College responds to sex abuse by Limerick priest on its campus
ST PATRICK’S College in Maynooth, where a teenage boy was sexually assaulted by a Limerick priest, said it supported and fully co-operated with the gardai in their investigation.
The Leader revealed last week that former priest Terry Loughran, aged 63, originally from the city, pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault at Limerick Circuit Court.
The offences on the boy, aged between 14 and 17, took place between May 1998 and January 2001 when the then Fr Loughran was in his late 30s.
They took place in parish houses in Kilfinane and Croom, in hotel rooms after concerts, after a Celtic match in Glasgow, on campsites in Fanore and France, on a skiing trip to Andorra, and in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where Mr Loughran had studied and was ordained.
The Limerick Leader contacted the college and asked how was a priest and a teenage boy allowed to stay overnight in a room together?
The Leader also asked if an investigation will commence following this court case, and if they would like to apologise to the victim.
Bishop Brendan Leahy extended his deepest apologies and regret to the young man on behalf of the Diocese of Limerick in a detailed statement to the Leader last week.
In response to the questions, a spokesperson for St Patrick’s College said: “The first time that St Patrick’s College, Maynooth was informed about this case was by An Garda Síochána in March 2019.
“The college supported and fully co-operated with the gardaí in the investigation of this case. At this time, our thoughts and prayers are foremost with the victim and his family.”
When questioned by gardai, Mr Loughran denied that the victim ever stayed in St Patrick’s College but may have visited.
The investigating officer, Detective Garda David Boland said gardai took a photo of a picture of Fr Loughran’s ordination class on a wall that the victim said the then priest showed him.
Photos taken by gardai of a bedroom with a timber floor also corroborated the victim’s allegation as did a story Fr Loughran told the victim about a room that was “boarded up forever” as a seminarian died by suicide in there in the 1800s.
Mr Loughran, known as a “singing priest” who performed in concerts, was “laicised” in 2013.