs fraternity, which must be present in all of our relationships, whether between lay people and priests, priests and bishops, bishops and the Pope. Fraternity is also needed in pastoral care, ecumenical dialogue and the friendly relations that the Church desires to maintain with the world. Let us make an effort, then, to turn our differences into a workshop of unity and communion, of fraternity and reconciliation, so that everyone in the Church, each with his or her personal history, may learn to walk side by side.

Saints Peter and Paul also challenge us to think about the vitality of our faith. In our life as disciples, we can always risk falling into a rut, a routine, a tendency to follow the same old pastoral plans without experiencing interior renewal and a willingness to respond to new challenges. The two Apostles, however, can inspire us by the example of their openness to change, to new events, encounters and concrete situations in the life of their communities, and by their readiness to consider new approaches to evangelization in response to the problems and difficulties raised by our brothers and sisters in the faith.

At the heart of today’s Gospel lies the question that Jesus asked his disciples. Today he asks us that same question, challenging us to examine whether our faith life retains its energy and vitality, and whether the flame of our relationship with the Lord still burns bright: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15).

Every day, at every moment in history, we must always take this question to heart. If we want to keep our identity as Christians from being reduced to a relic of the past, as Pope Francis often reminded us, it is important to move beyond a tired and stagnant faith. We need to ask ourselves: Who is Jesus Christ for us today? What place does he occupy in our lives and in the life of the Church? How can we bear witness to this hope in our daily lives and proclaim it to those whom we meet?

Brothers and sisters, the exercise of a discernment born of these questions can enable our faith and the faith of the Church to be constantly renewed and to find new paths and new approaches to preaching the Gospel. This, together with communion, must be our greatest desire. Today I would like to speak to the Church in Rome in particular, because it, above all, is called to be a sign of unity and communion, a Church on fire with vibrant faith, a community of disciples who testify to the joy and consolation of the Gospel wherever people find themselves.

In the joy of the communion that the lives of Saints Peter and Paul invite us to cultivate, I greet my brother Archbishops who today receive the Pallium. Dear brothers, this sign of the pastoral responsibility entrusted to you also expresses your communion with the Bishop of Rome, so that in the unity of the Catholic faith, each of you may build up that communion in your local Churches.

I would also like to greet the members of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. I you thank for your presence here and for your pastoral zeal. May the Lord grant peace to your people!

And with deep gratitude, I greet the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, sent here by my dear brother, His Holiness Bartholomew.

Dear brothers and sisters, strengthened by the witness of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, let us walk together in faith and communion and invoke their intercession upon ourselves, the city of Rome, the Church, and the whole world.

Pope reaffirms commitment to full communion with Orthodox Church

Meeting a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to the path of reconciliation and unity with the Orthodox Church.

Duyring the audience that marked the first such encounter since the beginning of his pontificate, he reflected on the “profound communion already existing between us,” and noted that the traditional exchange of delegations for the respective feasts of the Apostles Peter and Andrew is “a reflection of the fraternal bond that united the Apostles Peter and Andrew.”

Milestones of ecumenism

Tracing the steps of rapprochement between Rome and Constantinople, Pope Leo recalled with gratitude the “courageous and farsighted” efforts of Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, whose historic meeting in 1964 set the foundations for modern ecumenical dialogue. 

He noted that their successors have “pursued with conviction the same path of reconciliation,” highlighting in particular the presence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the funeral of Pope Francis and again at the Mass inaugurating his own pontificate.

“I assure you of my desire to persevere in the effort to restore full visible communion between our Churches,” he said, and he underlined that such unity “can only come about, with God’s help, through a continued commitment to respectful listening and fraternal dialogue.”

Open to collaboration

Pope Leo expressed his openness to ideas and collaboration, stating: “I am open to any suggestions that you may offer in this regard, always in consultation with my brother Bishops of the Catholic Church who… share with me the responsibility for the complete and visible unity of the Church.”

Concluding his address, the Pope offered heartfelt thanks for the delegation’s presence in Rome and asked them to convey his greetings and gratitude to Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy Synod.

