Latest news with #Jesuit
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sacred Mysteries: The carpenter who made secret hides for hunted priests
In 1585 a law made it treasonable for Jesuits or priests ordained abroad to be in England. By the end of 1586 only 130 of the 300 priests who had returned to England from seminaries abroad were still at liberty. Some died in prison, 33 had been martyred, 50 were in prison and about 60 had been banished or had fled abroad before being discovered. Yet the 'Mission' to England was not wiped out. By 1596, 300 priests were labouring in England, and by 1610 as many as made the difference was the level-headedness of Father Henry Garnet (who came back to England in 1586 and worked for 18 years as Jesuit superior before his execution), and the work of Nicholas Owen, a layman and carpenter, who built priest holes. Priest holes or hides allowed priests on the Mission to elude the government pursuivants. They were also hiding places for the trappings of Mass – chalices, patens, vestments, missals – that pursuivants looked out for. Priests were often given shelter in the large houses of determined Catholics called recusants because they refused to attend state-sponsored services in the parish church. Humphrey Pakington of Harvington, for example, paid fines of £20 a month (£4,000 in today's money) for failing to attend church. Examples of Owen's perhaps 200 hides can be seen at Harvington and at Oxburgh Hall or Huddington Court. The deadly cat-and-mouse game reminds me of dissidents under Stalinism or those who courageously hid Jews under Nazi rule. Nicholas Owen lived as a child in the 1560s near the Castle in Oxford, and was apprenticed as a joiner. Two brothers, John and Walter, left to train as priests at Douai College in France. The youngest, Henry, became a printer and, astonishingly, set up a clandestine press in the Clink prison when he was held there. Europe was shocked (as it had been in 1170 at Thomas Becket's murder) by the execution of the paradigm of a scholar, Edmund Campion, in 1581. While the fortitude of the returned priests was remarkable, I think the atmosphere of distrust and betrayal was bad for the persecuted minority and for the persecutors. Many brave protectors of priests were women, not least the daughters of Lord Vaux, Anne and Eleanor (who was impressed by Campion, her brother's tutor). The Vaux sisters leased Baddesley Clinton, a lovely moated house near Warwick. There in 1589, Nicholas Owen made hides for priests and Mass-gear and built escape routes. The house was invaluable for priests to make religious retreats. 'We have sung our songs in a strange land,' wrote Robert Southwell of a meeting in 1590. 'In this desert we have sucked honey from the rock.' He was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1595. Meanwhile, Owen's craftsmanship was tested by a dawn raid by armed pursuivants on Baddesley Clinton on October 18 1591. In Owen's hides hid Henry Garnet, Robert Southwell, John Gerard, Edward Oldcorne and Thomas Stanney. The carpenter saved their lives that day. It wasn't till 1606 that luck ran out for Owen (by then a Jesuit lay brother). Concealed with Ralph Ashley (Edward Oldcorne's servant) in a hide he'd built at Hindlip Hall, they spent four days with only one apple to eat. They were caught breaking cover. Owen, who had a hernia, died horribly under torture. He was declared a saint in 1970. His story is now told grippingly and with historical judgment in the 86 pages of Nicholas Owen by Fr Gerard Skinner. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Donald Trump's marriage advice for Emmanuel Macron after wife shoved him
It comes after Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigette, appeared to slap him during a heated argument on an official tour - video footage of the incident got captured by the global media President Donald Trump revealed that he spoke to the French president following the shocking footage showing the moment Emmanuel Macron's wife appears to slap him during a heated argument on an official tour. In footage taken at Hanoi airport, Macron 's profile can be seen through the door of his official plane. Seconds later, his wife Brigette quickly raises a hand to his face, and appears to strike him. The French president looks surprised and turns to wave outside, before the couple begin to walk down the staircase. Emmanuel Macron then attempts to hold her hand, but she chooses not to take it, and instead holds onto the handrail of the walkway. The couple arrived in Hanoi on Sunday evening for a week-long tour of Southeast Asia, which will include stops in Indonesia and Singapore. A source close to Macron speaking to French news channel BFMTV dismissed the incident as simply a married couple "bickering." They added: "It was a moment for the President and his wife to unwind one last time before the start of the trip by having a little fun." Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Donald Trump: "Do you have any world leader-to-world leader marital advice?" Trump, who has been married three times, quipped in response: "Make sure the door remains closed." Trump said: "I spoke to him[Macron]. He's fine. They're fine. They're two really good people. I know him very well, and I don't know what that was all about,' Trump said, choosing his words carefully. But I know him very well, and they're fine." It's a far cry from their usual affectionate displays over the course of their 18-year marriage. Macron's wife, Brigitte Trogneux, was his drama teacher in high school and is 25 years his senior. He's 47, she's 72. The French President was just 16 when he vowed to marry Trogneux - a married mum-of-three at the time - and his parents even tried to put a stop to the schoolboy love affair, according to a book. Their romance blossomed as Trogneux taught Macron when he was a 15-year-old student at a Jesuit college in Amiens. A 2017 book says he defied orders from his parents to end the romance and his father ordered Trogneux to stay away from his son until he reached 18. Fulda said Macron's parents have since accepted the relationship and his mother has since described her as "adorable". In the book, Trogneux was discreet about the origins of the affair. The French president will is set to make a state visit to the United Kingdom in July. Macron will stay at Windsor Castle for the visit, which will take place from July 8 to July 10, Buckingham Palace confirmed earlier this month.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Convicted former Catholic priest exposed by Spotlight investigation dies at 87
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — James Talbot, a former Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting boys in Maine and Massachusetts after he was exposed by the investigation highlighted in the movie 'Spotlight,' has died. He was 87. Talbot, a former Jesuit, appeared on a list provided by the religious order of northeastern Jesuits who faced credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Talbot died on Feb. 28 at a hospice center in St. Louis, said Mike Gabriele, a spokesperson for Jesuits USA East. Talbot was one of the subjects of The Boston Globe's investigation into priest sexual abuse that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 and was adapted into the 2015 movie 'Spotlight.' The investigation revealed widespread sexual abuse, and coverup of that abuse, within the Catholic Church. Jesuits USA East did not offer a comment about Talbot's death. He pleaded guilty in 2018 to gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual for sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy at a Maine church in the 1990s. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Prior to the Maine conviction, Talbot spent six years in prison after pleading guilty to raping and sexually assaulting two students in Boston. He has settled lawsuits with more than a dozen victims in addition to the convictions. Talbot was a former teacher and athletic coach at Boston College High School from 1972 to 1980 before he was transferred to Maine, where he worked at Cheverus High School in Portland until 1998. Former Boston College High School student Jim Scanlan, 63, reported Talbot's abuse in Massachusetts. The Associated Press doesn't typically use the names of sexual assault victims without their consent, which Scanlan provided. His reports led to charges against Talbot. Scanlan said he has reached out to others who were abused by Talbot. He said he holds people in positions of power within the church accountable for allowing Talbot to continue abusing children over many years. Scanlan said he has tried to deal with his anger at Talbot, but it's a long process. 'The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference,' Scanlan said. 'Maybe I just parked him away a long time ago, resolved I couldn't change what happened.' Jesuits USA East said Talbot had been residing at the Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, Missouri, prior to entering hospice care. The center cares for sexually abusive priests and provides other health care services. Talbot's case was emblematic of a pattern of behavior in the Catholic church about how it dealt with sexual abuse and priests. Accusations against him went back decades, and in that time he was transferred to new jurisdictions. Allegations of a cover-up went all the way up to Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston. The Globe investigation revealed Law and his predecessors had transferred abusive priests from parish to parish without alerting authorities, or parents. Law died in 2017.
