

Correspondent: 	Suing the Pope 



Tx Date:			19th March 2002




This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible



00.00.00

Music 



00.00.05
Sarah Macdonald 
Irish Catholic priest, Father Sean Fortune was a bullying, 
serial paedophile who preyed on young boys. 



00.00.11

Music 



00.00.16
Sarah Macdonald 
His boss, Bishop Brendan Comiskey knew children were 
at risk but failed to protect them. 



00.00.22

Music 



00.00.25
Sarah Macdonald 
These men have been denied justice.



00.00.27

Music 



00.00.28
Sarah Macdonald 
I just wanted to know why didn't you stop Sean 
Fortune…



00.00.28
Bishop Comiskey
I'm going to have mass at half past six.  I, I, I…



00.00.33
Sarah Macdonald 
…abusing young boys?  Bishop Comiskey?



00.00.35

Music 



00.00.38
Sarah Macdonald
Bishop Comiskey won't give them answers.  Now they're 
suing the Pope. 



00.00.41

Correspondent Theme Music 



00.00.52
Title Page
Suing the Pope



00.00.58

Waves crashing



00.01.15
Colm O'Gorman
I hate this.  Right now, driving along in this car, I feel 
awful and I don't want to be here.



00.01.27

Waves crashing/music 



00.01.37
Aston
COLM O'GORMAN
I really, really resent having to do this but I do feel like I 
have to because it hasn't been dealt with and there are 
people who are still suffering because of this. 



00.01.51

Music 



00.02.02
Sarah Macdonald 
Colm O'Gorman is a thirty-five year old Irishman living 
in London.  



00.02.07
Sarah Macdonald 
Today he is revisiting his birthplace, County Wexford on 
the south east coast of Ireland.



00.02.14
Sarah Macdonald 
This Catholic priest, Father Sean Fortune, sexually 
abused Colm when he was fourteen years old, assaulting 
and raping him for two and half years. 



00.02.25

Waves crashing 



00.02.34
Sarah Macdonald 
Colm had met Father Fortune just once when the priest 
came to his house and asked to take the young boy away 
for the weekend.  



00.02.44
Sarah Macdonald 
Such was the power of the Church in Ireland; no one 
questioned this unknown priest's motivations. 



00.02.53
Colm O'Gorman 
He would pick me up and be the priest in front of my 
mother and my family.  Five minutes later in the car he'd 
have me perform oral sex on him.  And then, five minutes 
after that ended, stop off and again be the priest and walk 
into somebody's house with me in tow behind.



00.03.18
Sarah Macdonald 
In 1981 Poulfur, Fethard-on-Sea became Father Sean 
Fortune's first curacy.  A rural fishing community of 
around two hundred families.  It's conservative and 
predominantly Catholic. 



00.03.33
Sarah Macdonald 
The parish priest is all-powerful in this country where the 
Church and the state are closely intertwined.



00.03.44
Sarah Macdonald 
The parishioners were quickly drawn in by the dashing 
energetic young cleric.  He soon had them divided into 
thirty-two different organisations, the children into a 
score of youth groups. 



0.03.56
Sarah Macdonald 
But their delight turned to horror as Father Fortune saw 
to dominate every aspect of this community.  He stripped 
the elderly of their savings, cursed the unborn babies of 
parents who defied him and preached from the altar 
against those who would not cede to his demands. 



00.04.14
Gemma Hearne  
His aim was certainly money and power.  He was 
obsessed with money and power. 



00.04.23
Sarah Macdonald 
Gemma Hearne has lived in Fethard for thirty years.  She 
watched Fortune's every move. 






00.04.29
Aston
GEMMA HEARNE 
His modus operandi was that he was going to heal and 
cure and say masses and he had all sorts of prayer 
services and healing services and it was all for money.  
He blessed boats; he got money.  He did, everything he 
did was for money.



00.04.48
Sarah Macdonald 
In the early eighties, unemployment was especially high 
in small communities like Fethard-on-Sea.  Father 
Fortune managed to coax more than a million pounds 
from government employment schemes for this tiny 
parish.



00.05.01
Sarah Macdonald 
But he embezzled the funds, claiming for people who 
didn't exist and docking money from those who did. 



00.05.08
Sarah Macdonald 
But it was his overt interest in the boys, which began to 
worry the locals. 



00.05.13
Gemma Hearne
He became very, very much involved in the youth club.  
He formed his own youth club. 



00.05.19

Music 



00.05.20
Gemma Hearne 
He took them on retreats, allegedly, retreats and one of 
them being to Loftus Hall where I am told that it was 
horrific.  That it was a mixed retreat and that they there 
had pillow fights and all sorts of orgies and he showed 
very, very explicit videos. 



