"Bishop" Pat Buckley, Cardinal Cahal Daly and Father Vincent McKinley

"Bishop" Pat Buckley

This is part of a discussion on "Bishop" Pat Buckley and Cardinal Cahal Daly on the Politics.ie website in June 2010

Original post by Kilbarry1 [Myself] on 15 June 2010

"Bishop" Pat Buckley and Cardinal Cahal Daly
The following are a couple of extracts from "Bishop" Pat Buckley's website. They claim to explain why, in 1986, the then Bishop Cahal Daly dismissed him as a Catholic curate from the diocese of Down and Connor (based in Belfast). The reason seems to be strongly linked to "Bishop Pat's" difficulties with the late Father Vincent McKinley. Indeed if Father McKinley were still alive he might well raise some legal issues about the following:
http://www.bishoppatbuckley.co.uk/daly.htm

WHY CARDINAL CAHAL DALY SACKED BISHOP PAT
Daly became the Bishop of Down and Connor (Belfast) in late 1982. Bishop Pat had been in St. Peter’s Cathedral Belfast as curate since August 1978.

When Daly took over Belfast he asked all the priests in the Diocese to write a report for him about the state of things in the Diocese. Over a 4 week period Bishop Pat prayed about this and eventually posted Daly a very honest and comprehensive report on the 7th November 1982. In his report Bishop Pat made the following comments and suggestions:

1. That Daly should abandon his luxurious palace in Belfast’s stockbroker belt and come and live at his cathedral among the poor as would Christ.

2. That Daly should renovate the Diocese’s churches in line with Vatican 11

3. That rules about marriages etc be implemented on a Diocesan level so that people would not be encountering difficult priests abusing their power.

4. That the laity should be more involved in every aspect of Church life.

5. That priests should be appointed on merit and not by age seniority.

6. That Daly and the Church should do more to reach out to the alienated youth.

BISHOP PAT PHYSICALLY BEATEN UP BY PRIEST:
About this time the Parish Priest of the Cathedral Father Vincent McKinley was bullying both the priests in the Cathedral Presbytery and the people of the parish. Bishop Pat reported this to Daly.

As a result Father McKinley jumped on Bishop Pat one night in the presbytery dining room and physically beat and kicked him repeatedly!

Bishop Pat reported this to Bishop Daly who replied: “Father McKinley is a saint and you have a persecution complex”. Bishop Pat later regretted not calling in the police.

Bishop Pat was banned from eating in the cathedral priest’s dining room and had to eat in the kitchen with the lady housekeeper. At night when Father McKinley would get drunk he would kick Bishop Pat’s bedroom door and sing pornographic rugby songs about “ w***ing” and “f***g” !!! He was determined to break Bishop Pat’s spirit.

When Bishop Pat later organised a big clean up of the infamous Divis Flats complex which surrounded the presbytery Father McKinley stood at the presbytery window giving Bishop Pat and the parishioners the 2 finger “f*** off” sign.

Daly and the clergy became furious with Bishop Pat. In February 1983 Daly banished Bishop Pat to the furthest parish in the Diocese – Attical – on the top of the Mountains of Mourne. .........

"Bishop" Pat seems to have been watching too much Father Ted but there is more to it than that!

Also Posted by Kilbarry1 on 15 June 2010
This is from my own website and may provide a better explanation of why Father McKinley fell out with Bishop Pat:
http://www.irishsalem.com/individuals/Politicians%20and%20Others/pat-buckley/bishoppatswebsite-june10.php

Note regarding Father Vincent McKinley and Gerry Fitt from Debate in British House of Lords, 17 May 1985

Annie Maguire - Hansard HL Deb 17 May 1985
vol 463 cc1384-408

Lord Fitt  rose to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will reopen the case of Annie Maguire and her family who were convicted and sentenced in 1976 ...........................................

Sir John first took an interest in this case not through me but through a Unionist lady whom he knew in Northern Ireland. This lady was acquainted with a Catholic priest from St. Peter's Church in West Belfast. This Catholic priest, whose name was Father Vincent McKinley, made the headlines as a result of another terrorist act. In that case a terrorist by the name of Delaney carried a bomb on a train from Lisburn to Dublin. The bomb exploded prematurely and killed the terrorist himself and three or four innocent people. [This was in January 1980.] When the remains of that terrorist's body were found, his relatives wanted him to be buried from St. Peter's Church. Father Vincent said, "I'm not letting the remains of that terrorist inside the door of my church". That shows how opposed Father Vincent is to acts of terrorism.

