Gerard McGinnity

Gerard McGinnity is an author and Parish Priest of Knockbridge, County Louth, Ireland, a parish of the Archdiocese of Armagh.

In Maynooth College

McGinnity was appointed Junior Dean at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland's national seminary, when he was 26 years old. He was appointed Senior Dean at the age of 32 in 1978, decades younger than previous holders of the post.

In 1984, he was approached by students who had concerns about the behaviour of the college's Vice President, Dr Micheal Ledwith, including concerns of a sexual nature. He was abruptly dismissed from his position by Tomás Ó Fiaich, archbishop of his home diocese, acting on behalf of the Trustees (17 bishops) of the College, after he raised concerns with the bishops on behalf of six seminarians about the extravagant lifestyle of Ledwith.

The seminarians, who came to Maynooth as mature students, also sought the advice of Brendan Comiskey, then auxiliary Bishop of Dublin and later Bishop of Ferns, about what they saw, or believed, to be the lavish and worldly lifestyle of Ledwith and their concerns about information or rumours that might have suggested that Ledwith had a homosexual orientation. Comiskey suggested that they approach seven "key bishops" in order that their concerns would be adequately heard. These bishops included the then Cardinal Primate of All Ireland Tomás Ó Fiaich and Bishops Cahal Daly), Edward Daly, Lennon, Cassidy, C O'Reilly, Eamon Casey and Aherne.

Ledwith was appointed President of St Patrick's by the Trustees in 1984 on the 'enthusiastic nomination' of Dr Brendan Comiskey, then Bishop of Ferns - despite these concerns. Ledwith continued as president until 1994 when he resigned prematurely and agreed a financial settlement - without liability - with a man who alleged Ledwith had abused him as a minor. Ledwith was eventually laicised in 2005, several years after he abandoned Catholicism in favour of new-age religion.

Comiskey resigned as Bishop of Ferns in April 2002 following a BBC television documentary the previous month that criticised how Comiskey handled the case of Fr Seán Fortune, a serial child sex abuser who committed suicide in 1999.

The McCullough and Ferns Reports

The Irish bishops published the McCullough Report in June 2005. It found that there were no complaints made by the seminarians themselves to Bishops about sexual harassment by Ledwith of seminarians in Maynooth College.

The concerns raised by McGinnity were fully validated in the report of The Ferns Inquiry which was commissioned by the Irish Government in 2003 and published in October 2005. The Ferns Report acknowledged Dr McGinnity's feelings of being victimised as a result of the concerns of the seminarians which he expressed. The Report states that "punitive actions of that nature could only deter bona fide complaints to church authorities which should be valued as providing information for the control of those having access to young people".

The matter was further debated in the Irish Senate in November 2005 and Dr Mary Henry commented: "With regard to Monsignor Ledwith, I was dismayed to read the response of the bishops to whom complaints were made by six senior seminarians, as they are described in the report, as well as the senior dean of Maynooth College, Fr. Gerard McGinnity. Cardinal Daly, one of the surviving bishops, indicated in his statement to the inquiry that it was entirely untrue that any seminarian had mentioned homosexuality to him in connection with Monsignor Ledwith."

Association with Christina Gallagher

"It was in 1988 that I first heard of Christina when I received a written account of the early messages. I read and studied them, and I would have spoken to Christina on the telephone at that stage. The content of the messages to date was fine, without any theological or spiritual flaw. It was however, some time before I actually met Christina. I asked her then to put a question to Our Blessed Lady for me and she did. I had asked a similar question when I had first gone to Medjugorje back in 1984. The reply given me through Christina was exactly the same as I received from Our Lady in Medjugorje, while she added through Christina, 'but he already knows this'. This reply certainly made me think! "

Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer & Christina Gallagher

Rev. Fr. Gerard Mc Ginnity, Doctor of Theology relates his experience (2003) in relation to Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer and Christina Gallagher to whom he is her spiritual director. "It is exactly ten years ago this month that Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer at Achill was opened and dedicated for Mrs Christina Gallagher by the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Joseph Cassidy. “An oasis of peace in a troubled world”. After I was first introduced to Mrs Gallagher five years previously, I sought personal and direct evidence of her genuineness. I got such proof in multiple ways that I was left no option but to help her in her work.

I always remember my first meeting with Mrs. Gallagher when she related to me-though a complete stranger to her- not only my personal past in great detail but several future events in my life which have since been unfolding with precision exactly as she predicted. I happened to be present at that time when she had an experience, I just thought I would like to test her by a question I had in my mind, before I had time to speak, she instantly turned and gave me the answer to what I had not yet asked!

Arising from my first meeting with her, I subsequently asked her prayers for a family member terminally ill with no hope of recovery. Mrs Gallagher promised to pray but added; “God will be greatly glorified in this.” A complete and instantaneous healing occurred which was entirely inexplicable to the medical consultants. In subsequent years, as her spiritual director, it would be quite normal for her to remark to me on the most private intentions for which I might be silently praying, private information of which no one could possibly be aware.

I have noted over the years that in her ministry to priests this gift of intimate knowledge is never sensational but a means of help. A Jesuit professor of theology, writer and broadcaster, Dr. Richard Foley of Farm Street Church, London, later wrote in a foreword to a book about her; “I had never met Christina Gallagher, though from what I had read and heard I was inclined to accept her as genuine. But what in the event completely convinced me of this was the extraordinary insight she displayed into my interior life, including my spiritual track record to date; that is, my memory-bank of triumphs and failures over the years in the Lord’s service.