00.05.43

Music 



00.05.45
Sarah Macdonald 
In Ireland it would have been scandalous to defy a priest.  
But in Poulfur, as their sons became more withdrawn, 
parents turned to the Bishop for help.  He did nothing.  



00.05.56
Sarah Macdonald 
Desperately, they wrote of their fears to the Pope's 
Ambassador to Ireland, the Papal Nuncio.



00.06.01

Music 



00.06.09
Colm O'Gorman 
The one thing that I always wanted was for somebody to 
take this back, for somebody to take responsibility, for 
somebody to say; actually, we should have done 
something here, we didn't.



00.06.21
Sarah Macdonald 
When Doctor Brendan Comiskey became Bishop of 
Ferns in 1984 there was renewed hope that he would act 
against the now bizarre and dangerous behaviour of 
Father Sean Fortune.



00.06.33
Gemma Hearne 
There were complaints every single day about Father 
Fortune in some shape or form.



00.06.39
Sarah Macdonald 
And some of that would have been about sexual abuse of 
the children?



00.06.42
Gemma Hearne 
Yes.  Absolutely, absolutely.  But see parents didn't 
realise, in the beginning, what was happening because 
they thought that here we have a great young man coming 
in. 



00.06.56
Gemma Hearne 
Nobody seemed to be able to do anything about it.



00.07.04
Sarah Macdonald 
Doctor Brendan Comiskey is still the Bishop of Ferns.  
He's admitted being informed of allegations of child 
abuse against a number of priests, including Sean 
Fortune, when he was first appointed. 



00.07.18
Gemma Hearne 
I went to Bishop Comiskey, myself.  I wrote to Bishop 
Comiskey first of all and I followed it up with a visit and 
Bishop Comiskey, his first question to me at that visit; 
had I any reason to believe that Father Fortune was 
homosexual? 



00.07.41

Music 



00.07.50
Sarah Macdonald 
Fortune trained for the priesthood in the seventies at 
Saint Peter's in the heart of Wexford.  The priests and 
seminarians taught pupils at the school attached.  Fortune 
learned more here than just ecclesiastical duties. 



00.08.03

Music 



00.08.11
Sarah Macdonald 
It now looks like a paedophile ring, whether formally or 
informally, was operating within the seminary and for 
years exploiting the boys. 



00.08.21
Sarah Macdonald 
Father Donal Collins, the school principal and another 
priest were both later separately convicted of sexually 
abusing young children. 



00.08.30
Aston
GER WALSH
Managing Director, 
'Wexford People'
The diocese has had more than its fair share of problems 
in this regard.  One has to wonder about the selection 
process for priests in this diocese and also, you know, 
what they were exposed to in, in, in the seminary. 



00.08.51
Sarah Macdonald 
Father Fortune used to teach Ger Walsh religious studies 
at school. 



00.08.58
Ger Walsh
I would have been aware of his reputation and his bizarre 
conduct really.  It certainly, to us as, as teenage pupils at 
the time it would have been quite clear that this man 
wasn't, probably not fit for any position of responsibility, 
let alone to be a priest, to be ordained a priest.  But 
despite that and despite all the, that was known about 
him, he went on and was ordained and was given a 
parish. 



00.09.28
Sarah Macdonald 
And it is clear that the Church knew of Sean Fortune's 
sexual predilection.  He was exposed two years before his 
ordination when he was a scout leader in Wexford. 






00.09.39
Aston
PAT JACKMAN 
We went away on camp together with the scouts and we 
were in a tent one day and Sean started playing with one 
of the boys and when I say playing I don't mean football, 
he was interfering with him sexually in front of us.  There 
was about, say there was about six kids in the tent 
ranging from about ten to twelve. 



00.10.05
Sarah Macdonald 
Allegations of indecency reached both Saint Peter's 
Seminary and Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland national 
headquarters.



00.10.13
Sarah Macdonald 
The CBSI has told Correspondent that after informing the 
church hierarchy, Father Fortune was asked to remove 
himself from the association forever.  



00.10.23
Sarah Macdonald 
But at exactly the same time, Fortune was ordained and 
sent to Belfast to work with children.  He immediately 
defied the scouting ban. 



00.10.33
Aston
DAMIEN MacALEEN 
He asked to play a game and the game was patting each 
other in the groin area.  So I was maybe thirteen, 
fourteen, didn't know what I was at, so I agreed and 
thought it was a game.  And then all of a sudden, like 
after a couple of minutes he started groping, you know 
literally rubbing me up and that went on for another 
couple of minutes until I turned and said stop.  So as I 
stood up he more or less tried to force me back to the 
ground. 



