Congregation divided over suspended parish priest

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Monday 6 January 2014

A CONGREGATION has been divided over the treatment of a parish priest who was suspended over his claims that there is a culture of homosexual bullying in the Catholic Church.

Parishioners turning up at John Ogilvie RC church in High Blantyre yesterday were given copies of a letter by Bishop Joseph Toal, who is in temporary charge of Motherwell diocese and suspended Father Matthew Despard last November. That action followed the allegations made by Father Despard in a self-published book.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.