Entrusting their shared journey to the intercession of Saints Peter and Paul, Saint Andrew, and the Holy Mother of God, he prayed that “they may accompany and sustain us in our efforts in the service of the Gospel.”

Sky high scaffolding in place at Kildare Church as repairs get underway

The scaffolding has reached full height at the Church of Assumption and St Patrick, Rathangan to allow specialist repairs to be carried out on the damaged steeple. 

The impact of Storm Elin in December 2023 damaged part of the turret, resulting in pieces of plaster falling to the ground from a great height. 

The church was cordoned off and a shipping container was used to gain access to the building, protecting church goers from any further debris that might have fallen. 

Earlier this month, Fr Bill Kemmy announced work would begin on the repairs.

In a post on the Rathangan Parish Facebook page on June 4, he said; "As announced in the newsletter and at the Masses last weekend ... we are finally able to begin our repairs of the Church spire. In order to do this, we have to fence off the Church to create a safe work site for the scaffolding etc. No public entry allowed during the week. We expect that this will last for next c 8 weeks."

He added that weekend masses, funerals, weddings and baptisms would be catered for in the Church while the work is being undertaken. 

However, he noted weekday masses are being held in the Day Care Centre. 

During the work, the Parish Office/shop will be open (via the Church) on Saturdays (9:30am to 1pm) and Sundays (9:30am to 12 noon).

Archbishop of Wales stands down after Bangor cathedral scandal

The archbishop of Wales has stepped down after a culture of excessive drinking, sexual promiscuity, bullying, bad language and inappropriate banter at Bangor cathedral was revealed.

Andy John, who is also the bishop of Bangor, released a statement on Friday evening after calls for his resignation gathered pace.

He said he was announcing his “immediate retirement today as archbishop of Wales”, adding: “I also intend to retire as bishop of Bangor on 31 August”.

Neither his statement nor those from senior colleagues in the Church in Wales made any reference to the scandal that has engulfed Bangor cathedral over recent years.

Earlier this week, John issued an “unreserved and unequivocal” personal apology regarding “the situation”, saying he took full responsibility for failings under his leadership. “I repent and offer no excuses nor justifications,” he said.

Calls for John to resign and for an independent inquiry into the cathedral’s culture, the behaviour of clergy, staff and volunteers, and alleged financial mismanagement had been mounting.

They came after a review by ThirtyOne: Eight, a Christian safeguarding agency, heard accounts of excessive alcohol consumption, inappropriate language and humiliating banter and a “culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred, and to some … promiscuity was acceptable”. 

Homophobic comments and an “unhappy working environment” were also reported.

A separate report from a cathedral “visitation” team recommended the appointment of “strong leadership” to “steady the ship”, improved scrutiny of governance and finances, and discouraging unkind and inappropriate private communications.

According to Tim Wyatt, who writes The Critical Friend, a newsletter on the Anglican church, and who has closely followed events at Bangor, the reports “pretty much confirmed there was a lot of drinking, sleeping around, backbiting, bullying – basically a whole culture that was completely out of kilter with what a place of Christian worship is supposed to be about”.

In addition, six “serious incident reports” have been sent to the Charity Commission in the past 18 months, four relating to safeguarding and two relating to financial matters.

Financial irregularities reportedly include more than £400,000 being spent on new furnishings for the cathedral with inadequate consultation, and £20,000 spent on trips to Rome and Dublin for senior staff.

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: “We have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess a number of concerns that have been raised related to Bangor cathedral and diocese, including matters reported directly to us by the charities. We are actively examining these matters with the charities’ trustees to determine our next steps.

“As regulator, if we find evidence of wrongdoing, we take robust action using the powers available to us.”

Many of the 5 about the cathedral centre on a period when Siôn Rhys Evans was its acting dean – in effect chief executive – while continuing in post as secretary of the Bangor diocese. Both posts are senior full-time jobs, and it is unprecedented for one person to manage both sets of responsibilities and workloads.

