Seán Fortune (20 December 1953 – 13 March 1999) was a
Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...
from Ireland, who allegedly used his position to
sexually abuse children. Fortune was accused of the
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
and sexual molestation of 29 different boys. He committed suicide while awaiting trial.
Life
Born on 20 December 1953 in
Gorey
Gorey () is a market town in north County Wexford, Ireland. It is bypassed by the main N11 road (Ireland), M11 Dublin to Wexford road. The town is also connected to the Gorey railway station, railway network along the same route. Local newspape ...
,
County Wexford
County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...
, Seán Fortune was the eldest son of Elizabeth (née Acton) and James Fortune. He was educated at
St Peter's College, Wexford, which was the diocesan seminary of the
diocese of Ferns. It was during his training that the first reports of his abuse were made, although it is not clear whether the Diocesan authorities had knowledge of these complaints before his ordination.
Fortune ministered in the village of
Fethard-on-Sea
Fethard-on-Sea or Fethard () is a village in southwest County Wexford, Ireland. It lies on the R734 road on the eastern side of the Hook peninsula, between Waterford Harbour and Bannow Bay. The village is in Fethard civil parish and partl ...
in
County Wexford
County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...
, in
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
and in
Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...
. Allegations of abuse were made against him in all three places. Fortune would take groups of boys to stay over in
Loftus Hall
Loftus Hall is a large country house on the Hook peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland. Built on the site of the original Redmond Hall, it is said to have been haunted by the devil and the ghost of a woman.
Loftus Hall has a long history of ow ...
in the early 1980s when it was a convent, and allegedly carried out some of his attacks there.
Sean Cloney compiled a dossier of complaints against him. He also set up a business in Dublin which offered media and journalism training to the public.
While Fortune was arrested, in March 1995, and charged with 22 offences, he sought to have the charges dropped on the basis of the length of time which had elapsed. However, criminal proceedings commenced in early March 1999.
Death and subsequent findings
On 13 March 1999, Fortune committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
in New Ross on the "eve of his trial". He had been facing 66 charges of sexual abuse against 29 boys and, while he was remanded in custody pending trial, he had been released on bail several days earlier. While at his home, he took a lethal cocktail of drugs and alcohol and was found dead in bed by his housekeeper. He was 45.
In March 2002, the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
broadcast ''
Suing the Pope
''Suing the Pope'' is a March 2002 documentary by Colm O'Gorman and the BBC which details the abusive activities of priest Sean Fortune and the response of the diocese of Ferns to his activities over the years.
As a result, bishop Brendan Com ...
'', a documentary detailing the activities of Fortune and the response of the
Diocese of Ferns to his activities over the years.
The report of the
Ferns Inquiry (published in 2005) stated that two of Fortune's alleged victims had since died by suicide. While the Ferns Report noted that Fortune had been removed from some church roles owing to earlier allegations, it found that the decision to appoint him to curacies in County Wexford was "ill-advised and dangerous" and noted a "serious lack of supervision" and other failures in allowing Fortune to "open youth clubs and build reconciliation rooms for young people in the basement of his house".
See also
*
Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal
There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, nuns, and other members of religious life in the Catholic Church. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the cases have involved several allegations, investigations, tri ...
*
Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses
*
Crimen sollicitationis
* ''
Sex Crimes and the Vatican'', a BBC ''Panorama'' documentary film
*
Colm O'Gorman
Colm O'Gorman (born 15 July 1966) is an Irish activist and former politician. He was the executive director of Amnesty International Ireland from 2008 to 2022. He is founder and former director of One in Four.
He is a survivor of clerical sex ...
, one of Fortune's victims
References
Notes
Sources
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External links
"Silence on Child Abuse is Bleeding the Church" (2002) Irish Times OpinionSection of Ferns Report covering Seán Fortune (2005) Ferns Inquiry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune, Sean
1954 births
1999 deaths
1999 suicides
Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Ireland
20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests
Drug-related suicides in the Republic of Ireland
People from Gorey
People educated at St Peter's College, Wexford
Roman Catholic priests who died by suicide
Violence against men in the United Kingdom
Christian clergy from County Wexford