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

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".

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

"Silence on Child Abuse is Bleeding the Church" (2002) Irish Times Opinion

Section 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