The Priests

There has always been a weird PR thrust to promote the Anglican Church in a devout Catholic country such as Portugal.

The promotion of the Mccanns as devout Catholics (who had undergone IVF which is a big No No), the Vatican is awaiting our arrival nonsense, the eternal candle burning outside an Anglican church and a woefully under attended congregation each year, the prior and extreme hype at Celtic, the David Beckham backing (I could go on) and what I really and truly see is the worst exploitation of a child by Clarence Mitchell. After all he ran the show didn't he?

Reminds me of that rather ridiculous tabloid hack, Jerry Lawton, writing for the red-top Star in September 2007..

Father Jose Pacheco, 46, has not been seen since it was revealed police plan to put pressure on him to break his Catholic vow of silence.

Must be the devout Portuguese police he speaks of, very unlikely the British police thought of pressuring Pacheco to break his Catholic vow of silence, especially at such a critical period of time - unless Lawson was thinking cathartic!

There has to be a point in the PR game which people stop thinking all things British are good and all things Portuguese are bad in the investigation into the demise of Madeleine Mccann. Bring in the German noise, close the funding and hope it all goes away apart from the odd media leak.

Weep for this little girl.

Problem is, people believe what they read - mainstream and social media.

They just can't be bothered to think for themselves, or look behind the scenes.

It would be completely unfair to suggest Clarence Mitchell has nothing but noble intention were it not for his media symposium (I seem to remember this was in Australia) to talk about his perfect campaign to students.

I am sorry if this is slightly off topic and further sorry for calling on Verdi to delve into the annals of CMoMM to pitch up the video.

'Maddie' is the English priest's daughter Correio da Manhã

Praia da Luz: Portuguese priest, José Pacheco, didn't want Gerry at his mass

Rui Pando Gomes
06 April 2009 - 00h30

Thanks to Astro for translation

The little actress who plays the role of Maddie in the reconstruction that has been recorded in Praia da Luz over the last two days, is the daughter of the English priest that became a friend of Gerry and Kate after the mysterious disappearance of the couple's daughter on the night of the 3rd of May 2007.

As CM was able to establish, Anglican priest Haynes Hubbard has been in regular contact with the couple and showed himself available to 'lend' his daughter for the documentary that is being produced for British channel Channel 4. The priest's wife is also an extra in the reconstruction which, according to its producer, "is focused on witness statements of suspicious sightings".

The filming was followed by Gerry and by his friends Jane Turner and Matthew Oldfield.

Contrary to Hubbard, the Portuguese priest, José Pacheco, informed Gerry that he didn't want him to attend the mass that he celebrated at the local church yesterday, thus forcing Maddie's father to visit the temple before 9 a.m.

The employees that were dismissed from the Ocean Club weren't pleased by Gerry's presence in Praia da Luz, either. "If the dismissals are to be blamed on the Maddie case, then how does the company offer Mister Gerry free entrance into the resort to film whatever he wants?", an employee asks.

[Thanks to Nigel Moore   and pamalam]

Priest didn't want "circus" in his church 24horas

Film crew prevented from entering the temple in Praia da Luz

Duarte Levy
06 April 2009
Thanks to Astro for translation

Father Pacheco, who once gave the church keys to the McCanns, affixed posters at the door with the words "no cameras allowed"

Father Pacheco, who is responsible for the little church of Praia da Luz, refused for the filming of the new McCann documentary to be carried out inside the church, and even journalists were invited not to enter the place. Posters in Portuguese and in English were even placed at the entrance, forbidding the access of cameras.

According to a source that is close to the priest, Father Pacheco, who was vastly criticised in 2007 for giving the church key to the McCanns, this time didn't want the "circus" that was created by the presence of Maddie's father to affect the religious ceremonies of Palm Sunday, and even feared the reaction of the people.

Warned about the priest's refusal, Gerry McCann ended up going to the church alone, yesterday morning. Madeleine's father entered the church at 8 a.m., an hour earlier than scheduled.

