O'BRIEN; CHILD ABUSE; GAY PRIESTS

St Mary's College

From 1980 to 1985, Keith O'Brien was rector of St Mary's College, Blairs, a junior Catholic seminary near Aberdeen in Scotland.

St Mary's College had students aged between the ages of 13 and 18.

Ten years after O'Brien left Blairs, a former priest, Desmond Lynagh, was accused of sexually abusing boys during the Seventies.

He was jailed for three years.

While he was an archbishop during the late 1980s, O’Brien arranged for one of Lynagh's victims, Michael X, to be paid £42,000.

Michael X has claimed the payment was made as part of a cover-up.

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Cardinal O'Brien.

St Andrew’s College was a Catholic seminary, 30 miles south-east of Edinburgh, where young men were prepared for the priesthood.

On religious holidays, large amounts of beer and wine were served from lunchtime onwards. 

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In the spring of 1980, Keith O’Brien, who recently resigned as Britain's top cardinal, reportedly made a drunken attempt to seduce a 20 year old at the college.

Four men have made accusations against O'Brien.

"Who exactly are the men who brought O’Brien down? Why did they wait three decades to make their claims? 

"...Behind the scenes, the cardinal’s sudden departure has also sparked dark rumours of a conspiracy."

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Archbishop Mennini. The accusations against O'Brien was sent to Archbishop Antonio Mennini, the Vatican ambassador, to Britain

According to former seminarians, homosexual behaviour was relatively common at St Andrews College.

According to one former seminarian:

"At a conservative guess, at least a third of my peers had gay feelings for other seminarians during their time at St Andrew's. 

"For many gay men at the time, particularly from rural communities, the priesthood was one of the few career paths you could pursue without having to spend your life answering awkward questions about why you weren’t yet married." 

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Cardinal Gray and Sir Jimmy Savile.

According to another former seminarian:

"When alcohol came out, you'd see people becoming more tactile.

"The irony was that the gay seminarians would generally be the ones to take the most conservative positions when we'd discuss sexual issues..."

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Sir Jimmy Savile and Cardinal O'Brien

Patricia McKeever, of Catholic Truth Scotland, a traditionalist lobby group, has said that O'Brien presided over an 'anything goes' regime at St Andrew’s.

According to McKeever:

"At Drygrange, they were told: 'Don’t worry about celibacy. The rule will be overturned in the next few years. Just go out there and enjoy your life.'

"It was a very casual culture, like many of the seminaries at the time.

"Many good priests have told me they were glad when St Andrew’s closed down, because it was such a den of iniquity.

"In fact, several people who went through that place in the Seventies and Eighties are part of what I call the priesthood’s gay mafia."

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In 1999, an American priest, Father Donald Cozzens, wrote The Changing Face Of The Priesthood, a book which claims that half men enrolling at seminaries are gay.



According to Father Ed Hone, a friend of Cardinal O'Brien: 

"In .... the Army or prison, where men are cooped up, you get strong friendships or crushes.

"At seminary, that’s part of the experience: how you cope the first time you get a crush on someone. 

"It happens to straight men as well as gay. 

"I’ve heard people joke that the difference between a gay and straight man is six pints of lager..."

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Quarriers Homes, Nazareth House and St Ninians in Scotland

In 2007, an independent report for the Scottish government found that there has been massive child abuse in Scottish care homes. (Scotland’s shame )

The Herald, 23 November 2007, provides the details (‘These are the voices that need to be heard’) :

"When she was nine - or thereabouts - she (Elizabeth McWilliams) was raped by the man Quarriers called her house father. 'He took his chance,' she said matter-of-factly.

"Some children complained of abuse.

"That had consequences. 'Boys,' she said. 'Well, they were hung up on door hangersand their penises tied to doorhandles.'"

Quarriers Homes is a Christian community.



Helen Holland was sent to Nazareth House in Kilmarnock, a children's home run by nuns.

At Nazareth House, Helen was raped by a priest.

"When she was eight, a nun pulled a hood over her head to help a priest rape her. The sexual abuse went on for three years until, aged 11, she fell pregnant. The same nun kicked her in the stomach until she miscarried."

She was 'beaten to a pulp' by a nun.

There was abuse at many other homes (The landmark cases: abuse in children's homes )

At St Ninians: "In 2003 Michael Murphy, 69, formerly known as Brother Benedict, a monk with the de la Salle order, was jailed for two years on ten charges of physical abuse during the 1960s, including torturing pupils with an electric shock device, force-feeding them vomit and whipping them with knotted boot laces."


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