00.11.04
Sarah Macdonald 
Concerned about persistent rumours, a priest was 
despatched to ask questions about Father Fortune but 
clearly only in a cursory manner. 



00.11.14
Damien MacAleen 
He'd ask me the question; did I see any strange behaviour 
was going on with Father Fortune or any funny games, 
you know strange games?  And I denied ever knowing 
anything about Father Fortune playing games, you know.  
It was just because my friend was there with him; I didn't 
want to get embarrassed. 



00.11.38
Sarah Macdonald 
Whatever was discovered, Father Fortune was pulled out 
of Belfast and given his own church and curacy; Saint 
Aiden's in Poulfur, Fethard-on-Sea. 



00.11.56
Colm O'Gorman
The only sense that I can make of that is that a bunch of 
men who had powerful privileged positions were much 
more interested in protecting their power, their position 
and their institution than they were in any way in 
protecting the people that they were due to minister to or 
the people that they spoke of in terms of love or 
compassion.  There's no love or compassion there.  
There's an absolute disrespect and disregard for people 
and it makes me sick. 



00.12.25
Sarah Macdonald 
Such abuse has become an international scandal. 






00.12.28
Aston
Fr TOM DOYLE 
It almost always happens to children or young adults, 
young adolescents who are very close to the Church.  
They are raised in a, in a church environment, they 
implicitly trust the Church and the hierarchical members, 
the Bishop, the priests.  When they are sexually abused 
by a priest it's a profound betrayal of trust. 



00.12.49
Sarah Macdonald 
Father Tom Doyle is an American Catholic priest.  He 
was a rising star at the Vatican Embassy in Washington 
in the eighties when the first case of clerical abuse broke 
in the United States.  



00.13.00

Music 



00.13.03
Sarah Macdonald 
As a canon law expert he watched as the Church moved 
to protect the priest and turn on the victims.  He became 
an outspoken critic of the Church's response to child 
abuse and as a result was fired from his job. 



00.13.19
Sarah Macdonald 
He's now an army chaplain in Germany.



00.13.23
Father Tom Doyle 
There's been very aggressive action taken by the 
institution against victims and their families when they 
have initiated law suits.  Very aggressive action by the 
attorneys to try to, in a sense beat the people down.  
Parents and families who've made disclosures have been 
threatened, they've been intimidated, they've been, 
they've been, they've been put into a very fearful stance 
to try to coerce them into, into not going public. 



00.13.56
Sarah Macdonald 
Pat Jackman was eleven when he witnessed Father 
Fortune abusing boy scouts.  As a fifteen year old student 
at Saint Peter's he was aware of the rumours surrounding 
not just Fortune but other priests as well. 



00.14.09
Sarah Macdonald 
Fortune ingratiated himself into Pat's family, a ploy he 
used with many of his victims.  He became especially 
good friends with Pat's mother. 



00.14.20
Aston 
PAT JACKMAN 
When he arrived at the house and my mum and dad 
weren't there either myself or my brother were 
potentially in trouble.  I said something to my aunt and 
uncle, if this guy makes any sort of suggestion that we go 
away with him for a day or a night or anything just say 
no, I can't tell you why, just, just say no. 



00.14.42
Pat Jackman 
So, as it turned out as he was, as he was walking out the 
door it's exactly what he said.  He turned to my aunt and 
uncle and he said, oh by the way, I've got this new, I've 
got this new organ that I want to show, unfortunate 
choice of words, but I've got this new organ that I want to 
show Pat because he knew I was into music, do you mind 
if he comes out and spends the weekend out in Poulfur.  






00.15.01
Pat Jackman 
And, and God love my aunt and uncle and my aunt still 
feels bad about it to this day and she said, no, yeah, sure, 
sure Father.  I mean you don't imagine that a priest is 
going to do anything to a kid, you know.



00.15.17
Pat Jackman 
As I walked out the door my brother was standing in the 
hallway and the look of shock on his face.  He knew and I 
knew and we were kind of looking at each other and 
Martin was like, didn't say anything but it was like; God 
help you Pat, I don't know what to do. And I was like, 
you know, just get me out of this, you know.  Walked out 
the door anyway, drove off into the sunset. 



00.15.37

Singing 



00.15.54
Pat Jackman 
There wasn't a phone in the place.  If I ran out screaming 
in the middle of the night I didn't even know where the 
nearest house was.  I didn't know if I went and knocked 
the door whether they'd wake up, I didn't know if they 
did wake up whether they'd believe me or not.  



00.16.03

Singing 



00.16.04
Pat Jackman 
And the sense of being trapped and you know, and caged.  
It was, you know, bloody horrible, absolutely bloody 
horrible.