Clarence Mitchell had informed the journalists that Maddie's father would go to church at around 9 a.m., and asked journalists not to be on location: neither Gerry respected his spokesman's schedule nor journalists failed to be on location.

Contrary to what happened during the months that followed Madeleine's disappearance, when the McCanns were warmly welcome in the church by the public, this time Gerry McCann was ignored by the vast majority of residents, with only a few comments of revolt being heard upon exit from the religious service.

Little girl threw a "tantrum" during filming

The false 'Maddie' from the new McCann documentary didn't make the production's work easy, and on Saturday night refused to cooperate in the filming despite the insistence of her mother and of the other actors.

The little four-year-old girl, who is the daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann's friends, ended the night of Saturday crying and fighting in her mother's arms.

Wearing socks and a pyjama that was identical to the one that Madeleine allegedly wore on the night of the disappearance, the little girl, who somewhat resembles the true Maddie, was always in the company of her mother and of the wife of the Anglican priest of Praia da Luz, but not this made it possible for the filming to be concluded, and everything was postponed to yesterday evening, away from the disapproving looks from members of the public who were present on location.

It was at around 11.45 p.m. on Saturday evening that Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman ended up apologising to the journalists, saying that it would be impossible to photograph or film the child that evening.

"Can you see that… It's so cold and the child is standing there wearing socks", a member of the public protested incredulously, adding that "it had to be English people to do something like that".

Truck greeted with insults

It was with insults and whistles that the local population greeted the only truck that circulates in the area of Praia da Luz with an outdoor where the photograph of Madeleine McCann can be seen with the key words of the little campaign that the couple has launched: "Don’t give up on me!"

The driver himself, with a thick Northern accent, explained to 24horas that he has been circulating in the area "because work has to be done", but that when he needs to park, he "feels safer near the journalists and the GNR that is present on location".

The truck, which was always present near the filming location, is one of the few pieces of the campaign that can still be found in Praia da Luz, given the fact that almost all the posters have been ripped off and even the outdoor that is located at the village's entrance is only partially visible after unknown persons covered it with white paint.

According to a representative of the company, "dreamMedia publicidade" from Vila Nova de Gaia, the truck arrived in the Algarve on the 29th of March and will remain there until Tuesday, the day when the campaign ends.

Surprised about the bad reception

Kate and Gerry McCann, like their 7 English friends, didn't come to participate in the reconstruction that the Polícia Judiciária had requested earlier "because that was only for police work" and didn't help the search for Madeleine at all.

For the couple's spokesman, only a documentary on television can make people see what happened that night.

To 24horas, Clarence Mitchell, Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, lamented the upset that the filming may have caused to the inhabitants and the tourism in Praia da Luz and confessed that he was surprised about the reactions that he could observe, but stated again that "it is necessary for people to understand that the new leads that were revealed by the ongoing private investigation in the area have to be complemented with this documentary."

"We have already apologised over the disturbance that we have caused to the people of Praia da Luz but you must understand that Maddie's parents see this documentary as necessary to continue the investigations into their daughter's whereabouts", the McCanns' spokesman said, stressing once more that "there is no evidence that Maddie is dead", despite recognising that "according to logic" many people may think the contrary.

An American was hired to play Kate McCann

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The actress that came to Portugal to play the role of Kate McCann is Lisa Donovan, an American, aged 40, who was chosen due to her vague physical resemblance with Madeleine’s mother.

Chosen during a casting in England, Lisa didn't even have the opportunity to talk to or to meet Kate to prepare her role, but said that she is very nervous and emotional about entering the bedroom where Maddie was supposedly abducted from. 'Supposedly' because, as the actress confesses, it's not her "who can say" what actually happened to the little girl.

During her only contact with the media, always under Clarence Mitchell's vigilant look, the actress, who was born in Philadelphia, in the United States, came to Portugal for the first time but confessed that she was delighted about our country and the marvellous climate that she encountered in Praia da Luz.

