Priest links suicide to abuse

IRELAND has lost one of society’s greatest pillars of strength since the advent of the church sex abuse scandals, a high-profile priest has said.

Fr Aidan Troy, who shielded Holy Cross schoolgirls from loyalist protesters in Belfast in 2001, said it is a huge disappointment to him that the priest’s house is no longer perceived to be a safe place to go.

“Back in 2003, when I first started dealing with the issue of suicide, I had a view that every parish in Ireland could have been a great central place of focus for suicide prevention, a safe place where people could go to talk. Now the priest’s house is the least safe place, this is a huge disappointment to me,” he said.