A Church tribunal found that Fr Matthew Despard of St John Ogilvie in Lanarkshire had injured the reputation of the Church as well as clergy and lay people.

Already under suspension, he will be removed from his parish and will have to spend three months in penance.

The priest made the claims in a book he self-published in the Internet titled "Priesthood in Crisis".

Fr Despard claimed that sexual misconduct had been widespread in junior seminaries for decades.

He also said he had alerted Church authorities, but that nothing had been done.

In a letter to Fr Despard, the Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal, said: "The judges determined that of the 21 of the 26 charges brought against Fr Despard, five were not proven."

"In the majority of cases, the tribunal ruled that Fr Despard had injured the good reputation of a number of people, both lay and clergy."

Fr Despard did not take part in the tribunal, but was represented by a lawyer.

The bishop added: "The bishop regrets that a penal case had to be pursued against Fr Despard, but felt it necessary in order to vindicate the reputation of those wrongly accused by him."

Fr Despard will reportedly appeal against the tribunal's ruling.

When he was suspended, his parishioners launched a petition in protest.

Parishioners also boycotted a Mass celebrated by the diocese's apostolic administrator at St John Ogilvie.

Priesthood in Crisis, which appeared just after Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned over sexual misconduct, was originally made available through Amazon.

It was withdrawn from sale by Amazon in the United Kingdom (although it remains available in the US) because of lawsuits threatened by individuals who were named in the book.

Sources

• Herald Scotland
• Catholic World News
• Catholic World News
• Image: Sunday Post

Cardinal O'Brien had previously admitted sexual misconduct towards several men.

He will no longer be invited to attend consistories and other gatherings of cardinals, including an eventual conclave for the election of a new pope.

But he retains the title of cardinal, and can wear a cardinal's vestments in private and also retains his faculties as a priest and retired bishop.

But according to the Scottish Catholic Church, he will be "reduced to a strictly private life with no further participation in any public, religious or civil events".

Cardinal O'Brien stepped down as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in early 2013.

This came after the Observer carried a story detailing complaints of three priests and one former priest who alleged he had made sexual advances toward them.

The cardinal initially denied the allegations but, less than a week later, he issued a public apology for his actions.

He did not attend the March conclave that elected Pope Francis.

Pope Francis subsequently asked him to undertake a period of prayer and penance and then sent then-Bishop Charles Scicluna to undertake an inquiry last April.

Archbishop Scicluna, a former top prosecutor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, filed a report with Francis which was described by one of Cardinal O'Brien's accusers as "hot enough to burn the varnish" off the Pope's desk.

A Vatican spokesman said the resignation was "not a punishment resulting from a process" or any formal proceedings against the cardinal, but rather it came from the cardinal himself after a long period of prayer and reflection "in dialogue with the Holy Father".

In his own statement, Cardinal O'Brien again apologised "to the Catholic Church and the people of Scotland".

"I thank Pope Francis for his fatherly care of me and of those I have offended in any way."

Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh said the cardinal's behaviour had "distressed many, demoralised faithful Catholics and made the Church less credible to those who are not Catholic".

Sources

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: John Thavis

Cardinal O'Brien, who resigned as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh in February after unidentified priests alleged he acted inappropriately toward them, objected to a church review of abuse allegations commissioned in 2011, said Conti said in a letter to the Catholic newspaper The Tablet.

The Tablet quoted Conti saying that all but one member of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland had agreed in recent years for diocesan case files to be reviewed but this did not go ahead due to the cardinal's objection.

The Catholic Church in Scotland said O'Brien's withdrawal from the audit of historical sex abuse allegations ended the project.

In a statement the Church said that a decision was taken in 2011 to commission an independent academic analysis of statistics relating to historic abuse from 1952 to 2012. It said that the project ran until 2012, when then president of the Bishops' Conference, Cardinal O'Brien, withdrew.

Sources

The Tablet

AP/Washington Post

The Telegraph

Image: PA/The Telegraph

The archbishop-elect, Monsignor Leo Cushley, is a Scot who was a priest in the diocese of Motherwell before being called to Rome to be trained as a diplomat.

Commenting on his appointment, Monsignor Cushley, 52, said the Church in Edinburgh had "taken a bit of battering" but "I think the fundamentals are good and they are right. The priests and the people are very anxious to move on, and I am with them on that."

He said "I know it's a delicate moment and that there is a lot to be done, but with God's grace and the kind support of
the clergy and people of Edinburgh, I will work cheerfully and willingly with all the energy I can muster….