That action by Father Vincent caused great controversy, and he went through an awful time for a number of months because he refused to allow the remains of that terrorist in his church. So Father Vincent knew the Unionist lady of whom I spoke, and she then spoke to Sir John Biggs-Davison. .......................
Annie Maguire (Hansard, 17 May 1985)

Original post by michaelhenry 
was there any history of funny goings on with these two.

Reply by Kilbarry1 to michaelhenry
I would say that Father McKinley was not the kind of man who would enjoy "Bishop" Pat's company. The bit about Buckley being banished from the priests' dining room and having to eat in the kitchen with the lady housekeeper is probably true. Some of the rest comes from "Father Ted".

HOWEVER - moving from farce to tragedy - Father McKinley's difficulties with the residents of Divis Flats were NOT caused by his failure to join Buckey's "big clean up" operation.

Originally Posted by Cruimh (quoting Post by Kilbarry1)
"Indeed if Father McKinley were still alive he might well raise some legal issues."

And what has this rubbish to do with Current affairs? To cause trouble If there is a possibility of legal issues why post it on this site ?

Reply by Kilbarry1 to Cruimh
Father McKinley is dead and I am criticising Pat Buckley not him. It is "Bishop" Buckley who would be likely to have legal problems if Fr McKinley was still alive. However the Bishop is frequently in the news and the Irish Times and Sunday Tribune definitely consider him to be part of current affairs.

Originally Posted by George Washington
This carry on has been referenced in one of Martin Dillon's books before, "God and the Gun" I think

Reply by Kilbarry1 to George Washington
I didn't read the book but even checking out the Internet, I came across this quotation from An Phoblacht dated 28 January 1999 regarding the IRA man who was killed in the explosion in in January 1980:
"Under pressure from the British the Catholic Church attempted to deny the Delaney family their right to bury their son as a republican. His coffin draped in the Irish flag would not be permitted into the Corpus Christi church.

Fr Des Wilson interceded however, exposed their hypocrisy and officiated himself in the family home."

If this is what republicans were saying nearly 20 years later, you can imagine the pressure Fr McKinley was under in 1980.

The media are prepared to take "Bishop" Pat seriously (e.g. in reporting his recent Gay Marriage), because they have the same attitude to the Church that he has. The truth does not matter in their eyes

Original post by Cruimh
Link to this "Story" in either the IT or Sunday Tribune this year then ?
If not then you are trolling.

My Reply (as Kilbarry1) to Cruimh
I don't mean that this particular story was carried in the Irish Times or Sunday Tribune this year. However the story of Bishop Pat's On-Off-On-Again gay marriage was carried by both - and by lots of other "serious" newspapers as well.

The following is a summary:
Bishop" Pat Buckley, Cardinal Cahal Daly, Cardinal Desmond Connell, Eduardo Yango, Fr Vincent McKinley

In January 2010 "Bishop" Pat gave an exclusive interview to the Sunday Tribune in which he proclaimed his "deep love" for his Filipino boyfriend Eduardo Yango (32) and announced that they would be married on 8 February. Other media were referred to Max Clifford, who was handling publicity surrounding the nuptials. His announcement received world-wide publicity - not least in his boyfriend's homeland. However on the appointed day he had to announce a postponement.
"We have had 10 days of intense media interest and, while I have been used to dealing with the media for 25 years, Eduardo has no experience of the media and has found the intrusion very stressful. He is also a very private person and comes from a culture in the Philippines where family and personal issues are handled very discreetly and privately.”
(He had apparently forgotten to tell Edwardo about Max Clifford.)
They were eventually married in March - albeit with much reduced media coverage.

The above is essentially a non-story but the fact that "respectable" newspapers gave it huge coverage says a lot about the state of mind of our up-market journalists. "Bishop" Pat is not just an isolated idiot.

Query by Cruimh
So why have you posted this bilge about supposed events of over 30 years ago in current affairs?

My Reply to Cruimh
"Supposed" events? When Hansard's account of a House of Lord's debate is in basic agreement with An Phoblacht (regarding Father McKinley), then we are talking about real events. "Bishop" Pat is obviously talking through his hat. Yet newspapers like the Irish Times, Sunday Tribune and Belfast Telegraph STILL take him seriously and even run "exclusives" on his gay marriage that could be published unchanged in the News of the World. (The Sunday Tribune exclusive was entitled  Rebel Cleric's Gay Marriage Will 'Infuriate' Church Heads - by their Northern Editor Suzanne Breen)
This says a great deal about the corruption of the "respectable" media and that is definitely part of current affairs.

