Rebel bishop says anonymous letter claims ‘gay priests culture’ in Diocese

A REBEL bishop has urged a group of Wexford parents to contact him over their claims that a network of gay priests is active in the Ferns Diocese.

According to ‘independent bishop’ Pat Buckley, a group of ‘concerned parents’ in Wexford have written to the Papal Nuncio claiming they are ‘exhausted at what is being tolerated in the Ferns Diocese’.

A copy of the alleged letter to the Papal Nuncio, and which Buckley claims was sent to him, has been seen by this newspaper and makes allegations about the activities of more than half a dozen well-known priests in the Diocese.

‘ There is a serious homosexual/gay culture here in Ferns Diocese and people are asking that we need to contact Rome regarding this and address this to save our Diocese. This needs to be addressed,’ says the letter, the veracity of which cannot be authenticated.

Pat Buckley, who made the headlines in 2014, for his part in a sham marriage scam in Northern Ireland, has asked the people who wrote the letter to contact him so he can set up a meeting to discuss the allegations.

Buckley, a former Catholic priest, received a suspended three-year prison sentence for solemnising 14 sham marriages — which were mainly between female Portuguese nationals and Bangladeshi men seeking residency in the North.