00.16.11

Singing 



00.16.18
Pat Jackman 
It was eleven hours of, of a constant torture, which ended 
up in sexual acts of sorts.



00.16.33
Sarah Macdonald 
And then you went home, he took you home. 



00.16.36
Pat Jackman 
Eventually, yeah, yeah.  He, after dragging me round the 
parish.  And I still say to this day, I mean those 
parishioners were looking at me, like, like you know, 
another little boy, you know, as if I was kind of 
encouraging him, you know, in a sort of way.  Having to 
face them and having to be normal, you know.  And he 
eventually said he'd, he'd bring me home.  



00.17.09
Pat Jackman 
Ah you know Pat, you know, yourself and your mother, 
yourself and you mother, you know we're getting on 
great, we're great mates, you won't say anything to her, 
it'll, it'll, it'll kill her, it'll hurt her feelings and you'll 
ruin our friendship.



00.17.21
Pat Jackman 
And I said to him, look Sean if you, if you promise not to 
do to anybody else what you did to me I'll have no 
problem in saying anything.  And he just smiled at me 
and he says, ah come on Pat.






00.17.37
Pat Jackman 
The man was unrepentant.  It wasn't even a question of 
lying about it, it wasn't even, if he'd lied to me at that 
moment, if he said yeah you're right Pat, I'm very sorry, 
it won't happen again, I don't know what happened to me 
or whatever, if he'd made some excuse I wouldn't have 
said a bloody word. 



00.17.56
Pat Jackman 
But, no he planned to continue and he made no bones 
about it.  Right, bugger you, says I, I'm going home and 
telling bloody everybody.  I didn't tell him that like but 
sure the minute, the minute, the second that I was in the 
door.  I went up to my auntie.



00.18.19
Sarah Macdonald 
And said what?



00.18.23
Pat Jackman 
Well, Sean Fortune queered me up. 



00.18.33
Sarah Macdonald 
Pat Jackman's father was and still is closely associated 
with the Church.  He complained directly to Bishop 
Herlihey about the sexual assault of his fifteen year old 
son. 



00.18.46
Pat Jackman 
The Bishop thought it was ludicrous that a man of the 
cloth would act like that. 



00.18.54
Sarah Macdonald 
After Bishop Herlihey died, Pat's father complained to 
Bishop Comiskey.  To this day no one from the Church 
has asked Pat Jackman about Father Fortune or the events 
of that night. 



00.19.09
Colm O'Gorman 
On Sunday mornings, after Fortune had abused me on 
Saturday night, he'd leave me in his bed in the bedroom 
in the house there and come down and say first mass.  
And I remember that he used to come back after saying 
first mass and sometimes abuse me again and then I'd 
have to go downstairs with him and have breakfast and 
then come down here for the second mass and sit and 
watch him say mass.



00.19.48
Colm O'Gorman 
It was so hard to make sense of what was happening. 



00.19.54

Music 



00.20.43
Sarah Macdonald 
Colm has returned to Fethard-on-Sea in search of 
answers.  He's shocked to discover that the majority of 
the community knew what Fortune was doing.



00.20.52
Sarah Macdonald 
Gemma is one of the few locals willing to talk to him. 



00.20.59
Aston
GEMMA HEARNE  
A priest is somebody whom you look up to and how do 
you tell your parents that something is going on.  Now 
it's much easier because it's coming out in the open, 
thankfully. 






00.21.10
Aston
COLM O'GORMAN
I didn't even understand that I was being sexually abused.  
I just thought something really bad was happening and I 
was doing it.  You know, I blamed myself for what was 
happening.  And he was good at that.  I mean he made me 
feel like he, he, really manipulated me into a position 
where I accepted total blame for what was happening.  He 
told me it was my problem and he needed to help me.  
And he actually threatened to tell my parents.  So, the 
idea of my parents knowing was in always in the form of 
a threat and being told by a priest what I was like.  And 
even though it doesn't make any sense now, at fourteen 
years of age, fifteen years of age that was terrifying for 
me.  So I couldn't tell them, no. 



00.21.50
Sarah Macdonald 
That night Colm again returns to the parochial house 
where Father Fortune abused him. 



00.21.56
Colm O'Gorman 
Not only do I, I suppose, have to deal with the fact that I 
was abused by Fortune, the fact that ultimately I feel I 
was abused by the Church and the fact that that whole 
society, that my own society abandoned me because an 
awful lot of people knew exactly what was happening but 
chose not to do anything about it. 



00.22.12
Sarah Macdonald 
The current priest of Poulfur can't bring himself to live in 
this house.  He's building a new one. 



