{{short description|Irish Roman Catholic priest and sex offender}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Seán Fortune | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1953|12|20|df=yes}} | birth_place = Gorey, County Wexford, Ireland | death_date = {{death date and age|1999|03|13|1953|12|20|df=yes}} | death_place = New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland | death_cause = Suicide by lethal cocktail of drugs and alcohol | charge = Rape, sexual assault | penalty = None. Committed suicide while awaiting trial | spouse = | children = | imprisoned = | website = | module = {{Infobox Christian leader|embed=yes | nationality = Irish | occupation = Priest | religion = Catholic Church}} }} '''Seán Fortune''' (20 December 1953 – 13 March 1999) was a Catholic priest from Ireland, who allegedly used his position to sexually abuse children.{{sfn|Maume|2012}} Fortune was accused of the rape and sexual molestation of 29 different boys. He committed suicide while awaiting trial.{{sfn|McDonagh|1999}}
==Life== Born on 20 December 1953 in Gorey, County Wexford,{{sfn|Maume|2012|loc= "Fortune, Sean (1953–99), Catholic priest and paedophile, was born in Gorey, Co. Wexford, on 20 December 1953"}} Seán Fortune was the eldest son of Elizabeth (née Acton) and James Fortune.{{sfn|O'Connor|2000|p=}} 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.{{sfn|Ferns Report|2005|pages=153-154}}
Fortune ministered in the village of Fethard-on-Sea in County Wexford, in Belfast and in Dundalk. Allegations of abuse were made against him in all three places. Fortune would take groups of boys to stay over in Loftus Hall in the early 1980s when it was a convent, and allegedly carried out some of his attacks there.{{sfn|Hickey|2000}} 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.{{sfn|Maume|2012}}
While Fortune was arrested, in March 1995, and charged with 22 offences,{{sfn|Irish Independent|2005}} he sought to have the charges dropped on the basis of the length of time which had elapsed.{{sfn|Maume|2012|loc = "He undertook lengthy legal proceedings aimed at having the charges dropped [..] due to the length of time which had elapsed"}} However, criminal proceedings commenced in early March 1999.{{sfn|Maume|2012}}
==Death and subsequent findings== On 13 March 1999, Fortune committed suicide in New Ross on the "eve of his trial".{{sfn|Maume|2012}}{{sfn|Irish Times|2011}} 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.{{sfn|Mooney|2011}} While at his home, he took a lethal cocktail of drugs and alcohol{{sfn|McDonagh|1999}} and was found dead in bed by his housekeeper. He was 45.{{sfn|McDonagh|1999}}
In March 2002, the BBC broadcast ''Suing the Pope'', a documentary detailing the activities of Fortune and the response of the Diocese of Ferns to his activities over the years.{{sfn|Macdonald|2003}}
The report of the Ferns Inquiry (published in 2005) stated that two of Fortune's alleged victims had since died by suicide.{{sfn|Ferns Report|2005|pages=96}} 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".{{sfn|Ferns Report|2005|pages=171-173}}
== See also == * Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal * Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses * Crimen sollicitationis * ''Sex Crimes and the Vatican'', a BBC ''Panorama'' documentary film * Colm O'Gorman, one of Fortune's victims
== References == ===Notes=== {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== {{refbegin}} * {{Cite web | last = Hickey | first = Shane | title=Evil poisons the heart of a village|url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/evil-poisons-the-heart-of-a-village-26256503.html|access-date=2021-08-03|website=independent|date=23 September 2000 |language=en }} * {{cite news | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/2681141.stm | work = BBC News | date = 29 January 2003 | title = Suing the Pope - Colm's story | first = Sarah | last = Macdonald | access-date = 11 March 2025 }} * {{cite journal | last = Maume | first = Patrick | url = https://www.dib.ie/biography/fortune-sean-a9270 | publisher = Royal Irish Academy | journal = Dictionary of Irish Biography | title = Fortune, Sean | date = May 2012 | accessdate = 11 March 2025 | doi = 10.3318/dib.009270.v1 | url-access = subscription | doi-access = free }} * {{cite web | last = McDonagh | first = Marese |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/comiskey-set-to-officiate-at-funeral-of-fr-fortune/26156660.html |title=Comiskey set to officiate at funeral of Fr Fortune |date=16 March 1999 |work=Irish Independent |accessdate=18 July 2010}} * {{cite book | last = Mooney | first = Tom | title = All the Bishops' Men - Clerical Abuse in an Irish Diocese | publisher = Collins Press | date = 2011 | isbn = 9781848890992 }} * {{cite report| url = https://www.lenus.ie/bitstream/handle/10147/560434/thefernsreportoctober2005.pdf | title = Ferns Report | date = October 2005 | last1 = Murphy | first1 = Francis D. | last2 = Buckley | first2 = Helen | last3 = Joyce | first3 = Laraine | ref = {{harvid|Ferns Report|2005}} | via = lenus.ie }} * {{cite book | last = O'Connor | first = Alison | title = A Message from Heaven: The Life and Crimes of Father Sean Fortune | date = 2000 | page = 13 | isbn = 9780863222702 | publisher = Brandon }} * {{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gardai-failed-to-act-when-first-told-of-abuse/26214411.html | work = Irish Independent | title = Gardai failed to act when first told of abuse | date = 30 October 2005 | accessdate = 11 March 2025 | ref = {{harvid|Irish Independent|2005}} }} * {{cite web|url = http://www.irishtimes.com/news/clerical-child-abuse-an-irish-timeline-1.880042 | title = Clerical child abuse, an Irish timeline | date = 13 July 2011 | work = Irish Times | ref = {{harvid|Irish Times|2011}} }}
{{refend}}
== External links == * [https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/silence-on-child-abuse-is-bleeding-the-church-1.1055617 "Silence on Child Abuse is Bleeding the Church" (2002) Irish Times Opinion] * [https://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2005_10_Ferns/ferns_5_3_response_diocese_fortune.pdf Section of Ferns Report covering Seán Fortune (2005) Ferns Inquiry]
{{Catholic Church sexual abuse in Ireland}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune, Sean}} Category:1954 births Category:1999 deaths Category:1999 suicides Category:Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Ireland Category:20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Category:Drug-related suicides in the Republic of Ireland Category:People from Gorey Category:People educated at St Peter's College, Wexford Category:Roman Catholic priests who died by suicide Category:Violence against men in the United Kingdom Category:Christian clergy from County Wexford Category:Incidents of violence against boys Category:Male suicides