Rcc Rewards Hypocrite O’brien

By Barry Duke
The Freethinker
July 17, 2014

http://freethinker.co.uk/2014/07/17/rcc-rewards-hypocrite-obrien/


O’Brien, 76, refused this week to explain his situation, saying only:

I’m not speaking to anyone at the moment.

The disgraced churchman has been staying in the former pit village of Ellington, Northumberland, since January.

The house was purchased in the same month by Cushley – who succeeded O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – and two other leading churchmen in their capacity as trustees of the archdiocese.

O’Brien would not answer questions yesterday about why he was living on the other side of England from Cumbria, where he was understood to be undertaking a religious retreat.

When pressed on the house ownership, he replied:

You’ll need to check that with the diocese. I’m not talking about it, I’m not allowed to talk about it.

O’Brien was brought down after being accused of hypocrisy over his continual condemnation of homosexuality. He called it a “moral degradation” and described gay marriage as “harmful”.

His bigotry prompted three serving Catholic Fathers and one former priest to come forward to accuse him of inappropriate sexual contact with them dating back decades.

One claimed O’Brien made an approach to him in 1980, after night prayers, when he was a seminarian at St Andrew’s College, Drygrange.

Another complainant said he had been living in a parish when he was visited by the cardinal and inappropriate contact had taken place between them.

A third complainant alleged he had faced what he described as “unwanted behaviour” by the cardinal in the 1980s after some late-night drinking.

A fourth complainant claimed that the cardinal had used night prayers as an excuse for inappropriate contact with him.

O’Brien stepped down from his role in February last year and and remains under investigation by the Vatican, who ordered him to undertake an unspecified period of “prayer and penance”.

Former Vatican diplomat Cushley was named his successor and in November met the complainants, who tabled a formal request for information about O’Brien’s rise to power.

The other purchasers of the house in Ellington are Monsignor Alistair Lawson and Monsignor Philip Kerr, who hold the important title of Vicar General.

They are named in title deeds as having bought the house as:

Trustees of the charity known as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The purchase came less than a year after the allegations against O’Brien were made public.

One local man said:

Very few people in the village know who he is. Most people would only have seen pictures of him in his cardinal robes and the fact is he looks quite different in everyday clothes. It is not every village that can boast a cardinal living in it. But most villagers won’t know that he is the subject of such serious allegations.

O’Brien is still a cardinal and retains the right to vote at any future papal conclave, though chose not to do so when Pope Francis was elected.

He will remain a cardinal until he is 80, but may be stripped of his office by the Vatican following their inquiry.

Bishop Charles Scicluna has been appointed by the Congregation for Bishops as their special envoy to listen and report on the allegations.

Bishop Scicluna has been credited with reforming the Vatican’s attitude to sexual abuse over the past decade, overhauling internal norms to make it easier to defrock abusers.

When O’Brien stepped down, he admitted he had been sexually active throughout his time in the Church. He said:

There have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.

A spokesman for the Diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh said:

Some retired clergy have accommodation bought for their use although such properties are always owned by the diocese.

This is the case with the house arranged for Cardinal O’Brien. Its location is in accordance with the agreement between him and the Holy See. The details of the transaction are a matter of public record and the price was within the cost range of other purchases for retired clergy housing.