All go in the church

by planetparker

Ireland’s TV3 network recently aired an exposee about two Irish priests working in Florida who used their parochial funds to pay for a five-star

Just resting in his account?

lifestyle of gambling and womanising. The priests, now in their ‘80s, are now serving jail terms.

 What they did was reprehensible, as it involved a betrayal of trust. But I couldn’t help feeling that stealing money, even in such large amounts, was certainly a lesser crime than systematically abusing children. They have offered to repay any money stolen. The hurt and anguish of sexual abuse however, leaves a mark which is often impossible to erase.

 They served in some of the most well-heeled parishes in Palm Beach, whose members dutifully kept putting large amounts in the collection plate each week, and may have viewed the Catholic Church as a necessary bastion against the evils of communism, socialism and secular humanism. Some of them may even have sought to have their donations set off against their tax liabilities. So the priests could hardly be painted as robbing from the poor. In fact, they were robbing from the rich, to give to the rich – themselves. They were slightly more just than the Irish government, who steal from the poor to give to the rich - and pay for the champagne lifestyles of politicians and public officials.

 What’s more, as the priests said themselves, they had never taken a vow of poverty. They were not like the Franciscans who have. They never said they were saints. They were not the first priests to live it up, gambling, drinking and whoring, and to pay for this by dipping into the collection. And historically, that’s just what most members of the hierarchy did. Remember that bishops still live in palaces and who paid for the still unnamed Irish bishop’s visits to London prostitutes? Did they get sex on approval or was it paid for by well-wishers in the laity? And then  there was the former Bishop of Limerickm, a big friend of Opus Dei who made no secret of the fact that he would only accept the best food and wine. *He loved Frankie

Please yourselves then

Howerd in Up Pompeii, especially the line when Nausius says “I feel like a new man” and Lurcio replies, “Well it’s always better than sticking with the old one”.

 I feel that a custodial sentence was a little harsh, considering their age, and considering the fact that figures in the hierarchy who knew about clerical sexual abuse (and responded by establishing elaborate cover-ups), have never served one day of imprisonment. And realistically the amounts they stole were chickenshit when compared to the loot lifted by Irish bankers. In fact Mary Harney would get through it in a few months.

 Personally, seeing the lifestyles they enjoyed, I have had reason to question my decision not to pursue a life in the church. The only problem was that they would never have a cripple in their ministry.