Just like had already been the case with the other actors – a total of 15 – the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, followed attentively everything that Lisa told the journalists. All the actors, who are paid by Mentorn Media, were forced to sign a confidentiality contract that prevents them, even after the filming is concluded, from revealing what happened away from the eyes of the media professionals.

Without revealing what steps she walked during the reconstruction, the American actress simply followed instructions from Merntorn Media's production team and Gerry McCann's advice, after visiting several times all the locations that the couple said it had frequented during their stay in Praia da Luz. "I just learned about the area, the locations and what I had to do", Lisa said, shrugging her shoulders at any question that might reveal the contents of the script that was used for the filming.

Negotiations to be broadcast by SIC

The two private investigators who followed all of the filming will remain in Portugal and expect the broadcasting of the documentary, which included "new leads" that were obtained through witness statements that were collected in Praia da Luz, to help to find Madeleine's trail.

According to Clarence Mitchell, "leads that were discarded by the Polícia Judiciária" are still being followed by the investigators.

The communication and public relations expert confirmed that the actors and everything that relates to the filming was being paid by Mentorn Media, the company that is producing the documentary that Channel Four will broadcast in England on the 7th of May.

"In Portugal, the documentary may equally be broadcast on the 7th of May, a few hours after Channel Four does it", Clarence said, adding that "everything depends on the final agreement with SIC".

NOTES

Dismissals. The Ocean Club, the resort where the 'Maddie case' took place, sent 21 workers a dismissal letter on Friday. The negative impact of the disappearance on business is a justification.

Kate. Madeleine's mother never returned to Portugal again after being made an arguida, following questioning at the Polícia Judiciária in Portimão. Only her husband, Gerry, has travelled into our country twice, to launch new campaigns.

Stay. Concerning the second anniversary of the disappearance, Clarence says that the family, given the local population's reactions, "won't be in Portugal on the 3rd of May" but rather in England.

Please publish the Clarence Mitchell symposium in Australia, enlightening media students about the perfect campaign.

PORTUGAL: Anglian priest urges police to continue searching for Madeleine McCann

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Reuters archive - 13th September 2007

Story Text:      

Father Haynes Hubbard, the Anglican priest in Praia da Luz, told reporters on Wednesday (September 12) that he does not believe the body of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann is to be found in the area surrounding the local seaside church the McCanns frequented to pray for their daughter's safe return.

Speaking to journalists outside the Our Lady of the Light Church following Portuguese media reports that new police searches are to be made in the area, Father Hubbard also confirmed that he had not been in contact with the McCanns since they returned to Britain last Sunday (September 9).

"I don't have any opinions on searching the church...We just know the church is a place of sanctuary and I hope not a place of anything else," he said.

He added: ""I hope they search it very well -I hope they search really well, I hope they search all of Luz carefully because maybe they will find Madeleine but I don't think any of us think Madeleine is here in Luz. She is somewhere, somewhere else and we need to bring her back. I don't think anybody believes that Madeleine is in Luz. There is no allegation that I know that she is anything other than somewhere else waiting to come home, and we need to keep on saying that loudly. I assume Portuguese police are doing their job but I hope they are looking for Madeleine at the same time."

Portuguese paper Diario de Noticias said on Wednesday that Kate and Gerry McCann had been given keys to the church during their stay in Praia da Luz. The report has not been confirmed by police.

Answering a reporter's question, Father Hubbard said he didn't expect police to summon him for questioning.

"I very strongly suspect that they won't need anything from us," he said.

The new development would come less than 24 hours after Portuguese public prosecutor decided that a dossier outlining the case against missing Madeleine McCann's parents should go before a judge.

Police handed their files to the Algarve-based prosecutor, Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses, for him to decide whether to bring charges against Kate and Gerry McCann.

The forensic evidence may clear up whether Madeleine's DNA was found in a car hired by the McCanns after she disappeared, as several newspapers have reported.

The couple have repeatedly denied any involvement in the disappearance of their daughter.

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Portuguese priest is pulled into Madeline [sic] McCann investigation



London, England, Sep 18, 2007 / 08:59 am

A priest has been dragged into the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Detectives are expected to put pressure on Fr. Jose Pacheco to break his vow of silence, which is paramount to the sacrament of confession.

