The following article is from the ‘Belfast Telegraph, Monday 28th August.
It relates the attempts of a priest who came from our part of the world, for he was born in Co. Fermanagh, my native county.
He comes from a strongly republican family with very obvious ties to the IRA. His brother, Patrick, was a member of the IRA and was killed in an explosion in 1958 during the IRA’s “Border Campaign”.
The Word of God tells us that Christ forbids the use of the spiritual title ‘Father’ to any man. “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven,” Matthew 23:9. McManus, like all Roman Catholic priests, displays his defiance of Christ by the use of such a title. It is for this reason I try ever to place quotation marks around its use!
McManus took umbrage at a BBC reporter, Seamus McKee, who alleged claimed he had links to the IRA.
This priest, like others who have made no secret of their ties to the terrorists of the IRA, had indeed links with the terror group. He had family links as his brother’s membership of the IRA indicates. Furthermore, he had moral links for his whole public witness was but a reiteration largely of the usual Sinn Fein/IRA propaganda.
In the end, he abandoned his attempts for one reason or another.
But the case is not over, for like all such matters, there is a day when the Lord will publicly reveal the truth concerning such matters men have attempted to conceal.
“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil,” Ecclesiastes 12:14.
“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel,” Romans 2:16.
“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart,” 1 Corinthians 4:5.
In the light of that day, the Christian is able to bear with the vexation and the anger that the arrogant and deceitful claims of the likes of McManus, knowing that one day, the God of all truth, will declare the authentic story of the life of such men!
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
Prominent US priest tried to sue BBC’s Seamus McKee after claiming he’d linked him to the IRA
‘Fr’ Sean McManus began the action in the late 1980s — but a decade later government officials were still dealing with the consequences
Sam McBride
Yesterday at 14:30
A high-profile Irish American priest launched a libel action against BBC journalist Seamus McKee and others after being linked to the IRA — but abandoned it after several years, declassified files show.
A file on the matter was drawn up by Stormont’s Department of Economic Development because it had been named as one of the defendants in the action, along with the senior BBC figure, the BBC itself and former Alliance leader John Cushnahan.
A government department then had to be chased repeatedly after failing to pay a legal bill to defend the claim.
A file declassified at the Public Record Office in Belfast under the 20 Year Rule contains an August 1989 Irish High Court writ on behalf of the Redemptorist priest Sean McManus who was then, as now, National Director of the Irish National Caucus.
Mr Cushnahan was claimed in the writ to be a spokesman for the department.
The writ said that on December 16, 1988, the BBC’s News At One programme involved the “false and malicious” broadcast of the words “because their agenda is not fair employment.
Their agenda is economic destabilisation and that is best illustrated by the fact the chief witnesses that have been appearing across the United States are Sean McManus, of the Irish National Caucus, and Martin Galvin, of Noraid, organisations renowned for their sympathy and support for the IRA.”
The writ claimed these words meant that Mr McManus supported the IRA, was well known for his support for the IRA, and associated himself with an organisation well known for its support for the IRA”.
It claimed that Fr McManus “has been greatly injured in his credit, character and reputation and in the way of his said profession or occupation and has been brought into ridicule and contempt”.
The writ made clear that Fr McManus was looking for money as damages.
The claim ran for years without coming to trial. On February 28, 1997, Dublin solicitors Arthur Cox sent to the Department for Finance and Personnel a bill for 7,604 Irish pounds in relation to its work in defending the claim.
But three years later, it still hadn’t been paid. On March 1, 2000, the legal firm wrote to the NIO to say that “despite my numerous reminders, phone calls to your office, and your verbal promise of October 6th 1999 that this bill would be settled, we have still not received your payment or any indication why this fee note still remains unpaid”.
Gerry Madden in the equality unit of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) noted a few days later that “there has not been any mention of reactivation of the proceedings” and asked a colleague to pay the bill.
However, at this point someone has written in hand “Hold — Ann is opening a new confidential file for this”.
An April 11 memo asking for payment said that “the payment was delayed as we were awaiting the outcome to see if proceedings would be reactivated, hence creating more expense”.
On April 27, 2000, Arthur Cox wrote to say that the payment had been received.
But it appears this was sent in error. A ‘file memo’, whose author’s name has been blacked out, stated that finance branch had been asked to recall the cheque and insisted this had happened — but then Arthur Cox’s acknowledgment of payment made clear it had not happened and the money had in fact been paid
Fr McManus told the Belfast Telegraph that “on legal advice, I did not pursue the case — and I also thought it would take up too much of my time”.
He added: “Looking back at it all, I am amazed we prevailed because the anti-MacBride campaign was powerfully organized and funded — and supported by both the British and Irish Government, all the political parties in Ireland, John Hume, Cardinal Daly, etc.
“Sinn Fein initially opposed the Principles, but when they saw we were driving the British Embassy crazy, with sweeping victories all across the US, they changed their tune.”