00.22.21
Sarah Macdonald 
Fortune was abusing and blackmailing many young boys 
but still he received total backing from his church 
superiors, even meeting the Pope in the midst of 
mounting allegations.



00.22.34
Sarah Macdonald 
The Bishop sent Fortune to psychiatrists, but they 
couldn't decide if he was a sexual deviant of not.  So 
Fortune was left in the parish, often supported publicly 
by his Bishop. 



00.22.50
Sarah Macdonald 
One of Father Fortune's many schemes was the night 
watch team.  Young boys would ride around on their 
bicycles after dark to protect the homes of the elderly. 



00.23.02
Sarah Macdonald 
Two of these boys are now dead.  They committed 
suicide within a couple of years of each other. 



00.23.23
Sarah Macdonald 
In this community of just two hundred families, four 
young men have killed themselves.  Like the abuse, no 
one talks openly about the suicides. 



00.23.37
Sarah Macdonald 
And there is no direct evidence linking these tragic men 
to Father Fortune.  But many believe that he is to blame. 



00.23.43

Waves crashing 



00.23.59
Sarah Macdonald 
Peter Fitzpatrick shot himself in the chest.  His mother 
has now finally voiced the fear she's harboured since 
discovering her son's body. 



00.24.09
Aston
MONICA FITZPATRICK 
I thought what was going down on in Poulfur, I asked 
Peter and he said well, the lads were saying like that 
Father Fortune had the young lads in with him and things 
that way.  But he never mentioned about being in with 
him.  He never mentioned to me now about being in with 
him. 



00.24.29
Monica Fitzpatrick 
He had a caravan just at the bottom of the garden there 
because he, he wanted his own bit of space.



00.24.37
Monica Fitzpatrick 
And when I went down, I called at the caravan door, there 
was no answer.   And I just stepped up into the caravan 
and Peter was lying back on the bed.  



00.24.56
Monica Fitzpatrick 
I just screamed and come tearing up the garden.  And I 
got Patrick and my husband and they came down with me 
to the caravan.  And I said, what happened to him, what's 
wrong?  And Patrick said; mummy, he said, you didn't 
see, it's on the floor and I didn't see the gun on the floor.



00.25.28
Monica Fitzpatrick 
I didn't want Father Fortune near the house.  I didn't 
want him near the place and he came, he came that day, 
that Saturday night.  He was laughing and joking his 
usual, usual way and I said to him, Father Fortune I didn't 
want you here.  And he said, oh we can't talk about 
things like that now, he said.  He said, this is not the time, 
he said to be talking.  I said I specifically said I didn't 
want you and I don't want you there at the funeral either. 



00.26.01
Monica Fitzpatrick 
It just keeps hitting me all the time – did he abuse Peter?  
Was Peter involved with Father Fortune?  I do keep 
thinking about that and would that have sort of brought 
on, would it brought on this, I don't know.  I don't know.  
I talk to myself going round. 



00.26.31
Sarah Macdonald 
Have you contacted the Bishop or anything?



00.26.33
Monica Fitzpatrick 
No.  No, when the Bishop didn't do anything when he 
was told about it by the, the youngsters and their family 
and that and he done nothing about it, there is no point to 
go near the Bishop.  But I think the Bishop knows most 
of the answers and I think he should be answering the 
questions for the people. 



00.26.58

Music 



00.27.09
Sarah Macdonald 
Six years after the first complaint, Father Fortune was 
finally removed from Poulfur, burning all financial 
records relating to the parish on his departure. 



00.27.19

Music 



00.27.24
Sarah Macdonald 
All Bishop Comiskey did was to send him to London to 
study media and communications and to see yet more 
psychiatrists.



00.27.31

Music 



00.27.35
Sarah Macdonald 
One year later Fortune was brought home and awarded 
with not only another parish but also the directorship of a 
Catholic media organisation, the National Association of 
Community Broadcasting. 



00.27.48
Sarah Macdonald 
Father Fortune quickly turned his new role to his 
financial advantage.  



00.27.53
Sarah Macdonald 
Using the Irish state broadcaster, RTE's good name, he 
ran night classes through a bogus journalism and media 
institute, making over a hundred thousand pounds a year. 



00.28.05

Music 



00.28.09
Sarah Macdonald 
Fortune remained completely uninhibited by mounting 
accusations and never missed an opportunity for self-
promotion.



00.28.17
Presenter 
Maria, just there. 



00.28.19
Woman 
I'd just like to ask that clergyman that if among a family 
that you were talking with, that you met, say two 
members of that family who were homosexuals.  How 
would you deal with that?