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
When evil dies: Victims of disgraced priest James Talbot are indifferent to his death
James Talbot, who as a priest raped Scanlan and other boys when he taught at Boston College High School, then raped more boys after he was quietly shipped from Boston to Maine, was not worthy of an emotion so intense, so draining, so overwhelming, as hate; that Talbot simply is not deserving of Jim Scanlan's deepest feelings. 'There's an old saying, and I didn't know what it meant until now. 'The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference,' ' Scanlan said. Nonetheless that anger, that sense of enduring grievance, did eventually well up, and it was and is directed at Talbot's superiors, the Jesuit order and priests who knew, who covered up, who quietly moved Talbot out of BC High in Dorchester so he could rape more boys at a Jesuit high school in Portland, Maine, so he could sexually assault 'They were not just complicit,' Scanlan said. 'They facilitated it.' Advertisement James Talbot is shown in Suffolk Superior Court in January 2005, in Boston. Matt Stone/Associated Press Scanlan's anger was not assuaged by the fact the Jesuit order that produced Talbot didn't have the decency to inform the survivors of Talbot's horrific sexual abuse that he was dead. This from the superiors who for so long ignored the groundswell of evidence and even after Talbot pleaded guilty in two cases still took him and provided comfort at the Campion Center in Weston. Advertisement Scanlan heard it this week from a friend, who heard it from an old Jesuit, who heard it from someone else. There was no formal announcement, however, no formal obituary, from the Society of Jesus, as the Jesuits are known. When I called the Jesuits, looking for answers, they didn't offer much. Mike Gabriele, director of communications for the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus, kept it brief. 'All I can release about the death of James Talbot is that he died at the age of 87 on February 28, 2025. He had been residing at the Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer, MO, for some years and died in hospice care in St. Louis,' Gabriele said. The Vianney Center is a behavioral health and addiction treatment facility for Catholic clergy and religious. Asked where Talbot was buried and whether the Jesuits should let Talbot's victims know he was dead, Gabriele added, 'The policy of the USA East Province is not to release a statement or obituary (including place of burial) for any Jesuit credibly accused of sexual abuse.' So, three months after Talbot died, armed with only hearsay because the Jesuits didn't tell anyone who deserved to know, Jim Scanlan took it upon himself to get the word out to as many of Talbot's victims as possible, through a network of survivors whose numbers are stored on his phone and computer. But as he texted and left messages, Scanlan realized he would only reach a fraction of those raped and wounded and hurt so grievously by Talbot. He remembers Talbot's hearing before the Massachusetts Parole Board, seeking release after serving six years for raping Scanlan and two other boys at BC High. The parole board members were questioning Talbot about the sex offender program he was enrolled in at prison, that Talbot was at a stage in the program where he admits to the number of victims he abused. And Talbot, in his own words, acknowledged it was 89. Advertisement 'I can't get to all of the 88 others,' Scanlan said, 'but they deserve to know. Maybe it will bring closure for some of them. Maybe it won't. But they deserve to know.' One victim Scanlan reached is Mike Doherty, who in 1998 was the first to publicly accuse Talbot of sexual abuse Doherty effectively blew the whistle on The civil lawsuit Doherty filed Given the malevolence of Dawber and others vouching for Talbot when they knew he was a rampant sex offender, it is ironic they inadvertently exposed him to criminal charges when they cleared his transfer to Portland. Of the thousands of priests who raped and molested minors, Talbot was among the few to face justice in a courtroom and years in a cell. Advertisement When Talbot moved from Massachusetts to Maine in 1980, the clock on the statute of limitations froze. That allowed then-Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley to f Using the premise that it would toughen them up, Talbot, a soccer and hockey coach at BC High, would wrestle his charges, sometimes when they were clad only in jockstraps, sometimes after plying them with beer. In that compromised position, he sexually assaulted the boys. Doherty was the victim of another ploy; Talbot ingratiated himself to Doherty's family to the point where he had his own room in the Doherty home in Freeport. Talbot used that trust and access to molest Doherty. He did the same to another family in Freeport, sexually assaulting the 9-year-old son of a couple whose marriage he had presided over. After Talbot offered to hear the boy's first confession, the grateful mother waited outside as Talbot assaulted the boy inside a church. Jim Scanlan and Mike Doherty were in the courtroom in Maine in 2018, showing support for that boy, now a man, and seeing off Talbot to prison for three years. Doherty told me he has a different take on the Jesuits taking Talbot at the Weston center and the treatment facility in Missouri. 'If they hadn't taken care of him, he would have been out there in the wind, with no one keeping an eye on him,' Doherty said. Advertisement But, like Scanlan, Doherty feels the Jesuits had an obligation to inform Talbot's victims of his death. 'I stopped wanting 10 minutes with a baseball bat in a room with Talbot a long time ago,' Doherty said. 'I pitied him more than anything. A man of such talent and intellect, squandered all that to further his proclivity. He ended up being a sad individual.' Doherty has been working on a book about Talbot and the lies, the coverup and life-altering harm done to him, Jim Scanlan and at least 87 other boys. He already has a working title, a play on words from the Jesuit motto of 'Men for Others.' Doherty's book will be called, 'Men for Others, Boys for Us.' Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
Toronto Star
2 days ago
- Toronto Star
Convicted former Catholic priest exposed by Spotlight investigation dies at 87
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — James Talbot, a former Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting boys in Maine and Massachusetts after he was exposed by the investigation that led to the movie 'Spotlight,' has died. He was 87. Talbot, a former Jesuit, appeared on a list provided by the religious order of northeastern Jesuits who faced credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Talbot died on Feb. 28 at a hospice center in St. Louis, said Mike Gabriele, a spokesperson for Jesuits USA East.