"My first task is to preach the good news, Christ crucified and risen from the dead, to confirm my brother priests in their Catholic faith and ministry, and to be a loving, simple, wise shepherd to the flock that has been entrusted to me."

As a diplomat, Monsignor Cushley served in Burundi, Portugal, at the United Nations in New York, South Africa and Botswana.

He is currently head of the English-language section of the Vatican Secretariat of State, in which capacity he accompanied Pope Benedict XVI to Malta, Cyprus and Britain.

Last year he was named Prelate of the Anticamera of the apostolic palace — a ceremonial post that includes assisting the Pope when he receives visits from heads of state and other high-profile visitors to the Vatican.

Monsignor Cushley's appointment leaves three of the eight dioceses in Scotland without a bishop. A fourth bishop is due to retire.

Cardinal O'Brien, who stepped down in February after claims of inappropriate behaviour dating back to the 1980s, said at the time: "I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland."

Sources:

Catholic Herald

The Tablet

The Guardian

Image: The Guardian

Though no word has come from the Vatican, the newspaper said a priest who accused the resigned Cardinal Keith O'Brien of homosexual conduct was told there would be an investigation in a meeting with Archbishop Antonio Mennini, the apostolic nuncio to Great Britain.

A successor to Cardinal O'Brien, who resigned from the archdiocese of Edinburgh and St Andrews in February, has not yet been named.

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This news, which had been rumoured for some weeks, was confirmed by the Vatican press office in a brief statement issued in both English and Italian.

The Vatican made clear that Cardinal O'Brien is doing this "in agreement with the Holy Father".

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Cardinal O'Brien went into retirement after admitting "there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal".

The newspaper said Church officials in Scotland said the complainant left the priesthood in the mid-2000s, but has since returned to the Church.

The officials said they believed he complained to the Vatican last winter in revenge for Cardinal O'Brien's outspoken attacks on homosexuality and gay marriage.

The Herald said the complainant was known to have been in regular telephone contact with Cardinal O'Brien until recently and was a frequent visitor to St Benets, his official residence in Edinburgh.

The paper said the dramatic downfall of Britain's leading Catholic cleric was spurred by gay priests angry at his rhetoric and hypocrisy about same-sex marriages.

"All those who complained about Cardinal O'Brien and alleged they had been abused by him were known to him for decades. At least two are known to have been in same-sex relationships and had become exasperated at double standards in his statements about gay marriage.

"In the six months building up to him being forced to stand down last month, the cardinal had been under some pressure from priests to tone down the rhetoric.

"However, his statements, such as describing homosexuality as a ‘moral degradation', were a tipping point for those previously close to him."

One senior church figure said that while some fundamentalist Catholic groups had previously linked the priest with Cardinal O'Brien "there were many questions that others were asking about the relationship".

Another said: "One particular priest was a very close friend of the cardinal. It seemed to some to be a very unusual friendship."

Source:

Herald Scotland

Image: The Guardian

Which is just as well, because his article in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph on gay marriage, together with his rant on this morning's Today programme, has, at least in the eyes of this avowed agnostic, done about as much for the image of his Church as Len McCluskey's threat to sabotage the Olympics has done for the image of moderate trade unionism.

Until yesterday I had some sympathy for those from within the various religious communities who had concerns about proposed same-sex marriage legislation. I don't agree with them, and I support a change in the law, but nor do I ascribe to the view of some self-styled progressives that their opposition is born of latent bigotry. The Church has taken a heavy buffeting from advances in both science and social attitudes, and many people of faith have struggled, in most cases honorably, to align deeply held beliefs with the changing world around them.

They need to get themselves a better advocate than Keith O'Brien. I'll leave the theology to others. But I can't remember the last time I read a more morally and intellectually bankrupt rant from a senior member of the clergy.

O'Brien could have attempted to explain, reason and persuade. Instead, he chose to go blasting in with all the tact and subtlety of a Chicago mobster. Marriage is my turf: the rest of you better just shut up and back off. "As an institution, marriage long predates the existence of any state or government. It was not created by governments and should not be changed by them. Instead, recognising the innumerable benefits which marriage brings to society, they should act to protect and uphold marriage, not attack or dismantle it." Read more

Sources

• Dan Hodges in The Telegraph
• Image: Top News
• See also Huffington Post: English Catholics Campaign Against Gay Marriage