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	Bishops Were No Help after My Abuse, Priest Tells Court Belfast Telegraph November 19, 2011 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/bishops-were-no-help-after-my-abuse-priest-tells-court-16079780.html A priest who claims he was sexually abused by a fellow priest has told a court that the only solace he got from the Catholic Church was from the Vatican in Rome. Fr Patrick McCafferty, who made the claim during a second day of cross-examination at the Belfast Crown Court trial of former priest James Martin Donaghy, also maintained that he received no help from his local bishops of Down and Connor. Donaghy, a 53-year-old former priest from Lady Wallace Drive in Lisburn, denies a total of 26 charges involving the alleged sex abuse and indecent assault of three males between June 1983 and December 2000, including Fr McCafferty, another trainee priest and a former altar boy. Yesterday Fr McCafferty was cross-examined by defence QC Eugene Grant who accused the priest of lying in his evidence about the help he had received from the church, both from the diocese and its various bishops. Fr McCafferty, denying the accusation, in turn accused Mr Grant of being “just a twister”, adding: “And I am not a liar.” Maintaining that “the only recognition” that he has had “has come from the Holy See” in Rome, the priest claimed he received no pastoral care from his bishops in Down and Connor. The priest, at times emotional, but refusing a break, said: “No, I don’t want a break, keep it going, bring it on.” Fr McCafferty was being questioned about claims he made in September 2006 “on the national airwaves” on BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence radio programme, where he stated he'd received no help from the local Church. However, Fr McCafferty agreed that after writing to Bishop Patrick Walsh, he was summoned to meet him and that within days was on a jet to Massachussets in the US, at his request, to be treated by renowned psychologist George Bilotta. At hearing.
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