In another highly unusual move, Rhys Evans – who was seen as a protege of John – was made acting dean only a few years after being ordained as a priest. To be elevated so quickly to a high-profile job was an “astounding over-promotion”, according to Wyatt.

In February 2024, Rhys Evans stood back from both roles without explanation. He was absent from work for 10 months, after which he quietly left to take up a new post as dean of a Westminster theological college in Cambridge.

On Friday, Westminster college confirmed that Rhys Evans’ probationary period was “unsuccessful” and he had left his job in mid-May. The Guardian has been unable to contact him.

Last month, two members of the cathedral’s college of priests, Rev Dr John Prysor-Jones and the Very Rev Prof Gordon McPhate, called for an independent inquiry into events in Bangor. 

“The reputational damage to the cathedral, the diocese, and the Church in Wales is considerable,” they said in a letter to the Church Times.

Ruth Jones, the Labour MP for Newport West and Islwyn, said the church must give a full explanation to members and the public. 

“We want openness and transparency in all our church settings and it’s really, really important that the archbishop makes clear what has gone on,” she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

Kerry Diocese 2025 - Appointments

Pope Francis on his final day on the earth, Easter Sunday, showed us what it is to be strengthened by faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Pope Leo XIV in his opening address from the balcony of St Peter’s asks us to journey through life together in Chirstian Hope:

“God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail.

All of us are in God’s hands.

So, let us move forward, without fear, together,

hand in hand with God and with one another!

We are followers of Christ. Christ goes before us.”

The past year has seen three priests, David, Sospeter and Timothy arrive on loan to us from Eldoret diocese in Kenya. 

Also arrived is a priest from India, of the Order of St Camillus, Fr Arlappa, who will be a chaplain in UHK (the Order has a special charism for hospital ministry). 

He will be joined by a colleague before the Autumn. We are deeply grateful for their support and that of their dioceses. Their presence challenges us all to truly live our faith, to ask God to send labourers into the harvest, – to call from among us vocations to the priesthood to serve our needs.

This year three priests retire. Each has ministered as a priest for fifty years and more. We thank God for their service. We wish them happiness, good health and every blessing in retirement.

Facing the ongoing challenge posed by having fewer priests to minister in our parishes, the past year has been very important.  We commissioned twenty-five parishioners as pastoral leaders following an intensive preparation course. 

Also, five candidates for the permanent diaconate are completing their formation program. They will serve in every parish alongside all who are already involved as volunteers, some who have given many hours of service over many, many years: Eucharistic Ministers, Readers, committee members, etc., not forgetting our secretaries and sacristans. 

The great challenge is for priests and parishioners together to be in a position to have the fullness of parish life in all our parishes. Let us face that challenge with confidence.

I am conscious that some of our churches only have Mass every second weekend and others no longer have a weekend Mass. 

Our challenge is to ensure there is a Mass in every parish every weekend. Faced with ministering in more than one parish and thus extra churches, our priests have not been found wanting. 

The evolving situation makes demands of all, parishioners and priests. We come together around the altar to worship and give thanks to God Our Lord and Creator.

Can I humbly ask all parishioners to be faithful to weekend Mass, Saturday evening or Sunday morning? How healthy are numbers joining in the celebration of weekend Masses in your parish?

Taking the time to join in the celebration of the Mass is a call to look at the bigger picture, of the meaning, motivation and purpose of all our lives as one week ends and another begins. 

Am I happy with the week gone by? Am I ready for the challenge of the week ahead? Do I trust in the presence of God, his love and care for us all and his call to love and care for each other? Is it important that our children grow up with a sense of Sunday as the Lord’s Day and a Day of Rest? Have I that sense of Sunday in my own life?

The past ten, twenty years have seen significant changes in how people choose to marry. Less than half of marriages now take place in Church. 

Marriage is an enormous gift: a couple entering a life-long loving union; the birth and rearing of children – family life; the continuity of humanity from generation to generation, – childhood, parenthood, grandparenthood and beyond. 

For most, despite all the challenges and the major things that can go wrong, marriage is a wonderful, life-long, fulfilling and loving union. 

