Priest who suffered seminary sex abuse missing

Currie, Scotland --

A PRIEST who caused controversy when he wrote of the sex abuse he suffered while growing up in a seminary has gone missing during a "soul-searching" trip to Ireland.

Friends say that Father Steve Gilhooley, 42, has become disillusioned with the Catholic Church and has quit.

In his last public statement before disappearing, Gilhooley launched a bitter attack on the appointment as Pope of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - who he accused of trying to silence him.

And he revealed he would not be returning to the priesthood.

Last year the leader of the Scottish Catholic Church, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who had been a close friend and confidant of Gilhooley, gave him permission to take a year's sabbatical from his Our Lady's parish in Currie near Edinburgh.

Worried friends say Gilhooley has not been in touch since he wrote an article in the Irish Times newspaper attacking the election of Pope Benedict XVI and indicating he was quitting the church.

In the article, published last month, he wrote: "I am in Ireland on a year's sabbatical to decide whether I want to return to Scotland as a priest. But my return ticket is now in the bin, and an appointment has been made at the local Fas [employment] office."

Gilhooley was granted an earlier leave of absence in 2001 to seek professional help over the sex abuse he suffered and wrote about in his controversial book, The Pyjama Parade.

Read the article at Scotsman.com News Dated June 5, 2005

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