Incidentally the fact that the media takes Buckley seriously does not do the man himself any good in the long run. After the death of Cardinal Daly the Irish Times published the following letter from Bishop Pat under the heading "Legacy of Cardinal Daly" (Jan 13, 2010)

Cardinal Cahal Daly, died 31 December 2009

Legacy of Cardinal Daly - The Irish Times - Wed, Jan 13, 2010

Madam, – I am a victim of Cardinal Cahal Daly, and I have found his death and recent glorification in The Irish Times and elsewhere very traumatic and painful.

By summarily dismissing me as curate of Larne and from the Diocese of Down and Connor in the summer of 1986 Cahal Daly abused his authority over me.

As a result, I developed the stress-related and chronic medical condition Crohn’s disease and have suffered ecclesiastical exile with its attendant emotional and mental anguish for 23 years.
I was given two reasons for my dismissal.

One, I was guilty of being critical of my church and ecclesiastical superiors.

Second, I was guilty of expressing those criticisms to journalists and in the media.

In the summer of 1986, I learned of my removal from Larne and the name of my replacement not from Cahal Daly personally but from the morning news on RTÉ Radio 1 as I travelled in my car.
Each year since my “sacking”, I wrote to Cardinal Daly suggesting that he and I be reconciled before going to meet our maker. My letters were ignored.

At the time of my “sacking” Father Brendan Smyth was ministering in Down and Connor with the knowledge and consent of its then bishop, Cahal Daly.

Cahal Daly was also a senior member of the Irish Bishops Conference from 1967 to 1996, all during the time when the Irish bishops were dismissing the claims of victims, were not informing the Garda of priest abusers and were insuring their dioceses against possible claims by victims.

As he “lay in state” in my former parish, St Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast, a parishioner in her 80s telephoned me to let me know that she was thinking of me at what must be a painful time for me.
She finished her call with the words: “I wonder how many secrets he has taken with him to his grave”?
– Yours, etc,

Bishop PAT BUCKLEY,
The Oratory,
Larne,
Co Antrim.

Further Query by Cruimh
How does a letter from 5 months ago have any bearing on whether or not this bilge from 30 years ago belongs in current affairs ?

My Reply to Cruimh
The main point I am making is that our "respectable" media are grossly corrupt and insist on treating the doings of an idiot as serious news. They publish tripe that would not be out of place in the News of the World. The point of the letter is that by encouraging "Bishop" Pat, they are not doing him any favours e.g.
I am a victim of Cardinal Cahal Daly, and I have found his death and recent glorification in The Irish Times and elsewhere very traumatic and painful. By summarily dismissing me as curate of Larne and from the Diocese of Down and Connor in the summer of 1986 Cahal Daly abused his authority over me. As a result, I developed the stress-related and chronic medical condition Crohn’s disease and have suffered ecclesiastical exile with its attendant emotional and mental anguish for 23 years.

(I quoted from Buckley's current website regarding Cardinal Daly and Father McKinley to demonstrate that Buckley is an idiot.)

Perhaps this thread could be put under "Media" but the corruption of the Irish Times, Tribune etc IS part of current affairs.

Still another query from Cruimh.
How does posting tripe from a non-media website about events in 1978 qualify as "Current affairs as presented by the  "respectable" media " ?

My FINAL Reply to Cruimh
The "tripe" from Buckley's current website demonstrates that he is an imbecile - and this has been obvious for a very long time. The fact that "respectable" media take him seriously and publish "exclusives" about him worthy of the UK gutter press, is an indication that our serious newspapers are descending to the level of the News of the World. THAT certainly qualifies as a "Current Affair

On a related  note the following is from the Sunday Tribune article on Bishop Pat on 31st January last:

Bishop Pat Buckley, Gay marriage, Edwardo Yango

When asked how his marriage would be viewed in loyalist Larne, Buckley said: "Larne is 83% Protestant, and has a fair share of Free Presbyterians. But I've lived here 25 years and served on the council, so I suppose I've become part of the furniture.

I sometimes wonder about that.

Are the Protestants of Larne

(a) very tolerant OR

(b) Bishop Pat is so far off their radar that they couldn't care less OR

(c) they see Bishop  Pat as a Useful Idiot who discredits the Catholic Church.

So far as our "respectable" journalists are concerned, it is definitely (c) but they degrade themselves in the process!