Our faith is that it is not just our own doing, – it is God’s will for us too, God is ever present and ever loving in the couple’s marriage and home. 

On their wedding day a couple ask and receive God’s assurance and blessing, God will be with them, their strength and guide. God blesses the journey they are setting out on, their union that will ever bear fruit.4

As parish communities and as people of faith, how can we promote both Sunday Eucharist and the Sacrament of Marriage in all our parishes?

Jubilee Year 2025 calls on us all to be Pilgrims of Hope. – Hope understood as ‘Hope in God’, “Thy will be done … Give us this day our daily bread.”

Bishop Ray Browne

Diocese of Kerry

27 June 2025

Bishop Ray Browne wishes to announce the following changes to the appointments of clergy in the Diocese of Kerry:

Retirements:

Fr Seamus Kennelly, PP Boherbue.

Fr Niall Geaney,  PP Fossa.

Fr Michael Hussey, PP Ballylongford.

Appointments:

Fr. Noel Spring, Castletownbere to be PP Fossa.

Fr Danny Broderick, Milltown to be PP Boherbue.

Fr. John Buckley, Killeentierna to be PP Ballylongford and Moderator of Tarbert parish.

Fr Gerard O’Leary, Chaplain, University Hospital Kerry to be PP Killeentierna and Moderator of Knocknagoshel Parish.

Fr. Amos Surungai Ruto, Our Lady & St Brendan’s Tralee to be PP Castletownbere and Moderator of Adrigole parish.

Fr Timothy Kiplagat Chebii, St John’s Tralee to be PP Milltown.

Fr Arlappa Mundlagiri * to be Chaplain, University Hospital Kerry.

Fr Sospeter Kangogo to continue to minister in Our Lady & St Brendan’s Tralee.

Fr David  Kibet-Rugutt to continue to minister in St John’s Tralee.

Fr. Kevin Sullivan to be Moderator of Castlemaine Parish.

*Fr. Arlappa is a Member of the Order of St Camillus, its charism is care of the sick and people in crisis.

Priests of all Pastoral Areas of the Diocese take up different responsibilities outside their own parishes and within the Pastoral Area.  This will be decided and communicated locally.

These appointments will become effective on Wednesday, July 16th 2025

Fr Nicholas Flynn

Killaloe Diocese – Appointments 2025

(Appointments take effect from Friday 15th of August 2025)

Making the diocesan appointments is getting increasingly difficult every year.  

This year, despite the small number of appointments it was exceptionally difficult due to a number of extra vacancies.

We now have 31 parishes out of 58 with no resident priest under 75 years of age.

Currently in 2025 we have 52 incardinated priests in active ministry under the age of 75.

In 2030 we will have 41.

In 2035 we will have 27.

In 2040 we will have 22.

These stark statistics speak for themselves.

It is not possible to continue to sustain the level of pastoral care we currently provide in the 58 parishes and 15 pastoral areas.  It is clear that in the coming year and beyond we need to address this in order to be able to provide a structure to continue to offer pastoral care and for the well-being of clergy, volunteer ministers and all involved in faith related activities.

However, in this Jubilee Year of Hope we journey forward in faith and trust in the Lord, for as St. Paul reminds us “Hope does not disappoint, Roman 5:5”.

The appointments for this year are as follows and sincere thanks to all for their generosity of service and willingness to embrace change:

Fr. Donal Dwyer, Co-PP, Ceantar na Lochanna, resident in O’Callaghan’s Mills to become AP and continue to offer pastoral support in Ceantar na Lochanna.

Fr. Ignatius McCormack, Principal Teacher in St. Flannan’s College to retire from St. Flannan’s College and to go on sabbatical leave with view to returning to parish ministry in 2026.

Fr. Donagh O’Meara, Co-PP, V.F., Críocha Callan Pastoral Area, resident in Mullagh to reside in Miltown Malbay.

Fr. Brendan Kyne, Co-PP, Radharc na nOileán, resident in Ballynacally to be VF for the Radharc na nOileán Pastoral Area.

