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Lolek Ltd, Trading as 'The Iona Institute'

lazygal

Does anyone know anything about this organisation? Where it is funded from and by whom? Who runs it? Why it gets such a platform? I've been digging around a bit but its very difficult to find out anything about it.

I'm also mystified as to why David Quinn appears so often representing a relatively new body which seems to be largly self-appointed and why he is allowed such a platform.

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robindch

This image showed up yesterday on twitter I think:

robindch

PopePalpatine wrote: »

Who's Desmond Connell?

Desmon Connell is Diarmuid Martin's predecessor as archbishop of Dublin and was one of the star witnesses in the 20009 Murphy Commission Investigation into clerical abuse in Dublin.

Connell became an hit when he explained that the inaccurate statements he'd previously made were actually instances of "mental reservation", which he defined as follows:

Desmon Connell wrote:

Well, the general teaching about mental reservation is that you are not permitted to tell a lie. On the other hand, you may be put in a position where you have to answer, and there may be circumstances in which you can use an ambiguous expression realising that the person who you are talking to will accept an untrue version of whatever it may be – permitting that to happen, not willing that it happened, that would be lying. It really is a matter of trying to deal with extraordinarily difficult matters that may arise in social relations where people may ask questions that you simply cannot answer. Everybody knows that this kind of thing is liable to happen. So, mental reservation is, in a sense, a way of answering without lying.

PopePalpatine

Who's Desmond Connell?

Also, I noticed that God Squad web doesn't have Fr Brian McKevitt linked to Nearly Dead! Alive!

magicbastarder

i'd forgotten ronan mullen was spokesperson for desmond connell. i suppose it's hard to use that fact against him without it seeming personal.

PopePalpatine

TIL John Paul II was in Opus Dei.

volchitsa

Absolutely. I wasn't referring to Ronan Mullen, btw - but I'd imagine he's certainly likely to be one of them too.

The article described accurately the way I saw vulnerable students being targeted by Opus Dei members, invited to special meetings the rest of us (the more difficult ones, I guess!) weren't invited to, and they fairly quickly started either coming back before the holidays are over, or just actually staying in the residence and not going home at all. Definitely cult-like behavior, imo.

Shrap

volchitsa wrote: »

I presume that's not the only case - as you say, the fact that they refuse to acknowledge membership makes it a bit risky to "out" them without written proof. I'd say many or even most of the people on the diagram may in fact be linked to OD, as some of those organizations are IMO a front for OD.

You're welcome.

And of course, the diagram doesn't detail how professional and far reaching some of these organisations actually are. Have a look at Lismullin (these days admitting its Opus Dei ethos) http://www.lismullin.org/ Their retreats, conferences, seminars, etc. have regularly wined and dined many of the movers and shakers in our present Civil Service and higher echelons of society, including politics. Would love for an exposé, but it'd be a brave (or foolish) journo who'd do it properly. The freemasons have nothing on these guys.

Edit: Prime example of someone we "don't really know" whether he belongs to Opus Dei - this Broadsheet link to archived Ronan Mullen stuff - scroll down to "Opus Dei, You Say?" http://www.broadsheet.ie/tag/senator-ronan-mullen/

volchitsa

Shrap wrote: »

I'm imagining it's because they are *probably* at the heart of it all, but their members are top secret and always have been. Likewise their funding. Here's an interesting article from 1983 with some connections that can still be made to current politicians, judges, etc. http://politico.ie/archive/secrets-opus-dei

That's a really good article there, thanks for that, Shrap.
About Bocktherobber's diagram, there's one person on there whom I know from UCD (the famous UCD connection your article mentions, someone I know is a member of OD, but is not linked to them on Bock's diagram.

I presume that's not the only case - as you say, the fact that they refuse to acknowledge membership makes it a bit risky to "out" them without written proof. I'd say many or even most of the people on the diagram may in fact be linked to OD, as some of those organizations are IMO a front for OD.

expectationlost

so how we figured out how they are funded? surely somebody can figure this out so they can be facts behind headlines saying the no side are funded by foreigners.

Shrap

robindch wrote: »

Interesting to see that they've connected with the tiny Benedictine outpost in Stamullen. Popette is a big fan of them and unlike many Benedictine outlets, appears to house hardline fundamentalists.

Their website is here, while a more informative blog lives here.

Holy smoke Batman! There's some fierce cognitive dissonance going on there. Read this in a post entitled Saint Dymphna and Teenaged girls - "No institution in the world has honoured young ladies, teenaged girls, as much as the Holy Catholic Church" and can read no further for reasons of mental health.

Good old Opus Dei, eh? Their teenage girl numeraries will surely be thankful to read that from the confines of their brainwashing.....

robindch

Shrap wrote: »

OOh, loving this:

http://bocktherobber.com/godsquad/godsquad.html

Interesting to see that they've connected with the tiny Benedictine outpost in Stamullen. Popette is a big fan of them and unlike many Benedictine outlets, appears to house hardline fundamentalists.

Their website is here, while a more informative blog lives here.

