Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Patriarch Bursts into Flames

No, not a high-ranking ecclesiastical dignitary, but the floating church/trawler, owned by controversial 'Tridentine Bishop' Michael Cox. The boat got into difficulties off the Irish coast and the three crew members have been rescued by the Irish authorities. Lest we confuse Cox with the high-minded and holier-than-thou schismatics of the Lefevrist bent, the linked article reminds us:
For the past decade, Mr Cox has preached the virtues of the Latin Mass, his skills as an exorcist and water diviner, and his healing powers, a practice that attracts scores of ill and disabled people to his remote base in Birr, County Offaly.
Mr Cox has attracted special attention with a string of stunts, including exorcizing alleged demons from a Dublin radio station and the national parliament; setting up a confessions-by-phone hot line; and selling a "Heal yourself, by the miracle bishop" home video.
In recent years he has been recruiting followers to a new sect he calls the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church. In 1998 he consecrated a high-profile gay Catholic priest from Northern Ireland, Pat Buckley, as a bishop - an act that earned them both automatic excommunication under Roman Catholic canonical law.

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