A FERMANAGH priest has revealed he heard what what is believed to have been the last Confession of one of the Disappeared, but stressed he did not know the man would be killed.
Joe Lynskey, a former Cistercian monk, was one of a group of 17 people who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA during the Troubles. To date, only four of ‘the Disappeared’ bodies have been found.
Hopes were high earlier this year that Mr Lynskey may be the fifth victim found, however in March this year DNA test results confirmed that the remains exhumed from a grave in Co Monaghan were not his.
Last week, Fr Sean McManus, who now lives in the US but is from Kinawley, revealed in a statement that he had heard Mr Lynskey’s Confession, but stressed it was not the Last Rites, nor did he know it would be his final Confession.
“I am the priest who in 1972 administered the Sacrament of Confession to one of the Disappeared, Joe Lynskey,” stated the 81-year-old.
“Please note it was the Sacrament of Confession—not the Late Rites, as has some tend to say. The Last Rites or Extreme Unction, as it was formerly called, is given to someone at the point of death.
“Joe did not ask for the Last Rites; he asked for a priest to hear his Confession. As a former monk, Joe would have been completely aware of the distinction between the two.
“I did not know Joe would be killed, nor that he had been killed, nor did the public know, until 2010 when the IRA publicly admitted the killing of the Disappeared.”
In the statement, Fr Sean – who is the founder and president of the Irish National Caucus in Washington and is a brother of former MP Frank McManus – said several years ago he agreed to be interviewed as part of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR).
Noting he was surprised he was contacted, as he did not know where Mr Lynskey was buried, Fr Sean said it had been “the Irish Republican Movement” who had given his name to the Commission.
Stating he knew those involved in the ICLVR would honour his confidentiality, the Kinawley man added there were five more people who also knew he had been the priest who had heard Mr Lynskey’s confession.
“With all those people knowing about my ministering the Sacrament of Confession to Joe, I felt it was just a matter of time before it was made public that I was the priest in question,” he said.
“I wanted that fact to come from me rather than from someone else,who might unintentionally or otherwise misrepresent the truth.”
Fr Sean concluded, “I had nothing to hide because I did my duty as a priest, which any priest would and should do, when told that someone wanted to see a priest.”
Speaking to the Irish Times recently, Fr Sean revealed more details of the fateful day when he met Mr Lynskey.
Having been invited by a family to spend a few days in Co Louth, while there he was asked to see a man who wanted to see a priest – Mr Lynskey.
“I assumed that this man, whoever he was, was important, couldn’t go out to church or be seen in case he was picked up, or whatever. And that’s why he wanted someone to come to him,” said Fr Sean.
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