Cork priest: Seminary bullying ‘led to suicides’

A LETTER has been sent to the president by a Co Cork priest informing her that “vile, cruel and oppressive” bullying in Irish seminaries led to numerous suicide attempts by student priests.

The priest, who has long called for greater transparency around clerical sex abuse, told President Mary McAleese that “abuse as reflected in the Ryan Report is not confined or limited to children in religious institutions in Ireland”. He has sent a similar letter to the Vatican.

“I studied in a Roman Catholic Seminary in Ireland from and the culture that prevailed there was vile, cruel and oppressive. Emotional and psychological abuse was the norm and those who abused their authority realised fully that they were unaccountable and above the law. Towards the end of my time there I was duly called in and told in no uncertain terms that I was to keep my mouth shut and take what I knew to my grave,” he said.