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21-01-2006 Scotsman Shamed island priest who made his cousin pregnant faces defrocking By Gethin Chamberlain Chief News Correspondent A PRIEST who made his first cousin pregnant during the course of an affair has been told he is unlikely ever to be allowed to return to his parish. Father Roddy MacNeil - nicknamed "Father Flash" for his flamboyant lifestyle - has been suspended from the Our Lady Star of the Sea parish in Barra after it emerged his married cousin, Hilda Robertson, was carrying his baby. Father MacNeil, 45, who was a close friend of Princess Diana's late mother Frances Shand Kydd, is understood to have left the island. Last night Father Paul Conroy, the general secretary of the Bishops' Conference, said there appeared to be little chance of Father MacNeil being able to return to the priesthood. "In moral terms it would be unacceptable to get anybody pregnant if they are married and you are a priest," he said. He said Father MacNeil could be defrocked by Bishop Ian Murray, the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles - a process known as laicisation - or could ask to be removed from the priesthood. "In such a situation it is unlikely he would want to continue as a priest," he said. And he said it would be understandable if Father MacNeil's parishioners were unhappy about his behaviour. "Some would be angry, some would feel let down and some would feel disillusionment." Father Michael Hutson, of St Margaret's, Lochgilphead, is to take over the parish. At the church house in Castelbay last night, a man who described himself as the parish priest said Father MacNeil had left: "He is not the parish priest any more," he said. The full extent of the scandal was exposed in the News of the World yesterday. It reported that the affair began after the death of Mrs Robertson's brother, Malcolm, in February 2004. The newspaper claimed Mrs Robertson turned to Father MacNeil for comfort rather than to her husband, James Robertson. She and the priest had been friends as children. Mrs Robertson is said to have moved to Barra from the family home in Larkhall last year when the marriage broke down. Reports from the island suggested she had been a regular visitor to the church house, though the romance is said to have soured because Mrs Robertson believed Father MacNeil was seeing other women. The newspaper reported Mrs Robertson took an overdose in October and needed hospital treatment. On her return to the island, it said, she told Father MacNeil she was pregnant - a piece of information not well received by the priest. Mrs Robertson is staying with her sister Katie Paterson in Crookston, Glasgow, but declined to answer the door yesterday. Her husband is now understood to be seeking a divorce. News of the affair has upset some of Father MacNeil's parishioners. Donald Manford, the local councillor, said: "There will be a lot of hurt and disappointment over this, but Barra will move on and get on with its life and be the stronger for it." He added: "I hope very much that Roddy will get on with his life too. He is a man who tries to find ways of helping people when they are in need - and I think in this case the help grew to affection." He suggested it might be time for the Catholic Church to review its policy on marriage for priests. "The issue of priests marrying keeps recurring for the Catholic Church, but my own feeling is they should be allowed to marry." A man who answered the door at the Crookston home of Mrs Robertson's parents, Ewen and Christina MacLeod, last night said the family had been taken aback by the revelations. "Obviously we are all very very shocked, we can't believe it," he said. Father MacNeil earned his nickname for the lifestyle he adopted on arriving on Barra. He was known for his stylish clothes and smart car, and his friendship with Frances Shand Kydd also raised some eyebrows. They holidayed in Italy together after the death of the Princess, staying in a five star hotel at Lake Garda. Bishop with an eye for the ladies caused a sensation IN 1996, another colourful priest caused a sensation when he quit the priesthood to marry a parishioner. Bishop Roddy Wright, then Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, had initially counselled Kathleen MacPhee over her marital difficulties. She later became his housekeeper and, following a two-year affair, the couple ran away to the Lake District. He was coaxed back to Glasgow for a meeting with Cardinal Tom Winning but eventually left the Church and married Mrs MacPhee in the Caribbean in a wedding paid for by the News of the World. It also emerged that, 20 years earlier, he had fathered a son with another parishioner, Joanna Whibley. He was also thought to have conducted affairs with two women in the Argyll and the Isles diocese. In 2002, Mr Wright and his wife moved to New Zealand. He died of liver cancer last year.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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