Priest took teen boy into his bed

FR RONAT had an “obsessive and unhealthy” relationship with a teenage boy whom he used to take to sporting events but was also taking into his bed.

The boy’s mother first reported concerns to then child protection delegate in the Diocese of Cloyne, Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan, in 1996.

She said Fr Ronat was a friend and she saw him as a father figure to her son, given the pseudonym Matthew, until she saw him kissing the boy on the back of his neck.