00.28.28
Father Fortune 
I'd like to reply in the words of the Irish Bishops, may I?  
Homosexual persons can no less than others, acquire real 
holiness in life, they should be supported by the Christian 
community and especially by compassionate and 
enlightened guidance from priests, in their efforts to do 
so. 



00.28.49
Sarah Macdonald 
Within months of setting up his bogus media institute, 
Father Fortune raped one of his fifteen year old students 
in a recording booth he used for producing religious 
programmes. 



00.28.59
Aston
DONNACHA MacGLOINN 
It was in a small booth in front of the main sort of studio 
and he, you know, started kind of feeling me up and kind 
of put his hand under my jumper and I was like, no.  But, 
in a sense and very, very rapidly he sort of basically 
pinned me down against the, the mixing desk and sort of, 
he anally raped me. 



00.29.27
Donnacha MacGloinn 
And it was very frightening, very painful experience and 
it was all quite brief.  It was very brutal and at no point, I 
think all subtlety, I mean he was a manipulative and very 
subtle man but I think subtlety went out the window at 
that stage.  And afterwards, it was all over quite quickly 
and afterwards I got out of there as quickly as possible.  






00.30.02
Donnacha MacGloinn
But not before he had a chance to kind of, to say, you 
know, Donnacha, you'll be in big, big trouble, you know.  
If, you know, really it would be better for you, you know.  
And I was like, you know, I'm not going to say anything, 
just let me get the hell out of here.  You know, I was just 
like, fuck, you know.  And I think if I remember rightly I 
actually left my bag and that was one thing I remember 
later on, I was coming on the bus home and I thought oh 
no, I left my bag with all my stuff in there or whatever.  
But I didn't, I didn't go back for it.



00.30.41
Sarah Macdonald 
Yet it's now clear that a year before Donnacha was raped, 
two more complaints about Father Fortune sexually 
abusing young boys were made to Bishop Comiskey.



00.30.51
Sarah Macdonald 
This time the Church investigated.  Father Fortune denied 
the allegations, the Church came to no conclusions and 
did nothing.  It offered no explanation, then or now. 



00.31.05
Sarah Macdonald 
Inside this room the torment continued.  



00.31.10
Sarah Macdonald 
Correspondent has obtained these pictures of yet another 
of Sean Fortune's victims.  The young man beneath the 
priest had been abused from the age of fifteen.  He used 
the video to blackmail Father Fortune into finally leaving 
him alone. 



00.31.30
Sarah Macdonald 
Bishop Brendan Comiskey says he has never, ever, put a 
child's safety at risk to protect any priest.



00.31.38
Sarah Macdonald 
He declined to respond to Correspondent's questions 
about why he failed to prevent Father Fortune abusing 
young boys.



00.31.46
Sarah Macdonald 
Until 1995 Brendan Comiskey was battling a serious 
alcohol addiction and no one was more aware of the 
Bishop's demons than Father Fortune. 



00.31.56
Aston
GER WALSH
Managing Director, 
'Wexford People' 
He certainly acted as a, a, a, as a barman, a, a bar host at 
least, at least one occasion that I can say for certain 
because I had attended a reception that evening in the 
house.  And of course Sean Fortune, to my knowledge at 
least, didn't consume alcohol and I think that he, he 
would skilfully manoeuvre himself so that he could 
ensure that people who were in his company would 
maybe consume a lot of alcohol. 



00.32.35
Sarah Macdonald 
It was thanks to Colm O'Gorman that something was 
finally done.  Fifteen years after Fortune raped him for 
the last time; Colm went to the police. 






00.32.45
Aston 
COLM O'GORMAN 
My father actually broke down and spoke to my sister 
and just said that he couldn't live with it anymore.  And 
that really cracked everything open for me.  For the first 
time ever he'd spoken about what had happened and its 
impact on him.  So in some ways I guess I did it for, 
initially I did it for him, for my father because of the 
impact everything had had on him but also because I 
feared that Fortune was still abusing. 



00.33.10
Sarah Macdonald 
The ensuing police investigation resulted in Father 
Fortune being charged with sixty-six counts of sexual 
indecent assault and buggery relating to eight boys.  



00.33.23
Sarah Macdonald 
Eighteen years after the first complaint, the Catholic 
Church was finally forced to remove him from duties. 



00.33.32
Aston
Fr TOM DOYLE 
What makes me angry about this whole thing, is when, is 
the lack of justice.  It's the, it's the almost arrogant, you 
know, self-satisfied attitude that the ecclesiastical, that 
the church leaders portray in the face of this incredibly 
horrendous criminal behaviour by priests.  When they, 
they almost act like we're above this and how dare they 
make accusations against us.  And they, in many cases 
they've known, that's why these law suits have happened, 
that's why they've won the lot, that's why it's cost the 
Catholic Church in the United States alone over a billion 
dollars over a ten year period.  That's a lot of dollars. 



