Trainee priests will no longer be sent to Ireland's main theological college amid allegations a number of young men studying there are using the gay dating app
The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin has confirmed he is sending student priests to Rome rather than St Patrick's College (above) in Maynooth.
Dr Diarmuid Martin (below), said he made the decision some months ago because he was "somewhat unhappy" about "an atmosphere that was growing in Maynooth".
"There are allegations on different sides," he said.
"One is that there is a homosexual, a gay culture, that students have been using an app called Grindr, which is a gay dating app, which would be inappropriate for seminarians, not just because they are trained to be celibate priests but because an app like that is something which would be fostering promiscuous sexuality, which is certainly not in any way the mature vision of sexuality one would expect a priest to understand."
"I thought a quarrelsome attitude of that kind was not the healthiest place for my students to be and I decided to send them to the Irish (Pontifical) College (in Rome)," he told State broadcaster RTE.
Dr Martin has also said his decision to send other priests abroad is not a command for other bishops to follow suit.
An investigation into conduct at St Patrick's is being carried out.
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Article by Aaron James
Tola Mbakwe is a multimedia journalist for Premier.
