NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
Deborah McAleese
PUBLISHED
26/03/2016
The Catholic church is facing a backlash after it “quietly” reinstated a priest who had a sexual relationship with a parishioner.
Fr Ciaran Dallat, who stepped aside last year following an affair with a woman who allegedly became pregnant, has resumed his duties after “spiritual guidance and counselling”.
Parishioners were unaware of the decision to bring Fr Dallat back, until they spotted the west Belfast priest taking part in the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday at St Peter’s Cathedral.
A statement from the Diocese of Down and Connor said yesterday that after he voluntarily stepped aside in March last year, Fr Dallat had undertaken “a time of reparation, spiritual guidance and counselling” in the hope that he would be able to “resume the exercise of priestly ministry”.
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