According to The Daily Mail, police are to question the priest to see if Kate McCann, 39, confessed to him she had killed her four-year-old daughter. But priests are bound by an oath never to reveal penitents’ confessions.

The police have reportedly already spoken to the Portuguese priest informally about the relationship he developed with the McCanns in the days after their daughter was reported missing.

According to The Daily Mail, Fr. Pacheco met the McCanns the day after Madeleine vanished from their holiday apartment on May 3. The couple subsequently attended daily Mass at his church. Fr. Pacheco even gave them the keys to the tiny chapel so they could pray round the clock.

But when the finger of suspicion was pointed at the McCanns and they left for Britain last week, they did not say goodbye and handed the church keys to an Anglican priest.

The church has become a focal point of the inquiry since sniffer dogs followed a trail there from the apartment where Madeleine vanished.

Officers have asked for permission to search the church. They allege Kate accidentally killed Madeleine with an overdose of sedatives to help her sleep. They claim she and husband Gerry, 39, might have hidden the body close by shortly after she died.

The McCanns strongly deny all the allegations. The new spokesman for the McCann’s, Clarence Mitchell, said he spent nearly a month with the McCanns for up to 14 hours a day when he was representing the Foreign Office over the case. He told reporters that, “[d]uring that time, I saw or heard nothing that gave me cause for concern or any suspicion.”

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You'd expect a Catholic Press Agency to be more discerning - wouldn't you?

Big G is watching over you ....

Service to mark one year since Madeleine disappeared

7th May 2008

By ELOISE WALTON

A SPECIAL service was held to remember Madeleine and all missing children at the Nossa Senhora da Luz church in Praia da Luz on Saturday evening (May 3).

The emotional service, in both English and Portuguese, was conducted by the local catholic priest José Manuel Pacheco and resident Anglican Church priest Father Haynes Hubbard.

Yellow and green candles were handed out to the congregation to be lit during the service to serve as a light of hope. And yellow wrist bands from the Find Madeleine campaign were also given out and a photographic slide show of Madeleine was played to music to emphasise the positivity the McCann family has shown in the search for Madeleine.

Members of the McCann family, including Gerry McCann’s brother John, who arrived in Portugal earlier this morning, were present at the service and read a letter from Kate and Gerry to the congregation.

In the letter, Kate and Gerry thanked the people of Praia da Luz for their initial and ongoing support, as well as their efforts to help in the search to find their daughter, when she went missing one year ago.

The letter spoke of Gerry and Kate’s hope that they will one day find their daughter and that their family can once again be complete.

After the service, members of the McCann family stood outside the church with members of the congregation around them in a large circle and released yellow and green balloons.

John McCann told The Resident that this evening, members of the family would all be taking part in a private and symbolic lighting of candles.

“This is to symbolise lighting the way home for Madeleine,” he said.

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You'd think in the portugalresident we do trust - doesn't appear Father Pacheco had been traumatized by guilt or regret.

'Hope, strength, courage' :

Catholic Newspaper - The Tablet

Elena Curti
16 June 2007

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann tell The Tablet how these three words, spoken to them by a Portuguese priest, have become a mantra as they continue the search for their daughter, sustained by the power of their Catholic faith.

When Kate and Gerry McCann are at a low ebb they quietly murmur three words to themselves in Portuguese: esperança, força, coragem. The words mean hope, strength and courage and they were first addressed to them by a priest during the first Sunday Mass after their daughter Madeleine was abducted from their holiday apartment in Portugal.

The words were repeated to them by parishioners after the service and now are something of a mantra for the couple, evidence of the strength of their Catholic faith. That faith has been apparent in much of what the couple have said and done since four-year-old Madeleine disappeared on 3 May.

The couple agreed to talk to The Tablet, welcoming the opportunity to describe how their beliefs have sustained them. They arranged to meet me in Amsterdam, where they were spending a night before another round of interviews and meetings with officials connected with the campaign to find their daughter.

