Delusion is among the most damaging mental states of all, allowing individuals to enter fantasy worlds where they can pretend their delusions are reality.

We currently have an outstanding examples of delusionary behavior in the Irish Catholic Church who are pretending there is no gay crisis in their main seminary at Maynooth.

The bishops of Ireland have agreed en masse (with one exception) to deny and to protest the findings of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin that the main seminary in Maynooth has essentially become a hotspot for gay seminarians and very likely should be shut down.

There is evidence of gay dating sites being widely used, of cover ups reaching the higher echelons, of straight novices being shunned if they report any such incidents, of a heterosexual student fired when he reported two seminarians having sex in bed – the list goes on and on.

There has been a gay culture predominant in Maynooth seminary for decades according to experts who know.

Now Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has called it into the open. He stated about Maynooth seminary that there is “an atmosphere of strange goings-on there”.

“It seems like a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around. I don’t think this is a good place for students,” Archbishop Martin said.

As a result Martin has pulled his Dublin archdiocese seminarians out and sent them to the Irish College in Rome to continue their clerical studies.

(That in itself is ironic as allegations of gay sexual behavior was part of an investigative  report by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and other leading clerics who were asked to examine the running of the Irish college in Rome in 2012 when questions were asked about it.)

Surely if one of the leading church figures in Ireland like Martin and by far the most admired by the faithful, says in his own words that there is a crisis he would be believed?

Speaking on radio Martin also said:“There are allegations on different sides. One is that there is a homosexual, a gay culture, and that students have been using an app called Grindr,” Archbishop Martin told RTE Radio on August 2nd.

Three former seminarians share their experiences at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth over the past decade. They... https://t.co/ELbQ05EZIE

— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) August 6, 2016

This “would be inappropriate for seminarians, and not just because they are training to be celibate priests, but (because) an app like that would be something that would be fostering promiscuous sexuality, which is certainly not in any way the mature vision of sexuality one would expect a priest to understand,” he added.

This dose of truth telling did not do the trick with his other bishops with one exception, the Bishop of Waterford who also said he would send his seminarians to Rome. But the vast majority of his fellow bishops, fluttered their peacock finery and buried their ostrich heads in the sands. Nothing to see here, move one if you know what’s best for you.

This is the delusion that despite all the sex scandals and pedophilia and promises of reform they can still keep their dark secrets. They are still unable to level with themselves that their main seminary is literally a hotbed for gay activities.

Dublin Archbishop defends decision to remove Seminarians from #Maynooth, @johncookeradio reports after 4.30pm pic.twitter.com/X8Z4R9x4Ru

— Drivetime RTE (@drivetimerte) August 2, 2016

Being gay is not the problem but pretending to be a celibate priest while living and having sex as a gay man is just as hypocritical as the bishops who refuse to acknowledge it. That’s no way to run a railroad, never mind a church.

Still the delusion continues that the church can sweep it all under the carpet and continue on as normal as many benighted bishops thought about the abuse issue.

Archbishop Martin, brave man that he is, has just exploded that fallacy but nonetheless the delusion apparently continues among fellow bishops.