Pat Buckley

Pat Buckley (2 May 1952 – 17 May 2024) was an Irish independent Catholic bishop and former Catholic priest who was excommunicated from the Church. He was the eldest of 17 children, six of whom died in infancy. His father was a trade union official who later became a barrister and his socialist views influenced his son Pat. He later gained a master's degree in politics and social anthropology from Queen's University Belfast. Buckley claimed that clashes with his fellow clergy were due to his belief that the quality of the priests' accommodation was much higher than properties in the poverty-stricken area in which it was located.

Following disagreements with Cardinal Cahal Daly, Buckley was assigned to Kilkeel parish in 1983. Buckley claimed that Cardinal Daly later offered to move him to an Australian parish before deciding to assign him to Larne, a mainly Protestant town, in 1984.

Independent ministry and excommunication Buckley soon began to organise bi-weekly Masses, and he officiated at the marriages of divorcees who wished to remarry, as well as baptising babies from inter-faith marriages and blessing same-sex couples.

In June 1998, Jim Cantwell, director of the Irish Catholic Press and Information Office, said that Cox's consecration of Buckley was valid, but illicit. His defence was that his actions had been motivated by "strong compassion" for the illegal immigrants' situations.

The judge noted that Buckley had "had a genuine affinity with these illegal immigrants", but had received financial reward and "lost face and standing in the community" as a result of his actions. Buckley received a three-and-a-half-year sentence, which was suspended for three years, because he was being treated for HIV.

Buckley died from a short illness on 17 May 2024, at the age of 72.

His official status in the Catholic Church at the time of his death was described as being that of a suspended priest.