Fr. Martin Blake, Co-PP, Abbey Pastoral Area, resident in Ennis to be Co-PP, Radharc na nOileán Pastoral Area, resident in Kildysart.

Fr. Pat Larkin, Co-PP, Inis Cathaigh Pastoral Area, resident in Kilrush to be Co-PP, Inis Cealtra Pastoral Area, resident in Scariff.

Fr. Michael Collins, V.F., Co-PP, Radharc na nOileán, to be Co-PP, Inis Cathaigh, resident in Kilrush, continuing as vicar for evangelisation and mission.

Fr. Jibin Jose, residing in Ennis to be CC, pro-tem in the Abbey pastoral area. He will also continue his role as content creator for social media and assistant to Fr. Arnold Rosney in managing social media platforms.

Fr. Richard Sseremba, Archdiocese of Kampala to be CC in Abbey Pastoral Area, resident in Ennis.

Fr. Michael Geraghty, Co-PP, Tradaree, resident in Shannon to succeed Fr. Ignatius McCormack as Vocations Director, pro-tem, working with Fr. Brendan Quinlivan, Assistant Director of Vocations.

An tAth. Breandán Ó Caoindealbháin, chomh maith lena chuid dualgaisí i gCeantar na Lochanna agus Oifigeach Caidrimh Phoiblí do dheoise Cill dá Lua – le bheith ina shéiplíneach, Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg, Inis in ionad An tEaspag Liam Breathnach, RIP.

Volunteer Ministers

All 24 Volunteer Ministers of Pastoral Care and Catechesis to be reappointed for a second 3 year term. Well done to them all and many thanks on completing the first term in the areas of pastoral care and catechesis.

Every good wish to the 31 new volunteer ministers who have completed the discernment period and are well under way with year one of studies in pastoral care and catechesis.

Other Pastoral Appointments Pending

Appointment of an assistant to work with Fr. Michael Collins in Evangelisation and Mission is pending

Appointment also pending of an assistants to work in the area of Primary Religious Advisor to complement the work of Sr. Essie Hayes and Ms. Áine McMahon in the Gaelscoileanna.

Survivors urge Pope Leo to end Church ‘silence’ on abuse

Thirty-seven survivors of sexual abuse wrote individual letters to Pope Leo XIV describing their experience and suggesting how the Church could change its approach to safeguarding.

Each letter was written by a member of Awake, a community founded in Winsconsin in 2019 whose mission is “to awaken our community to the full reality of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, work for transformation, and foster healing for all who have been wounded”, according to its website.

The letters were inspired by an interview the future Pope gave in 2023 regarding abuse in the Church. Cardinal Robert Prevost – as he was – told Vatican News: “Silence is not an answer. Silence is not the solution. We must be transparent and honest. We must accompany and assist the victims, because otherwise their wounds will never heal.”

Excerpts from the letters published on the Awake website include the words of one survivor who wrote: “Getting abused by a priest destroys your spiritual foundation of all of your beliefs.” The text continues: “I felt and still do feel so abandoned by God and it is a struggle to ever trust again. It is difficult to attend Mass.”

Others maintained their faith. “While my faith in God remains unshaken, my trust in the institutional Church was shattered when a priest I had known since I was a child exploited his sacred position to abuse me as an adult,” wrote one correspondent, continuing: “I remain Catholic because I believe Christ calls us to truth, justice, and healing.”

In a statement, Awake said they had invited survivors to ask the Pope two questions: “What do you want Pope Leo to understand about your experience as a survivor, and how do you hope he will address abuse in the Church?”

The actions suggested included reforms to canon law, establishing permanent survivor advisory panels in dioceses and requiring all Church leaders to undergo trauma training.

The executive director of Awake Sara Larson delivered the to Fr Hans Zollner SJ, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, on 17 June, during the annual safeguarding conference at the Institute for Anthropology in the Pontifical Gregorian University, where she gave a talk on accompanying survivors. Larson also delivered copies to the commission.

In a message addressed to “my beloved Peruvian people” on 20 June, Pope Leo emphasised the importance of journalism in exposing abuse as he praised the work of four Peruvian journalists in exposing the abuse in the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV). Pope Francis suppressed the Peruvian-founded lay movement a week before his death in April 2025.