00.34.12
Sarah Macdonald 
Father Fortune bragged openly that if he went down his 
Bishop was going with him.  



00.34.18
Sarah Macdonald 
But instead of reaching out to Fortune's many victims, 
Doctor Brendan Comiskey fled his Bishop's palace and 
disappeared.



00.34.26
Ger Walsh 
People simply didn't know, they didn't know what state 
the diocese had been left in, they didn't know where the 
Bishop was or anything.  I mean there was no proper 
statement to, to, you know, which in retrospect would 
have been very helpful.  So it began, people began to 
investigate various aspects of the Bishop's stewardship of 
the diocese and his holiday destinations for example 
became a, a focus of interest. 



00.35.02
Sarah Macdonald 
But the Bishop wasn't on holiday.  He was in a clinic in 
America being treated for alcoholism.  When he returned 
six months later, it was to a media inquisition about his 
financial affairs, foreign holidays and his handling of 
child sexual abuse allegations. 



00.35.20
Aston 
November 1998 



00.35.20
Aston
Bishop BRENDAN COMISKEY 
There's a lot of things that haven't come out and the last 
thing I would want to give that I was making excuses for 
the Bishops, sorry, for myself.  I have no problems saying 
like, we did not do well. 



00.35.33

Music 



00.35.36
Sarah Macdonald 
In a letter to this programme, Bishop Comiskey says that 
he maintains an open door policy for survivors of child 
sexual abuse in his diocese and this he feels is where he 
can make his best contribution.



00.35.48
Sarah Macdonald 
But Bishop Comiskey has never personally reached out in 
any way to the men in this film.



00.35.53

Music 



00.36.00
Pat Jackman 
He has admitted himself that he may not have reacted as 
quickly as he should have done but if we were talking in 
terms of six months or a year I think that's fine.  When 
you're talking of over a term of, whatever it was, fifteen 
years, that's a different matter entirely, you know.  And I 
think he preferred to fudge it, I think he preferred to keep 
it quiet.



00.36.19

Music 



00.36.24
Pat Jackman 
I would never, ever leave my kids alone with a priest, like 
ever. 



00.36.29

Music 



00.36.37
Sarah Macdonald 
Four priests in Bishop Comiskey's diocese have been 
accused of molesting children over the last twenty years.  
In the same period, fifty Irish priests have been convicted.  



00.36.49
Sarah Macdonald 
But attention is increasingly turning to Church superiors.  
Last year a French court convicted a Bishop for failing to 
report a paedophile priest to the authorities. 



00.36.59
Fr Tom Doyle 
My guess would be that if the Bishop knew about it, 
generally speaking they, because it's a notorious issue, 
especially in a small country like Ireland, that the Papal 
Nuncio would have known and he in turn would have 
reported that to the Vatican.  Whether the Pope would 
have been personally briefed on it, that I don't know, I 
can't tell you that.  But I do know in many of the 
American cases the Pope did personally know. 



00.37.23

Music 



00.37.35
Sarah Macdonald 
This year the Vatican issued new guidelines on how its 
senior clergy should respond to allegations of child 
abuse.



00.37.43
Sarah Macdonald 
Suspected cases should now be reported immediately to 
Rome, so the Vatican can determine the course of action.  
They do not say if civil authorities should be told.  
Instead, the Vatican will act as police, judge and jury.  
And it will all be conducted in secret. 






00.38.00
Fr Tom Doyle 
If you know that a crime has been committed and you, 
you, you either look the other way or you condone it or 
you support the perpetrator, you share in the guilt.  That, 
I think, should be pursued.  And I don't think just 
because a man is a Bishop does not entitle him to allow 
criminal acts to take place or to commit them himself.  It 
certainly doesn't entitle him to allow children to be 
violated and their lives ruined. 



00.38.25
Sarah Macdonald 
What do you think should happen to them?



00.38.26
Fr Tom Doyle 
I think the same thing should happen to them that should 
happen to any leader or anyone who harbours a criminal, 
they should be prosecuted.



00.38.37
Sarah Macdonald 
Supported by the Church, Fortune managed to drag the 
legal process out for four years, at one point disappearing 
to Belgium with thirty thousand pounds.  He was finally 
brought before the Irish courts in 1999.



00.38.51
Sarah Macdonald 
Whilst out on bail he killed himself with a cocktail of 
alcohol and drugs, denying the boys their first chance to 
be heard. 