The pair are noticeably close, sitting together on the sofa unselfconsciously holding hands. Mrs McCann looks tanned after more than a month on the Algarve but is terribly thin. As always, she is holding Madeleine's favourite soft toy - a now rather bedraggled pink cat. She has taken out the green and yellow ribbons she usually wears in her hair but there are ribbons on the toy cat and she and her husband wear green and yellow plastic armbands, the colours that denote hope for the missing.

They begin by telling me their faith background. Both are cradle Catholics of Irish extraction. He is the youngest of five and was brought up in Glasgow. She is an only child from Liverpool. They were medical students at Glasgow University when they started going out and only later discovered that they came from similar backgrounds. He jokes that her Catholicism softened the blow when he told his mother he was going to marry an English girl.

Mr McCann says there were periods when he lapsed, and both concede that religion was not foremost in their minds in their teens and twenties. They nod in agreement when I suggest that their faith began to mean much more to them after their had children. As well as Madeleine they have two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie.

Two years ago, after spending a year living in Amsterdam, the family moved to Rothley in Leicestershire. Mrs McCann works there as a part-time GP and her husband is a cardiologist at Glenfield General Hospital in Leicester. They particularly liked attending the Catholic church in Rothley where Mrs McCann's aunt is a eucharistic minister and her uncle plays the organ. On Sundays, Mr McCann would stay at home caring for the twins while his wife would take Madeleine to Mass. At the age of three she had just started going to the children's liturgy.

Then came the week's holiday in a complex at Praia da Luz on the Portuguese Algarve coast. Madeleine was taken as she slept in the family's apartment with the twins while her parents dined in a restaurant close by.

In low tones Mrs McCann explains their first reaction: "There was a period of absolute fear and panic. We were both quite hysterical."

After calling their family in Britain, they spoke to Fr Paul Seddon, the priest who married them and baptised Madeleine.

"At one point I would say the only thing we had was prayer and at one point I remember just slumping in the bedroom. I phoned Paul and he asked, ‘What can I do?' And I said, ‘Just pray, please pray,'" said Mr McCann.

At first there was the fear that Madeleine was dead. Two things changed that. The first was a meeting with a psychologist sent from Britain to see them.

As Mr McCann explained: "We couldn't get out of heads that she was likely to be dead and we were truly, truly grieving. But then the psychologist said, ‘Is there any other possibility?' And then he started channelling negatives and saying, ‘Of course there are other possibilities.' And we started to see that."

The second was meeting the local parish priest, Fr José Manuel Pacheco. Fr Zé, as he is popularly known, is a great favourite with the McCanns: warm, genial and inspiring. He speaks fluent English and Mr McCann said he had worked hard to bring together the British expatriate community and Portuguese Catholics.

It was Fr Zé at that first Sunday Mass who exhorted them to have hope, strength and courage. That evening he came to say the rosary with them at their apartment and invited his parishioners as well. Was it all a bit much?

"Not at all, it was lovely. There were about 50 women and they brought the children. It was a huge comfort," she says.

The parish priest also gave the McCanns the keys to the church so that they could pray there alone in the evenings. It was while they were doing this early in the first week that Mr McCann had an extraordinary experience.

"When I was praying I started thinking of all the things that were happening. There were lots and lots of ideas in my head and how we could make things better and I was really feeling very down and not sure which way to proceed. I had this mental image of being in a tunnel and instead of the light at the end of the tunnel being extremely narrow and a distant spot, the light opened up and the tunnel got wider and wider and went in many different directions. I talked to you [Kate] about it and said, ‘I am not prepared to pursue one path. We are going to do everything in our power to influence things.'

"It was almost like something - I am not saying it was the Holy Spirit - came into me and gave me that image. That is when I really felt I had a clear path."

Was it a religious experience?

"I can't say it was a vision because I am not clear what a vision is but I had a mental image and it certainly helped me decide. I became a man possessed that night. The next day I was up at dawn, making phone calls."

