Good Priests, what have they done for you.

[supersarsfields]

That's your view. There seems to be quite a few other posters who disagree.

[Puckoon]

My favourite priest growing up was Father Eugene Hassan. I have hazy recollections of his sermon the week after the ballygawley line bombing.

[longrunsthefox]

Boystown is an excellent old film with Spenser Tracey and Mickey Rooney about Fr Flanagan... a saint.

Fr. Edward Flanagan
OMAHA, Neb. (March 1, 2010) –The Rev. Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town nearly 90 years ago, and today his mission lives on. Now those who have studied him believe Father Flanagan should be a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.Flanagan founded the Orphanage for Boys in 1917. Since then, his organization has touched the lives of thousands of children. It's a legacy that some believe makes Omaha's best-known priest worthy of sainthood."We really believe that if this is God's will, this is going to happen," said Steve Wolf of the Father Flanagan League, an Omaha group dedicated to spreading its devotion to the founder of Boys Town and providing information to the Roman Catholic Church.
Fr. Flanagan warned of abuse in Irish Catholic institutions back in the 1940s.
While touring the Irish schools he was appalled and said so. "You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it." He called Ireland's penal institutions "a disgrace to the nation," and later said "I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child's character."
However, his words fell on stony ground. He wasn't simply ignored. He was taken to pieces by the Irish establishment.

[Rois]

Here's one of the good ones - Fr Boland in Strabane.  He even has a Facebook appreciation page.



From BBC NI online:

A priest accused of child abuse in Derry is to be moved out of the parochial house in Strabane.

Parish priest Fr Declan Boland said he had not been made aware of the extent of the allegations against Fr John McCullough when he moved in.

Fr McCullough paid £12,000 to a woman who claimed she was abused by him, but he has no convictions and made no admission of liability.

Fr Boland said he feels compromised, and has spoken to the Bishop.

"The bottom line is that given the revelations that have occurred it is no longer appropriate, nor would it be possible for him to live in the parochial house.

"I feel compromised, I feel I have been put into a corner and asked to deal with a situation I should have had nothing to do with because this is a diocesan responsibility, not mine.

"I find myself handling a situation I shouldn't have had to handle," he said.

[johnneycool]

Here's one of the good ones - Fr Boland in Strabane.  He even has a Facebook appreciation page.



From BBC NI online:

A priest accused of child abuse in Derry is to be moved out of the parochial house in Strabane.

Parish priest Fr Declan Boland said he had not been made aware of the extent of the allegations against Fr John McCullough when he moved in.

Fr McCullough paid £12,000 to a woman who claimed she was abused by him, but he has no convictions and made no admission of liability.

Fr Boland said he feels compromised, and has spoken to the Bishop.

"The bottom line is that given the revelations that have occurred it is no longer appropriate, nor would it be possible for him to live in the parochial house.

"I feel compromised, I feel I have been put into a corner and asked to deal with a situation I should have had nothing to do with because this is a diocesan responsibility, not mine.

"I find myself handling a situation I shouldn't have had to handle," he said.

I wonder does this priest feel let down by the institution/church for lumping on his doorstep a priest with a seedy past?
If the 'institution' doesn't even bother to tell the local PP that his new colleague has a misdemeanour of a sexual nature hanging over him what hope would the local school teachers or parishioners have of knowing before letting them lose with their children??