July 2, 2016 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic archbishop of Dublin has removed all seminarians of his archdiocese from Ireland’s national seminary, St. Patrick’s College, following repeated allegations of homosexual activity at the institution.
In a recent interview broadcast on Ireland’s television network RTE, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said that he was “somewhat unhappy about an atmosphere that was growing” at the seminary, where numerous accusations of homosexual misbehavior had been made in recent months.
Martin told RTE that seminarians were accused of using the Grindr app to arrange homosexual liaisons, and concerns were being expressed that seminary authorities were dismissing those who complained.
The archbishop remarked that although attempts had been made to facilitate the filing of allegations, the complaints had continued to be made anonymously on blogs.
"I offered, initially, to provide a person - totally independent person - and that they could go and in all confidence provide the evidence that they had - this is for whistleblowers,” Martin told RTE. “And the answer to that was simply more anonymous letters. That's not a healthy culture."
The Irish Times reports that another bishop, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Alphonsus Cullinan, has said he will also send his seminarians to Rome instead of the national seminary. Other bishops are expected to make the same decision in the coming days.