The message coincided with the premiere of a play about one of the journalists, Paola Ugaz, and was read out after the performance by Mgr Jordi Bertomeu, the apostolic commissioner for dissolving the SCV. Mgr Bartomeu was also part of the investigating team that found economic, psychological and sexual abuses in the organisation.

In his message, Pope Leo said: “Prevention and care are not a pastoral strategy, they are the heart of the Gospel. We must urgently root in the Church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse – of power or authority, of conscience or spiritual, or sexual. This culture will only be authentic if it is born from active vigilance, transparent processes and listening sincerely to those who have been wounded.

He continued: “For this we need journalists. Today I should like to thank particularly Paola Ugaz for appealing to Pope Francis for support in the face of unjust attacks that she suffered along with three other journalists, Pedro Salinas, Daniel Yovera and Patricia Lachira for denouncing the abuses committed by part of a Church group present in various countries but originating in Peru.

“In this time of profound institutional and social tensions, defending free and ethical journalism is not only an act of justice, but a duty of all those who yearn for a solid and participatory democracy. I therefore urge the Peruvian authorities, civil society and every citizen to protect those who, from community radios to the major outlets, from rural areas to the capital, provide information with integrity and courage. Where a journalist is silenced, the democratic soul of a country is weakened.”

Ancient church discovered on the Via Appia – monument to Apostle Paul?

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a church around 50 kilometres south of Rome, which could provide evidence of the Apostle Paul 's stay in the area. 

The basilica, decorated with early medieval frescoes, was uncovered in Tres Tabernae, an ancient settlement along the Via Appia, as reported by the daily newspaper "La Repubblica" (Tuesday). 

Tres Tabernae appears in the New Testament as the place where Rome's Christians met the imprisoned Paul to accompany him to the capital of the empire, where he was finally executed. 

According to experts, the discovery could change the narrative of the history of Christianity in Italy.

"Buildings have been identified that contain fragments of painted plaster," explained Alessandro Betori from the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology. "There is a possibility that this is the famous monument to St Paul."

New excavation campaign

In the 3rd century, Tres Tabernae, today part of the city of Cisterna di Latina, became a bishop's see. 

However, a church dedicated to St Paul the Apostle later disappeared. The small basilica with apse and wall paintings now discovered by the experts suggests that it was built in memory of St Paul's stay. 

Following the discovery of the basilica, a new excavation campaign is now to be launched under the direction of the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology, it was reported.

Tres Tabernae was an important point in ancient history: in 312 BC, Consul Appius Claudius Caecus began the construction of the Via Appia, an important trade route over 540 kilometres long, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 2024 as the "Via Appia Antica". 

It provided the Roman Empire with a direct connection from Rome to Brindisi in Apulia - and from there by ship to the Orient. 

With the invasion of the Lombards and the expansion of the surrounding marshes, people gradually left the area around Tres Tabernae.

Pope Leo XIV creates two new public holidays in the Vatican

New pope, new public holiday: the Vatican has adapted its calendar. 

As usual, both the day of the election and the Pope's name day become Vatican public holidays. 

The "Vatican News" portal reported on the corresponding adjustments (Monday). 

Accordingly, employees will have time off on 8 May from next year. 

On this day, white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and Leo XIV took office as the 267th pope in the history of the Church.

Leo, whose real name is Robert Francis Prevost, celebrates his name day on 17 September. This is the feast day of St Robert Bellarmin (1542-1621), a Jesuit, cardinal and papal adviser. 

This day will also be a free day within the Vatican in future.

Francis' election day and name day cancelled

The date of 13th. March, when Francis was elected Pope in 2013, will be removed from the calendar. 

This also applies to 23 April, the feast day of St George - Francis' civil name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

A pope's birthday is no reason for the Vatican to stop work. 

Francis used to make little fuss about his birthday on 17 December. Leo XIV is looking forward to a milestone birthday this year: he will be 70 years old on 14 September.