The British government and the Roman Catholic Church conspired to cover up the suspected involvement of a local priest in a deadly triple bombing in Northern Ireland in 1972 that killed nine people, a new investigation into the attack found Tuesday.
Despite strong evidence that Father James Chesney had a hand in the explosions that ripped through the village of Claudy in July 1972, police decided not to go after the priest but instead asked officials in London to work with church leaders in having him removed from the area. Chesney moved across the border and was later assigned to a parish in Ireland.
.......
The decision to remove him quietly rather than pursue him legally may have sprung from the British ruling establishment's fears that the arrest of a clergyman could spark an all-out civil war between the province's Catholics and Protestants.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
A bombshell for the RC Church in Ireland
The LA Times:
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9 comments:
It probably would, but then... shouldn't he have thought about it first!
Imagine that: an RC priest who decided to destroy lives directly, as opposed to the more usual "soul rape" (i.e., child sexual abuse).
[Fr Giles Fraser has commented on this, and it's linked at Thinking Anglicans. Is this an instance of "Liberation Theology" taken to the extreme, or twisted until unrecognizable?]
JCF, that's a bit of a dig against many, many good RC priests, don't you think?
To me the question isn't the failing of a single man, but the institutional failing that did not uncover and expose him. The fears about civil violence--what if the CHurch had exposed him?
'kay, just being a little bit snarky, IT. [More in the spirit of "OCICBW" ;-/]
[Maybe when the RCC doesn't rank women's ordination as bad as child abuse, I'll start respecting the *majority* non-abusive RC priests again?!]
I think it's possible to disagree with the hierarchy without disparaging the many lay and clergy who do their best, JCF. Just think of Our Fran.
As an atheist ex-RC, I'm as opposed as any to the abuses of the RC church. More than most--I'm very anti. But it's possible to point those out and assign blame without tarring everyone.
Love Maddy, but this is not OCICBW.
Well, I think it unlikely that the Irish priest in question was "loyal to the Pope in all things", which was why I used the general term "RC", contrasted w/ "Popoid" (Fran, as you know, I consider the former, not the latter---not that I'm comparing her to this priest, either.)
***
In all honesty, I do feel a sense of growing impatience w/ the masses (I mean persons!) of RCs in general. While I don't want to generalize, I suspect too many of them are just "going w/ the flow", in their dealings w/ the hierarchy (starting w/ their parish priest, on up).
I mean, I appreciate it if they vote their consciences AGAINST what was preached at them from Popoid pulpits. But how AWESOME would it have been, pre-PropH8, if when their priest delivered his ordered-from-above H8 endorsement (Fr Geoff Farrow, a True Hero, excepted!), laypersons stood up and turned their backs---or better yet, shouted out for EQUAL TIME to deliver a "No on H8" case? [Of course, that kind of action would be just as awesome in ANY place of worship where H8 was endorsed from the pulpit/lectern, not just the RCC.]
I'm coming more and more to a position that, IF you're not risking excommunication in SPEAKING UP, you're part of the Popoid problem, not the RC solution!
OCICBW.
Yeah, I get it...a lot of people are in "don't ask don't tell" mode. A number of BP's friends didn't understand why she left, since she hadn't said anything to Monsignor. But, I know these are good people doing their best, and it's not up to me to dictate.
OTOH, BP laughs that I'm a great evangelizer (my last plane trip home, I spent some time explaining to my seatmate, a disgruntled RC, why he should join our Cathedral)
I'm a great evangelizer
Never doubted that for a minute, IT. ;-)
[If they say the Good News is "more caught than taught", maybe you're a carrier? :-D]
And speaking of atheist bloggers who "get" the Good News better than many (if not most, Sigh) Christians, check out/juxtapose these two vids, both picked up by the ever-righteous Joe.My.God:
Chuck Colson, ranting at insufficiently Wingnutty Christians (who won't sign his precious "Manhattan Declaration")
and
The ever-righteous Rob Tisanai's (animated) take on what awaits NOM's Maggie Gallagher "across the River Jordan".
It's a topsy-turvy world, where atheists/humanists and assorted agnostics and seculars have to teach Christians the Gospel. {Sigh}
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