Cardinal Keith O'Brien's Accusers Deny They Are Part of 'Gay Cabal'

By Catherine Deveney
The Observer
March 24, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/24/keith-o-brien-accusers-deny-gay-cabal-claims

Keith O'Brien resigned and issued an apology after publication of the Observer story accusing him of inappropriate behaviour

Men who caused Britain's top Catholic cardinal to resign rebut reports that they were seeking revenge for his anti-homosexual statements

The four men at the centre of the scandal that led to the resignation of Britain's leading Catholic cleric have dismissed suggestions that they were part of a "gay cabal" seeking "revenge" for his publicly anti-gay stance.

Speaking about Cardinal Keith O'Brien's resignation last month over claims of inappropriate behaviour towards several priests, the four rejected reports quoting church sources who claimed the cardinal had been forced to quit by gay priests angry at his hypocrisy about same-sex marriages.

"This isn't about people being gay. It's about abuse of power," said "Father Peter", who admitted in the Observer report which broke the story that he had been involved in an inappropriate relationship with the cardinal that led to him needing counselling. "The emotional and psychological power Keith O'Brien had over me was incredible. He was utterly manipulative."

"Lenny", a former priest who described how he had rebuffed the cardinal's advances while he was a seminarian, said the newspapers were forcing parts of the jigsaw puzzle together that didn't fit : "I was surprised at the suggestion that I was part of a gay cabal. And my partner of 26 years? I'd say she was quite surprised too."

In February, the Observer revealed that Lenny and Father Peter, and two others, "John" and "Kenny", had complained to the papal nuncio about O'Brien. The cardinal resigned, casting a shadow over the election of Pope Francis. The instinct of many, said Father Kenny, had been to demand forgiveness for the cardinal while blaming the complainants.

The story has been complicated by leaked details of a fifth complaint, dating to September 2012. The priest involved reached agreement on the matter. When the four men made their complaints five months later, they were advised to stay silent and were informed that O'Brien would retire to Rome. Fearing another cover-up, they went public, prompting the cardinal's resignation and apology in which he admitted: "There have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me."

Father Peter, who became suicidal as he struggled with guilt and depression, says the story has been misunderstood. The complaints were neither political, nor timed to affect the papal conclave. "Our complaints were made before the pope resigned. I am now more convinced than ever they played a part in his resignation. But this is not something that all happened last month. I sought help for this a decade ago. I was on antidepressants and I couldn't cope any more."

Father Peter claimed he felt O'Brien had "groomed" him. As a young priest, he had personal problems of which the cardinal, more than 20 years his senior, had been informed. "I was vulnerable and he knew that. He was very charismatic and I couldn't believe his interest in me. I thought he was helping me." A relationship developed that Father Peter struggled to disentangle himself from, until he temporarily left the priesthood. "Only when I got away could I assimilate what had happened. It was like the Stockholm syndrome. I kept trying to argue in his favour, even to my psychologist. She just kept saying, 'Peter, it was abuse'."

He describes watching a film in which a mother behaved lovingly, but secretly, she was poisoning her daughter's soup. "I remember thinking, that's my relationship with Keith to a T. He is poisoning me."

While the four complainants knew one another, not all were close friends. A chance reunion for Lenny and Peter led to the discovery of their common link to the cardinal. "We couldn't have acted alone because Keith was too powerful," explains Father Peter. "Gradually, we all found one another. We had each thought that Keith had a problem, but then we realised there was more to it. This was a man who was using his power wickedly."

Lenny said he had not received a formal response from the nuncio and did not know whether there would be an inquiry. When contacted by the Observer, the nunciature refused to confirm whether more priests had come forward since the original article. A spokesman also refused to comment on an inquiry. Not even on the process? "Not even on whether it exists."

The complainants deny being motivated by malice. "This was done for altruistic reasons," says Father Peter, who is still seeing a psychologist. "I see the bigger picture: the cleansing of the church." The opprobrium has caused them great distress. Father Kenny begins counselling this week. "I feel a real need to shed tears but fear that if I start, I will have difficulty stopping." Lenny believes the church would make them all disappear if it could. "I think we are seeing evidence of this in the sheer anger of these statements. These may be men of the cloth but they are not men of the holy spirit."