The bishop, the vicar and his secret taiwanese civil partner
A CHURCH of Ireland vicar in the midlands, who has been on leave for over a year, still lives in the parish rectory – in a same-sex civil partnership his superiors knew nothing about.
The Church was unaware, until informed by the Irish Mail on Sunday this week, that Rev Graham Doyle had registered a same-sex civil partnership with a man 25 years his junior. The 67-year-old – the incumbent reverend in the Athlone union of parishes since 2003 – is thought to be just the second Church of Ireland cleric in the Republic to have registered a civil partnership, though it never became public.
It’s not the first controversy associated with Mr Doyle, whose parishioners have been wondering about his unexplained absence from Athlone and the four other parishes he was responsible for. With calls to the Athlone rectory going unanswered, parishioners say they are baffled at the situation which emerged when Mr Doyle failed to show for a Christmas service in 2014.
The MoS can reveal that he is accused of breaching child protection policy in Britain, which he has strongly denied, along with any wrongdoing.
It has also emerged that he is facing no formal charges.
‘We don’t know what’s happening,’ said one churchgoer.
‘We have never been told anything. He’s not working but he’s living there with his partner and we are paying his living expenses,’ said another.
Public records show that in August 2012 Mr Doyle registered a same-sex civil partnership with his Taiwaneseborn partner, Shao-Chi Shih.
According to the register, Mr Shih is a teacher who was born in 1973, making him 24 years younger than Rev Doyle, who spent three years in Taiwan between 1997 and 2000.
Mr Doyle listed himself on the civil register as a ‘retired valuer’ and gave his Sligo home with an address near Tubbercurry as the intended residence for both men, though they have apparently been living at the rectory in Athlone.
Mr Doyle’s civil partnership certificate shows his status was ‘civil partnership dissolved’, indicating he had a previous partnership registered and then annulled in another jurisdiction, possibly in the UK where civil partnership was introduced in 2005.
When the MoS approached Mr Doyle this week he said he was ‘on leave’.
When it was put to him that his parishioners don’t understand why he is not at work, he said: ‘Well, that’s to do with the bishop. It’s nothing to do with anyone here. It’s nothing to do with the church here or anything.’ Asked why he referred to himself as a ‘retired valuer’ he said: ‘I am a valuer and I am retired as a valuer.’ He declined to answer any further questions saying: ‘That’s none of your business.’
Confirming the investigation into Mr Doyle last night, a spokesman for the Church of Ireland said he ‘was required to stand down from his duties’ in December 2014 when the ‘Church was
‘Not working but living there with his partner’
made aware that statutory authorities in England were investigating allegations involving him’. This was according to the Church’s child protection policy. The spokesman added: ‘Pending further details concerning the investigation and the outcome reached, Mr Doyle has not resumed any parish duties.’ The Church has ‘provided its full co-operation through its relevant staff’ to investigators.
Parishioners in Athlone told the MoS
they were not told of the allegations even after some wrote to their bishop, the Most Reverend Patricia Louise Storey. But the Church spokesman said a ‘select vestry for the parish’ and members of the Safeguarding Trust panel for the parish were made aware of the situation from the outset.
He added: ‘The Church is required to take into consideration the fact that no formal charges have been brought against Mr Doyle and must ensure that nothing is either said or done which might prejudice matters.’
Meanwhile, Mr Doyle, who has served as a cleric for more then 40 years in parishes around the world, continues to reside at the rectory in Athlone, though he owns a home in his own name in Sligo.
While the allegations against him are being investigated he is enti- tled to his stipend as rector and to live in the rectory with his civil partner. ‘Mr Doyle may choose to live elsewhere but his right to reside in the rectory remains,’ the Church spokesman said.
He confirmed the Church had been unaware of Mr Doyle’s civil partnership status. He said: ‘The bishop was not consulted by the Rev Graham Doyle about his intention to enter into a civil partnership and neither the bishop nor the Church of Ireland were aware of Mr Doyle’s civil partnership beforehand.’
The first same sex civil partnership of a Church of Ireland clergyman – that of Rev Tom Gordon in Carlow in 2011 – was widely reported and is acknowledged as having prompted the 2012 Church synod to establish its committee on issues of human sexuality. Prior to registering his civil partnership Rev Gordon consulted his superiors and told of his intentions.
Aside from issues of Christian doctrine, civil partnership also has consequences for financial matters and the Church of Ireland has already conceded that civil partners must be afforded the same pension entitlements as a married spouse would have.