The 'bad man' who is protected by a cardinal

Reading the story below gives some insight into the control and power that leading authorities really have.

The crazy situations that exist. Don't we really fool ourselves when we think we live in wonderful democracies in the western world.

Imagine a cardinal archbishop protecting a man he says is 'a bad man'.

When it comes to talking out of both sides of their mouths, top marks for the CIA, MI5/6, Mossad, BND and bishops, archbishops and cardinals, State agencies, major corporations. And these are the people who tell ordinary people how to behave.

The idea that priests are foisted on communities without one single word of approval by the community is another absurdity. All so bizarre.

A report from the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman has confirmed that the RUC, the Catholic Church and the British government colluded to protect a priest who was suspected of being involved in one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles, the 1972 Claudy bombing, in which nine people were killed.


The report says the decision of the police to seek the assistance of the Catholic Church and the British authorities failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombing.

According to Northern Ireland's Policing Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, the RUC investigation was wound down after the priest, Fr James Chesney, was transferred over the border to a parish in Co Donegal where he died eight years later.

The Ombudsman's report claims that after the Claudy bombing, on the basis of intelligence and other material, the RUC believed Fr Chesney was a suspect in the case and the IRA's director of operations in south Derry.

The Ombudsman details how an Assistant Chief Constable wrote to the Northern Ireland Office seeking help to 'render harmless a dangerous man, Fr Chesney.'

A meeting subsequently took place between then Northern Secretary William Whitelaw and then leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal William Conway at which, according to Northern Ireland Office records, the Cardinal indicated 'he knew that the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done.'

According to the documents, at that meeting in December 1972 the Cardinal also mentioned the possibility of transferring Fr Chesney to Donegal.

The Ombudsman's investigation also found documentary evidence that then Chief Constable of the RUC Graham Shillington was aware of the proposal to transfer Fr Chesney to Donegal.

He wrote on a document, outlining that he would prefer a move to Tipperary.

The Ombudsman concludes that in relation to the Claudy bombing, senior officers were wrong not to pursue their lines of inquiry, which would have implicated or eliminated Fr Chesney from the investigation.

He says that the investigation had been compromised by officers seeking the government's assistance through its engagement with senior figures in the Catholic Church.

He describes what happened as 'a collusive act'.