Shrap

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I'm imagining it's because they are *probably* at the heart of it all, but their members are top secret and always have been. Likewise their funding. Here's an interesting article from 1983 with some connections that can still be made to current politicians, judges, etc. http://politico.ie/archive/secrets-opus-dei

Bannasidhe

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Dey de Daddy.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

galljga1

Shrap wrote: »

OOh, loving this:

http://bocktherobber.com/godsquad/godsquad.html

They've missed out a number of notable connections but it's a good start. Get in there and pull some Ionanists out of place....

All that is missing is

The Knights Who Say "Ni!"

Shrap

OOh, loving this:

http://bocktherobber.com/godsquad/godsquad.html

They've missed out a number of notable connections but it's a good start. Get in there and pull some Ionanists out of place....

The Black Oil

robindch wrote: »

Oireachtas Retort replies to BOB in a forthright fashion:

http://oireachtasretort.tumblr.com/post/118538922950/breda-obrien-is-full-of-****

The audio from the Marian Finucane has Breda talking about Iona being a platform for those who feel their views are not represented. Is she talking about media coverage only here? It's not as if there's a daily call to prayer or dominance in the education system...

LostinKildare

It might also be instructive to look at whether Iona gets any money from the Dublin chapter of Tom Monaghan's Catholic millionaires' club Legatus (and if so, where, in turn, that money comes from). I believe the Dublin chapter is the only one outside the US [correction: outside the US and Canada].

Bock the Robber joined the dots between Iona and Legatus a couple of years ago here
http://bocktherobber.com/2013/06/what-exactly-is-the-iona-institute/
As an update, the Iona patron James Sheehan (founder of Blackrock, Galway, and Hermitage Clinics) is presently the President of Legatus Dublin
http://www.legatus.org/chapters/leadership?chapter=Dublin
I see that James Reilly, when he was Minister for Health, officiated at the launch of Sheehan's book. So certainly it can be said that Iona patrons have had access to "key politicians."

I also see that the US ambassador to Ireland, Kevin O'Malley, is scheduled to address Legatus Dublin in October http://www.legatus.org/content/programmes?chapter=Dublin
As a US citizen, I'm very disturbed by this. O'Malley is a Democrat, appointed by Obama, so what's he doing speaking to this right-wing, anti-gay, anti-ObamaCare and anti-Obama organization? Gonna fire off a letter to someone.

Shrap

"When I tell you that absolutely none of that is true of Iona because it has never received any American money and never had instant access to key politicians"

I wonder if funding can be discounted as American money if it's funnelled through Opus Dei?

Also, Ronan Mullen? Could hardly call him a key politician I suppose.

Again though, considering the insanely influential successes of Opus Dei in lobbying and (presumably) buying government policies (through big business contracts, etc.) since the inception of our state, and how secretive they are about who exactly are their super-numeraries, we're hardly likely to find out the links between Iona/Opus Dei and the "key politicians" they have most definitely have had instant access to.

Hotblack Desiato

I read BO'Bs column as softening up the No side for the consolation of a 'moral victory' when they lose the vote.

They wouldn't be writing a column like that if they were confident of winning.

Also she didn't ask for money but no doubt some readers got the message between the lines.

The Black Oil

American funding is only an issue now, not 6 months. Throwing anything and seeing what sticks, I guess.

Those pesky indiegogo campaigns must be a conspiracy so.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

robindch

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Breda O'Brien wails about Atlantic Philanthropies' funding of GLEN, while Lolek's funding remains unknown.

Oireachtas Retort replies to BOB in a forthright fashion:

http://oireachtasretort.tumblr.com/post/118538922950/breda-obrien-is-full-of-****

Hotblack Desiato

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=95420990&postcount=9105

Breda O'Brien wails about Atlantic Philanthropies' funding of GLEN, while Lolek's funding remains unknown.

Vivisectus

RTE clarifies it's standards a bit for all of us:

Saying that you think Iona is bigoted on TV = terrible oppression

Claiming gay people are much more likely to abuse children = a OK, even if the study you quote states no such thing!

http://www.skepticink.com/humanisticas/2015/05/06/bai-rule-thats-ok-to-suggest-lgbt-parents-abuse-their-children-physically-and-mentally-even-though-its-not-true/

The Black Oil

Can't imagine Iona saying feck to Len. I mean, Bishop Brennan.

Hotblack Desiato

MrPudding wrote: »

And to celebrate their new status I have donated €0.01 to them via PayPal.

MrP

Or, more traditionally, I wonder would placing a reverse charges call and giving your name as Pope Francis work?

Operator : "Will you accept a call from 'Pope Francis' ?"

Iona : Oh feck, oh feck, it's almost certainly a prank but then I have to say that I don't want to accept a call from 'Pope Francis'. Conflicted.

MrPudding

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

Woohoo! Sometimes the little people do win!

And to celebrate their new status I have donated €0.01 to them via PayPal.

MrP

Brian Shanahan

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes

And now for something completely different:

Emmet, why are you invoking the writer of the world on your sig?

And yes, I know the Poles greatly loved and reverenced Pterry.

Nodin

GCU Flexible Demeanour wrote: »

If only there were more people like Anna Nolan.

Well, as a model she would be preferable to the Breda O'Briens and McMathunas of the world.