In other words, this remarkable Irish woman demonstrated beyond any doubt that she possessed a sort of X-ray vision into my private world of conscience and moral striving. She could read the secrets of my heart. She could witness within me that hidden arena, where, as is the case of everyone, warfare is waged non-stop between good and evil, truth and falsehood, light and darkness. Though aware that other priests had a similar experience, I was nonetheless bowled over when Christina Gallagher proceeded to discern with clinical precision the weakness and strengths of my world within."

As Spiritual Director to Christina Gallagher

Fr. McGinnity has been Christina Gallagher's spiritual director for many years. About this Fr McGinnity comments “I can only testify that in all my dealings with Mrs Gallagher, I have been extraordinarily impressed and have been amazed at the gifts she has received, as well as being so impressed by the example of her life and attitude and by her common sense, good humour and her sincerity.

The Second Vatican Council tells us we ought to be open to all the gifts the Holy Spirit gives to the Church. As a priest, I have a duty to be open and to give spiritual help to any person who comes to me. In Christina’s case, all the criteria which the Church looks for, in regard to alleged mystics, apparition, and so on, appear to me to be met. As a priest called to help her and give her guidance, I have been unbelievably enriched in my own spiritual life and priesthood, by all that is reported to me, studied or which can be read. Everything I have seen and heard has only served to confirm my belief in the authenticity of the events and the content of the messages.

Why I Believe

As Christina's Spiritual Director Fr McGinnity opened her biography, Out of the Ecstacy & Onto the Cross - Biography of Christina Gallagher published in 1996, with a chapter entitled Why I Believe in which he refers to the multiple proofs including, Our Lady's word being fulfilled to the letter; Christina seeing my room without visiting me; Advance cancer healed in my family; Medical proof; Spiritual fruitfulness; God's protective power ; and many many more.

Attack Upon Spiritual Mission

Fr McGinnity referred to this in an article appearing in the Irish Times in 2003; "A number of persons had come to me over the years in the course of my pastoral duties and I felt obliged to investigate them and then, on discovering them not to be authentic, to guide them to deeper genuine prayer and send them on their way. Only in this case (i.e. Christina’s) do I find the church’s criteria to be fulfilled. By the same token I must add that, were I not in a position to vouch for so much of this work, I could hardly have imagined the degree of unfair criticism, rash judgement and twisted stories circulated about Mrs Gallagher and so readily believed by those who have never met her."

Beginning in March 2008, Cardinal Seán Brady, Primate of All Ireland, began holding discussions with Fr McGinnity about his association with Christina Gallagher. His inquiry into the matter was the result of some complaints from former followers of Christina Gallagher.

Following a lengthy media assault on Fr McGinnity, Christina Gallagher and the House of Prayer, the pilgrims who regularly travel to Our Lady Queen of Peace House of prayer to pray published their own statement. In it they said "Pilgrims to Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer in Achill have been outraged and appalled by the continued media attack on Christina Gallagher, Fr McGinnity and the House of Prayer..." Their entire statement was published in July 2009 entitled The Voice of Our Lady's Pilgrims

In 2011 Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer, regarding the ongoing attacks on Christina & her spiritual director Fr McGinnity, stated; "It would seem clear that the active enemies of The House of Prayer are very small in number. With the exception of 5 individuals, the few others have always sought to be nameless and faceless…and the publications by The Sunday World and Michael Garde would always be to give each of these multiple identities to create an impression of “many”. A key tactic is increasingly to vilify and destroy the character of Fr McGinnity. This consists of stalking, mockery and defamation... ...and ridicule the content of messages given to Christina, yet those messages which we see being fulfilled on a daily basis are -as occurred in Fatima, Pontmain, Banneux, La Salette and other places - the warning of future events given us by Our Lady.

In a statement in October 2011, FrMcGinnity commented; "In regard to the matter of attacks upon spiritual missions, research remarkably shows that the more powerful the work, the greater the attack. Studying the lives of the mystics who lived throughout the centuries of Church history, I have been invariably struck by this fact that the more significant the work given them to accomplish, the more extreme the attack upon it and upon them. Even to refer to some out of such a large number, we find such remarkable resemblances to the gratuitous attacks upon Christina..."

Christina Gallagher's House of Prayer is located in the Tuam Archdiocese, on Achill Island, in Ireland. On 29 February 2008, the Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, issued a statement saying, in part: "In summary the ‘House of Prayer’ has no Church approval and the work does not enjoy the confidence of the diocesan authorities."

Publications

• Celebration With Mary: Reflections for Personal Prayer and Parish Devotions (June 1987) ISBN 0-86217-289-6
• Open Door for Christ (June 1987) ISBN 0-86217-277-2
• Christmen: Experience of Priesthood Today (June 1985) ISBN 0-906127-94-7
• Out of the Ecstacy & Onto the Cross - Biography of Christina Gallagher (1996) Our Lady Queen of Peace Publications, Ltd.
• Pray Pray Pray - Prayer Book Compiled by Rev Dr Gerard McGinnity (1995) Our Lady Queen of Peace Publications, Ltd.

See also

• Roman Catholic sex abuse cases

External links

• St Patrick's College
• The Ferns Report
• Archdiocese of Armagh
• Interview on RTE Whistleblowers
• Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer, Achill
• Voice of Our Lady's Pilgrims