A few days later the McCanns attended an evening vigil for Madeleine at Fr Zé's church organised by the local scouts. The service, in a church lit by candles, was, they say, the most uplifting they had ever been to. There came a point where the congregation was asked to unravel a large ball of green wool passing it from one person to another until it encompassed the entire gathering. The very memory of this service seems to give the McCanns a lift and they complete each other's sentences as they remember it.

"We sang a song, and we just kept singing the same verse, ‘Nothing will separate us', over and over again and the church was completely overflowing. The wool finally got all the way round and the message was ‘nothing will separate us and we are all united'. We were joined in this. As we were leaving the people just kept giving us flowers."

The McCanns' campaign has involved every possible avenue being used to raise the profile of Madeleine. There has been a certain resentment about it but Kate McCann says they have been careful to stress they are not the only parents who have suffered in this way.

"Madeleine is incredibly precious to us. Since this happened we have been made more aware of how many missing children there are. It is awful that we didn't know the scale of it before. Madeleine is as special to us as other children are to their parents."

Criticism of the McCanns' high-profile strategy followed their trips to Fatima, Rome and elsewhere. The couple were astonished that their request to meet the Pope was granted immediately after they contacted Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. The cardinal told them he would do the same for anyone in their situation.

"These comments from people like the cardinal really helped sustain us. We know the criticism is small but when you are clinging to positives and hope and prayer, criticism does hit home quite hard when you would normally shrug it off."

The visit to Rome involved the use of a private jet supplied by the retail multimillionaire Sir Philip Green. While the McCanns realised that using the plane could generate negative reactions they felt they had to be consistent in accepting every genuine offer of help, no matter how large or small. Private jets, they pointed out, shorten considerably the time they have to spend away from the twins.

The hardest thing to ask these parents who have prayed so fervently for their daughter is how they will feel about their faith if she is not returned. Mr McCann was first to respond. "If we don't get Madeleine back alive and well, I am sure our faith will be severely tested. At the end of it, we will still have our faith and we will also have comfort that Madeleine will be looked after. We haven't dwelt on that but I think that is what we will be left with. Our friends, our family, the Church have really rallied round. I think that's the key thing for me."

Then his wife spoke: "I have considered that as well and I have felt guilty asking, ‘Will this make or break my faith?' And yet at the same time you could argue that what's happened in the first place could make or break your faith and it hasn't. It's done the opposite. It has given us hope and strength."

[Acknowledgement Nigel Moore of mccannfiles ]

Another wholly holey holy..

Police May Interview Portuguese Priests in Missing Madeleine Probe

By Jennifer Gold, Christian Today Reporter
19th September 2007

Two priests who counseled the parents of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann over the four months they remained in Portugal might soon be interviewed by police.

Police are contemplating whether to question Anglican priest Haynes Hubbard and Roman Catholic Father Jose Manuel Pacheco as witnesses, to see if any further information could be gained for their current investigations.

The clergymen became close to British couple Kate and Gerry McCann after their daughter's disappearance on May 3, and Pacheco even gave them keys to the Senhora da Luz (Our Lady of the Light) church in Praia da Luz, Portugal, to allow them to pray in privacy whenever they wanted.

Over the past week, Portuguese newspapers have speculated that the priests "received information in confession" from the McCanns which could help police in their investigations. However, the claims were not sourced.

The latest news comes after both the mother and father of missing Madeleine were declared suspects in a surprising twist to a case that has pulled on the heartstrings of people worldwide.

Philomena McCann, Gerry's sister, said police have suggested that Madeleine might have been killed accidentally rather than kidnapped, as has been believed since the British girl disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, a resort town in the southern Algarve region of Portugal.

Local newspapers have pointed out that if the couple had disclosed anything privately to Pacheco there would be potential conflict between the Catholic Church and the law.

The confidentiality of religious confession is sacrosanct in Catholicism and would take precedence even over criminal law.

Pacheco indicated that he already expected the church to be involved in the police investigations.

"I find it perfectly normal that police would carry out searches in Praia da Luz, and not excepting the church," the Catholic priest said.

