The decision by Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin to send seminarians from his archdiocese to Rome instead of Maynooth has very serious implications for the future of Ireland’s national seminary.
More immediately, it poses a very serious question for the remaining three of Ireland’s four Catholic Archbishops and those 13 other bishops who are also trustees at St Patrick’s College Maynooth.
Dr Martin withdrew Dublin seminarians from Maynooth because “there seems to an atmosphere of strange goings-on there, it seems like a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around. I don’t think this is a good place for students.”
If he feels that way, how can other bishops continue to send seminarians to Maynooth? What of the 55 men currently studying there?
If the Catholic leader, who has earned and retained a rare respect among the wider Irish public, has lost confidence in Maynooth, how can others do but follow suit?
Continuation
Can Catholic primate Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Cashel Kieran O’Reilly, and Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary continue to send seminarians to Maynooth? Similarly with the other bishops?
So far, one other bishop – Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Alphonsus Cullinan – has let it be known he will now send seminarians to Rome.
To complicate matters further, the trustees of the Irish College in Rome are those same four Catholic Irish Archbishops. That sharpens the focus on just what has been going on in Maynooth.
It can be reduced to two issues: concerns, mainly by the Catholic right, that priestly formation may not be as orthodox as it should be, and persistent rumour and allegations of gay-related activity at the seminary.
In 2009, a complaint was made to Maynooth authorities by a seminarian from the Dublin Archdiocese alleging sexual harassment against another adult at Maynooth. An internal inquiry found the allegation unproven.
Allegations
The complainant was asked to return to Maynooth but felt he could not. When he took the allegation to senior church figures outside Maynooth, it was proposed to him that he might go to Rome and complete his studies there. He has since decided not to continue on that route.
Earlier this year, there was controversy at Maynooth when a seminarian who claimed he found two colleagues in bed together was dismissed. It followed an inquiry into allegations by the two seminarians alleged to have been in bed together that he was bullying them and talking about them.
More generally at the college it is claimed that a core of seminarians are active on the gay app Grindr and that some have been engaged in sexual activity with priests of the Dublin Archdiocese.
Where Catholic orthodoxy is concerned, it was claimed in 2015 that six Maynooth sem- inarians were advised to take time out as they were considered too theologically rigid. After intervention by bishops, three were accepted back.
