Drogheda Independent
Wednesday October 12 2011
By FR BRIAN WHELAN
ON SUNDAY I attended the Ordination to the Priesthood of a friend of mine in Mullingar. Fr Kevin Heery was ordained for the diocese of Meath, one of the few dioceses in Ireland to have a priest ordained this year. Kevin is a young man, with the world of opportunities before him, and he has chosen to dedicate his life to ministering to people, and bringing some of God’s love to areas where it is needed most. It won’t be an easy life for him, by any means, and indeed he’s becoming a priest when it is probably the most unpopular time to do that. One might be forgiven for thinking that he was a bit mad!
Last week, RTE broadcast a short segment before its current affairs programme ‘ Prime Time Investigates’. It was an apology to another Fr Kevin, the Parish Priest of Ahascragh in Co. Galway, Fr Kevin Reynolds. In a previous broadcast back in May, ‘Prime Time Investigates’ accused the priest of raping a minor named Veneranda while he was a missionary in Kenya and fathering a child named Sheila as a result of this rape.
As a result of the programme, Fr Reynolds had to stand down from ministry and was removed as the parish priest of Ahascragh. He had to leave his home and his parish. Following paternity tests and other investigations, RTE broadcast their apology saying that ‘RTE now fully and unreservedly accepts that the allegations made by Prime Time against Fr. Kevin Reynolds are baseless, without any foundation whatever and untrue.’ Fr Reynolds resumed his position in Ahascragh at the weekend, and has begun to rebuild his life and his reputation and recover from his terrible ordeal.
But consider this – what if DNA testing did not exist? What if there was no way of doing paternity tests and Fr Reynolds couldn’t prove his innocence? In short, Fr Reynolds now be an outcast, he would be shunned by everyone, and he would effectively be forced into exile. His life would be destroyed forever. And what of RTE? Aoife McCarthy, the journalist at the centre of the story, would probably be getting awards at ceremonies and her bosses would be rewarded handsomely for such fantastic investigative journalism. Instead, High Court proceedings will continue, and Fr Kevin will rightly win a defamation case against RTE, and most likely be awarded compensation along with his costs. The TV license-payer will have to foot the bill for this shocking and totally irresponsible broadcast by RTE. What interested me most was the reaction following the ‘apology’ in the media and across the political spectrum.
Did any political party call for an investigation, for heads to roll in RTE? No. Did any newspaper editorial raise the issue? Not on your life. Will it be raised in the houses of the Oireachtas? I wouldn’t hold my breath. So where was the outcry of horror at an innocent man being parodied and vilified like this? The answer is: nowhere. That’s a very sad reality, but that’s the way it goes nowadays. Simply put, because of the horrific history of abuse by some members of the clergy, and its criminal mishandling by the authorities in charge, the presumption of innocence that should apply to everyone, is suspended when it comes to members of the Church. It’s a case of ‘guilty until proven innocent’ unfortunately.
The end result is that RTE can get away with this kind of irresponsible journalism, and a man’s life can be destroyed. While everyone would agree that the safeguarding of children must be the paramount concern, removing a man from his home and his job, on foot of RTE’s false allegations, in this case seems quite bizarre. In fact, any priest could find themselves in the same situation in the morning, if someone decided to contrive a similar allegation against them, that was, as RTE admitted, ‘ baseless, without any foundation whatever and untrue’. It’s an unfortunate reality that priests find themselves in today, but that’s the legacy of the sins of the past generations.
– FR BRIAN WHELAN
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Defamation case against RTÉ begins next month
rte.ie
Updated: 17:28, Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Fr Kevin Reynolds at mass last Sunday
An action for defamation against RTÉ by Galway priest Fr Kevin Reynolds is to begin in the High Court on 15 November.
RTÉ apologised to Fr Reynolds last week for defaming him in a Prime Time Investigates programme on 23 May by accusing him of raping a woman and fathering her child while working as a missionary in Kenya.
In its apology, RTÉ said he was entirely innocent of the allegations.
Fr Reynolds had been forced to step aside as parish priest of Ahascragh in Co Galway but was reinstated last Sunday.
He is proceeding with his action against RTÉ, which will begin next month.
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Priest’s High Court libel action against RTE listed for next month
irishexaminer.com
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 – 02:33 PM
A High Court libel action by a priest against RTE for wrongly accusing him of raping a minor while in Kenya is to go ahead next month.
The broadcaster has already apologised to Father Kevin Reynolds for the Prime Time broadcast on May 23 last.
Fr Reynolds received standing ovations in mass in Ahascaragh, Galway when he told parishioners he felt “freed from lies and false allegations” following an apology from RTE last week.
On its website, the State broadcaster acknowledges it defamed the Mill Hill missionary by accusing him of raping a woman in Kenya and fathering her child.
The priest immediately denied the allegations and offered to undergo a paternity test.
Today his barrister Frank Callinan told the High Court he was very anxious to get a hearing date for the upcoming libel action against RTE.
The jury trial has been listed for November 15 and is likely to run for three or four days.