00.39.02
Gemma Hearne 
I never spoke to Bishop Comiskey about Father Fortune 
or his suicide.  But I would say that it was probably the 
happiest day of his life.  Because, although he may have 
lost a clergyman, he left, Father Fortune brought a lot of 
secrets to the grave that would have come out had he 
gone to jail or had he gone to court.  And Bishop 
Comiskey would have, I mean after all he was the Bishop 
of Ferns, or he is the Bishop of Ferns.  So he has 
responsibility for his clergy and the blame would have to 
be laid clearly at his feet because he didn't deal with the 
situation as he should have done. 



00.39.58
Colm O'Gorman
Twenty years ago that bastard raped me.  



00.40.05
Colm O'Gorman
And, I'm still now forced to be in a position where I have 
to fight to get somebody to acknowledge what they did or 
didn't do and the responsibility that they had for that.  
And I meet up with other men who are in exactly the 
same position and I find out that, that, that young boys 
and men have died, have committed suicide, I believe 
because of what he did to them. 



00.40.30
Colm O'Gorman 
And you have, frankly, bastards like Brendan Comiskey, 
hiding in his nice palace in Summerhill, behind his 
alcoholism and his regret and his, you know, his inability 
to understand or to do anything about it.  It's not good 
enough; it's not good enough.  It's not good enough 
anymore.   People have died.  People are dying.  People 
are hurting.



00.41.00
Sarah Macdonald 
Bishop Comiskey!



00.41.01
Bishop Comiskey 
We will survive, how are you?



00.41.03
Sarah Macdonald 
I'm fine thanks.  Sarah Macdonald, BBC television.



00.41.04
Bishop Comiskey
Sarah, how are you?



00.41.05
Sarah Macdonald 
Very well, thank you.  I've just come to ask you just a 
question about Sean Fortune…



00.41.09
Bishop Comiskey
I'm going to have mass at half past six…



00.41.09
Sarah Macdonald 
We just wanted to know why didn't you stop Sean 
Fortune abusing young boys?  Bishop Comiskey?



00.41.12
Aston
Bishop BRENDAN COMISKEY 
I, I, I moved, when it was brought to my attention I 
moved him out of the parish and sent him on treatment 
for two years…



00.41.20
Sarah Macdonald 
Not for six years.  Not for six years, you didn't move him 
out of the parish.  Why didn't you stop him?



00.41.26
Bishop Comiskey
Thank you very much. 



00.41.27
Sarah Macdonald 
Why didn't you stop him, Bishop Comiskey?



00.41.37
Monica Fitzpatrick 
It's the first time I've talked, haven't been able to talk to 
neighbours or family, I can't.  I haven't been able to talk 
to them.  But, I think Father Fortune is dead and gone 
now, I know he's dead and gone but there was really 
nothing done about him before he died.  He was let away 
and I think the Bishop as well was there involved.  The 
Bishop knew all about it and he was the one that should 
have sorted Father Fortune out from the early times.  I 
think all the young lads that have been involved like, that 
he has abused, I think there's no answers for them.  Peter 
has gone and there's nothing we can do. 



00.42.33
Sarah Macdonald 
In the last year another young man has committed suicide 
in Fethard-on-Sea.



00.42.38

Waves crashing 



00.42.41
Sarah Macdonald 
Doctor Brendan Comiskey remains the Bishop of Ferns. 



00.42.45
Sarah Macdonald 
Since Father Sean Fortune's suicide, six of his victims 
have begun legal action.



00.42.51
Sarah Macdonald 
So far, the Church's only response has been to deny 
liability and plead diplomatic immunity. 



00.42.59
Sarah Macdonald 
Colm O'Gorman is suing the Bishop, the Papal Nuncio 
and the Pope. 



00.43.03

End Music 






00.43.14
Voice over
For more information on tonight's programme please 
visit our web site at: 





www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent



00.43.23
Voice over
A helpline number will be given out at the end of this 
programme.  



00.43.11
Reported & Directed by
SARAH MACDONALD 




Original Music  
CHARLIE MOLE 




Camera
JONATHAN CALLERY 




Dubbing Mixer
PHITZ HEARNE




VT Editor
ROD HUTSON 




Graphic Design
NICOLA OWEN   




Production Team  
ALEXANDRA CAMERON
EMMA CASHMORE
SARAH EVA
ANJANA SHARMA 




Production Manager
JANE WILLEY 




Unit Manager
IRENE OZGA 




Film Research 
NICK DODD 




Picture Editor
DAVID HOWELL         




Series Producer 
SIMON FINCH  




Deputy Editor 
FARAH DURRANI  



00.43.31
Editor 
FIONA MURCH





BBC
© BBC MMII



00.43.42

End 


BBC Correspondent
1

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