THE LATE WILLIAM WHITELAW AND CARDINAL CONWAY, conspired with the Royal Ulster Constabulary to cover up a catholic priest’s act of terrorism in Northern Ireland. Father Chesney was the mastermind behind one of Northern Ireland’s worst terrorist attacks in 1972, causing the deaths of nine people including a nine-year-old girl (another case of child abuse by a member of the Catholic church), and leaving 30 others injured. This was the verdict of the long awaited findings of the police ombudsman Al Hutchinson, into the bombings.
Father Chesney, like the others involved, have never faced prosecution. The wretched Chesney was protected by his church by being moved to another parish (sounds familiar) south of the boarder. Chesney died in 1980 protesting, no doubt, his innocence, but Hutchinson’s bulleted findings stated that*:
§ Detectives believed Father Chesney was the IRA's director of operations in south Derry and was a prime suspect in the Claudy attack and other terrorist incidents.
§ A detective's request to arrest the cleric was refused by an assistant chief constable of RUC Special Branch who instead said 'matters are in hand'.
§ The same senior officer wrote to the government about what action could be taken to "render harmless a dangerous priest" and asked if the matter could be raised with the Church's hierarchy.
§ In December 1972 Mr Whitelaw met Cardinal Conway to discuss the issue. According to a Northern Ireland Office official, "the cardinal said he knew the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done". The church leader mentioned "the possibility of transferring him to Donegal..."
In response to this memo, RUC chief constable Sir Graham noted: "I would prefer a transfer to Tipperary."
§ An entry in Cardinal Conway's diary on December 5 1972 confirmed a meeting with Mr Whitelaw took place and stated there had been "a rather disturbing tete-a-tete at the end about C".
§ In another diary entry two months later, the cardinal noted that he had discussed the issue with Father Chesney's superior and that "the superior however had given him orders to stay where he was on sick leave until further notice".
WE ARE NOW BEING asked to consider the times we then lived through before reaching a judgement. Which under normal consideration, would be perfectly reasonable. They were difficult times in a particularly difficult year: and the authorities were afraid of exacerbating catholic dissent if this priest was to have been arrested for what he was – a terrorist. The argument is familiar today in the age of Islamic terrorism, where our politicians are constantly looking toward the two million Muslims living among us before reaching a decision on any strategy in the war against Islamic terrorism.
Chesney was a priest in the catholic church and could easily have been a member of MI5 or the CIA considering the way he was protected. He escaped any kind of punishment; but as a priest his transgression from the teachings of his faith should have counted for something when Cardinal Conway (who died in 1977) was given the details of his turbulent priest’s activities. But no, like the child abusers of today, this specimen was just moved on and forgotten about.
In the whole history of the troubles in Northern Ireland not one member of the IRA faced excommunication from the catholic faith. They were allowed to kill and maim at will without facing the ultimate sanction of the catholic church. A sanction, considering their religious faith, that may have well made a difference to the bombers practising their evil art.
Rome never once lifted a hand to end the bombings in Northern Ireland, except to issue platitudes about the murder of the innocence. Father Chesney not only killed protestants, an act that he undoubtedly felt had kept him solid with Vatican, but also catholic’s which he no doubt felt expendable in the greater cause of the catholic advancement on the island of Ireland.
I have always believed that many catholic priests in Ireland, while not ever going as far as Chesney (he was indeed a rotten apple) would nevertheless have sympathy for the IRA, if not in their terrorist actions, then in their ideal of a United Catholic Ireland.
But by allowing themselves to be drawn into protecting this priest by the British establishment, the catholic church went against all Christian teaching whatever tricks their theologians choose to weave in support of Chesney’s acquittal .
CHESNEY WAS A TERRORIST AND A PRIEST, perhaps the first catholic terrorist priest to add another stain upon the faith - to be added to the many others. The catholic church professes a devotion to Christianity that can easily be manipulated like putty to keep the church alive at the expense of, if necessary, its teaching.
We now have or had among the catholic priesthood both child abusers and hopefully just one terrorist priest. I know that the catholic church supported Irish republicanism because of its catholic identity. In so doing it has left its Christian character prone to contempt within these isles.
Roman Catholicism is, like Islam, trying to proselytise the world on behalf of their faith. In so doing they are each prepared to overreach themselves. This is what appears to have happened with Father Chesney in Northern Island to the detriment of his faith..
But hopefully Chesney was a one off: while in Islam such an action would be rewarded by martyrdom , the catholic church would never have offered Chesney such a reward - but then, neither did they excommunicate this priest. Which is the minimum of punishment that should have been enacted.
If members of the IRA as well as Father Chesney cannot be excommunicated from the catholic faith then who can?
No comments:
Post a Comment