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Priest harbours no ‘bitterness’ after RTÉ apology following defamation
The Irish Times
Monday, October 10, 2011
Fr Kevin Reynolds with parishioners after he concelebrated Sunday Mass in St Cuan’s Church, Ahascragh, Co Galway, yesterday. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy
LORNA SIGGINS, Western Correspondent
THE PRIEST at the centre of false claims that he had raped a woman and fathered her child while a missionary in Kenya has said that he does not carry “anger or resentment” or “bitterness”.
Fr Kevin Reynolds, who was defamed by RTÉ in a Prime Time report broadcast last May, said yesterday that he was a “little battle-weary and wounded and the scars will remain”, but the apology had “freed” him from “lies, false allegations and baseless accusations”.
He received three standing ovations from a congregation of about 600 people on his public reinstatement to his parish by Bishop of Elphin Dr Christopher Jones in St Cuan’s Church, Ahascragh.
Bunting, welcome-home banners and several hundred handshakes greeted him in the village church, where Dr Jones was chief celebrant for the morning Mass.
Mill Hill missionaries general superior Fr Anthony Chantry and regional representative Fr Michael Corcoran were concelebrants.
Dr Jones and Fr Chantry praised Fr Reynolds’s “courage” and “dignity”over the past five months, while parish council chairwoman Máire Hughes spoke of the delight of parishioners at his return.
Opening the Mass, Dr Jones welcomed the media presence and recalled his address to the parish on May 28th, five days after the Prime Time broadcast.
In a statement issued by the Elphin diocesan office on that date, Dr Jones said that although the information available to him was only that broadcast by RTÉ, he had notified the Garda and the Health Service Executive as a precautionary measure and Fr Reynolds had agreed to stand aside in accordance with procedure.
“When I offered Mass with you and for you on Saturday evening May 28th last, I appealed for prayers that all investigations would be carried out quickly so that the truth regarding the allegations which RTÉ had broadcast about Fr Kevin might be ascertained,” Dr Jones said.
“RTÉ has now accepted that all of the allegations which it broadcast against Fr Kevin are baseless and without any foundation whatever and that Fr Kevin is entirely innocent.”
Dr Jones said that everyone was shocked at the time, not only by the allegations that were made against Fr Kevin but also by the manner in which they were made.
Fr Kevin had “carried his cross with great dignity”, Dr Jones said.
“He willingly stepped aside from ministry and never expressed anger or impatience of any kind . . . I believe that his own deep faith and spirituality have been his greatest source of courage and consolation through this most dreadful experience of his life.”
Dr Jones added that occasions such as this were a disservice to the “validated experiences of so many” through child sexual abuse.
“I reiterate the commitment of our diocese to the safeguarding of children,” he said, and the diocese of Elphin was “committed in its focus and responsibility to protect and value children wherever they are in our church”.
Fr Chantry said he welcomed RTÉ’s statement of apology issued late last week and said that his public reinstatement was the “beginning of a long journey of healing and reconciliation”.
The false claims had been a “source of profound distress to Fr Kevin, his family, friends, parishioners and fellow Mill Hill missionaries”, he added.
Ms Hughes said that Fr Reynolds had offered the national broadcaster “the means of disproving” the claims and had “no choice but to go to law” when this was not accepted.
“Fortunately, that expedited the whole process leading to his total exoneration within three months,” she said. “We will do all in our power to ease him back gently and nurture him as best we can.”
Fr Reynolds’s legal action is still continuing in the High Court.
Last week, he paid tribute to the Association of Catholic Priests for its contribution in helping him to establish his innocence through two paternity tests.
I agree in part with Father Whalen’s statement that this is “an unfortunate reality that priests find themselves in today, but that’s the legacy of the sins of the past generations.” I believe however it’s not only a legacy of the sins of past generations, it’s the legacy of predatory priest – past and present – and the legacy of every Church official – past and present – who lies, deceives and/or covers up for these predators.
It’s sad that it has come to this, that a priest should be falsely accused, scorned and publicly humiliated. Perhaps from a spiritual perspective Father Reynolds can take comfort in the fact that to some small degree he shares the sufferings of Christ.
At the human level, I, and I am sure countless others like me who have questions as to how this could have happened, will be awaiting reports of testimony from the November jury trial.
“One swallow doesn’t make a summer”…
I can still visualize the countless children, boys and girls, who were ostracized , punished, called liars and probably slapped or worse… all over the planet, for so many years because they said that the beloved priest had touched them or sexually assaulted them…
I received a call last year from an elderly lady who explained just that:that if any of her children had ever accused a priest, she would never have believed them and would have punished any such talk!
The fact there is “proof”to the contrary does not escape them in this instance and “they” are obviously going to milk this to try and discredit as many others as possible. They however are also very quick to point out the lack of tangible proof in other cases when children are involved, even arguing about the child’s age and shamelessly implying consent!
The scale is fixed when measuring/comparing assaults against defenseless children and adult games. To follow-up on one of “their” “famous” assertions: “They are just doing this for the money…” because they have a vested interest and it does not point to any spiritual goal!
Some comfort in this one, they will be anxious to keep us informed. No cover-up on this from “the church”…We should hope that the pendulum will swing as far in the other direction, in all other cases, and that father Whelan will be as vocal …in criticizing HIS “organization”!
It appears that the new norm in the church will focus on “irresponsible journalism”…and they may even crucify a journalist in their own defense!
“An eye for an eye…” They are taking us back in time when “the shoe is on the other foot”…
JG