SECOND NEWRY PRIEST IS ACCUSED
NOLAN CALLER TELLS OF ABUSE AT AGE 11
A MAN broke down on radio as he revealed he was sexually abused by a Newry-based priest for a number of years.
The man said that a second paedophile priest was operating in the Dromore Diocese at the same time as the notorious Fr Malachy Finnegan.
The claim came during Radio Ulster’s Stephen Nolan Show yesterday.
The anonymous caller said that he and a number of other boys were abused by the priest at St Joseph’s Boys’ High School and St Colman’s College.
The caller named Fr Seamus Reid as the culprit. The cleric died in 2001
He said the priest carried out the abuse at both schools under the guise of conducting confession.
The cleric was also involved with the local Boy Scouts.
In 2015 the Catholic Church confirmed that 11 allegations had been made against Fr Reid since 1997.
It is understood that his case was also raised by Bishop of Dromore John McAreavey, who recently resigned over the Fr Finnegan scandal, during a report on the Diocese of Dromore carried out by the Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children in 2011, though the priest was not publicly named.
The claims come in the wake of Finnegan being linked to a string of child abuse allegations relating to St Colman’s, and later in the Co Down parish of Clonduff.
Finnegan worked at St Colman’s from 1967 to 1987, spending the last 11 years as president of the grammar school. He moved to Clonduff as parish priest in January 1988.
Bishop McAreavey stood down on March 1 after coming under fire from parents for his handling of the case. He had conducted Finnegan’s funeral Mass in 2002 despite being aware of allegations against him.
In a graphic interview yesterday, the caller said he had been abused by Reid over a number of years in the 1960s, beginning as an 11-year-old.
He said that he pretended to be sick, didn’t attend class and even slept rough to avoid being at his home, as Reid would call there looking for him.
He claimed that Reid’s behaviour was widely known.
“The school knew about it, definitely some of the school knew about it,” he said. “Like at St Colman’s, it was the talk of the school amongst the young boys.
“I find it hard to believe if it was so widely known among pupils that some of the teachers would not have known, someone was bound to have known.”
At the end of the call he issued an emotional appeal to “please try not to let this happen again”.
Another man then called in to the show and said that he had also been abused by Reid as an altar boy and in the Scouts.
He revealed that he had confronted Reid later in life, asking him: “What have you done?”.
He said the priest made a quick exit.
On his show Nolan said he was being contacted by victims
from all over Northern Ireland. In a statement, St Joseph’s High School said: “It would not be appropriate for the school to make any public comment at this time.”
The Belfast Telegraph contacted the Dromore Diocese for a comment, but it had not responded at the time of going to press.