Scandal Rocks Church, The Express, March 31, 2011

Scandal Rocks Church

The Express
March 31, 2011

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/237842/Scandal-rocks-Church/

A YOUNG Roman Catholic priest has quit his Scottish parish after fathering a secret child, it was revealed yesterday.

Father Piotr Koczorowski, a Polish chaplain based at St Mary’s RC Church in Inverness, mysteriously disappeared in December following a Christmas party.

Rumours were rife among parishioners that the 35-year-old, who plays bass in a Christian rock band, had become a parent.

FREE NEWS UPDATES 24/7...FOLLOW THE SCOTTISH EXPRESS ON TWITTER

Last night the Scottish Catholic Church confirmed the bombshell that Fr Koczorowski had left the Church to be with the unnamed mother and child. In a terse statement, a spokesman for the Aberdeen diocese said: “After meeting with Bishop Peter Moran, Fr Koczorowski plans to leave the priesthood in order to focus on his parental responsibilities.”

Fr Koczorowski’s whereabouts are unknown but sources suggest he has gone to live in Glasgow with his partner and their baby.

Father Piotr Koczorowski

Colleagues at the picturesque St Mary’s, on the banks of the River Ness, were tight-lipped and would not discuss the issue. The revelation came as a surprise to many of the devoted Polish Roman Catholic residents in the Highland Capital, of which there are an estimated 6,000.

Fr Koczorowski is a member of popular Polish group the Pinokio Brothers. The band, made up of three priests and a deacon, has legions of fans in Poland, and performs around the country at festivals, even appearing on Polish daytime TV.

The female lead singer and her bandmates play hard rock versions of passages from the Bible, and combine their dog collars with trendy outfits on stage.

The band’s black-and-white logo is a face with a Pinocchio-style nose and dog collar.

Fr Koczorowski has told in the past how heavy rock was his first love, before he found Christianity.

Fellow Pole Lukasz Poplawski, who helps behind the scenes at St Mary’s, said he understood the priest was still in Scotland but would not reveal his whereabouts.

Zosia Wierbowicz-Fraser, of the Inverness Polish Association, said rumours had been rife about his sudden departure.

She said: “I was suspicious that maybe there was something like that in the air. I really did not know. This was kept very quiet. It is going to cause a lot of embarrassment to the Polish community.”

Last September Fr Koczorowski was at the centre of a drama at St Mary’s when he went to investigate an alarm going off in the sanctuary. He was attacked by two drunken intruders who jumped on him and punched him to the ground before making off.

The influx of Polish immigrants to Scotland has seen Catholic Church attendances rise three-fold, with parishes in major cities forced to take on new priests from Poland.

The incident is just the latest in a long line of scandals to hit the Church. In 2006 it emerged that Roddy MacNeil, nicknamed Father Flash because of his luxury lifestyle, fathered a child with his cousin Hilda Robertson following a two-year affair.

And in 1996 Bishop Roddy Wright eloped with his housekeeper and mother-of-three, Kathleen MacPhee.