Anglican priest Hubbard, meanwhile, has said he believed it to be "ridiculous" to imagine that the church could be used to conceal anything in the Madeleine case.

It has been nearly five months since four-year-old Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday apartment while her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant.

Since their daughter's disappearance, the McCanns have launched an international campaign to find her, enlisting the aid of celebrities such as soccer star David Beckham and J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter fantasy books. They have also traveled to various countries where they have met press and distributed posters of Madeleine with the hope that someone may have spotted her.

The McCanns, who are both Roman Catholics, even met with Pope Benedict XVI, who put his hand on their arms during an emotional meeting and blessed them.

Most recently, on Sunday, Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, pledged $200,000 to help the McCanns clear their name.

Branson has also contacted several other wealthy Britons to encourage them to contribute to a legal defense fund for the McCanns, a spokeswoman said.

Branson had already contributed to a $2 million fund set up to help find Madeleine.

Christian Post reporter Eric Young contributed to this report.

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Original Source: TVMais Magazine 13 June 2014

by Hernâni Carvalho

The Secret Visits of the McCanns to the Church of Luz

Announced visits and other secret, keys provided against the wishes of the Bishop, the priest wife agitated, finished constructions and searches never made​​. What is it that the church of Praia da Luz has?

by Hernâni Carvalho

On the night of their daughter's disappearance, the McCann couple asked for a priest. The priest of the Luz church, José Pacheco, did not respond. The couple knew, even before they had gone to Praia da Luz, that the Anglican priest Haynes Hubbard celebrated masses there and lived with his wife. He had a friendship with McCann's family members. It was with him whom they spoke with. Some days later, Gerry and Kate received the church keys, and since then they were able to enter and leave at any time. A situation that was criticized by the Bishop of the Algarve at the time. When questioned on this discretionary act, the priest José Pacheco said: "Do I decide that?!"

McCanns visited the church in secret

"Although our pain feels much rawer here, it is comforting at the same time since we feel closer to Madeleine - we can read in a press statement sent to Lusa news agency in 12th December 2009, by the McCann's Portuguese PR, in connection to the couple's visit to the church. During the day, the visits were announced and followed by the media. The exception was made in the early hours of January 14, 2010. At 5am they were seen and photographed leaving the church from a side door. In the afternoon they gave a press conference.

Wife of Priest worried

The forensic psychologist Paulo Sargento asked the bishop of the Algarve Dom Manuel Quintas, if any catholic can go to the church at any time.

Hernâni Carvalho - How did you get to talk with the bishop?

Paulo Sargento - I sent a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt early on, in January 2010. Since I got no reply, about a month later, I sent an e-mail with the questions that I had. Four days later, it was the Bishop himself who replied, also by e-mail, apologizing for the delay in the answer. A hearing was scheduled for two or three days later.

Hernâni Carvalho - And you felt clarified?

Paulo Sargento - The hearing took place in February, at the episcopal see of Faro. The Bishop received me kindly. We talked about an hour. I had already been informed about a McCann visit to the church in the early hours and wondered if the Bishop was aware of that and I also wished to understand if any other catholic could do the same. Dom Manuel Quintas confirmed the McCanns had indeed been in the church on that day at 5am, that the person who had given them the key that night was Susan Hubbard, the wife of the Anglican priest, who had a key to the church at all times since her husband celebrated the Anglican mass there. Susan assured the Bishop the McCanns wanted to pray without being harassed by the media. However, the Bishop told me: “I don't understand, that day at 17pm there was a mass where they went, surrounded by the media”. Dom Manuel Quintas also added that when Susan Hubbard found out about my hearing request, she got scared and inclusively, sought him, very worried. The Bishop told me that he answered her queries saying that she should not be so worried if nothing unusual or wrong had happened.

Hernâni Carvalho - Did the Bishop avoid discussing any issues?

Paulo Sargento - No. I'm not going to give you details, but the Bishop was very open and did not flinch at anything I asked to him. He was willing, even, to resume contact for further questions or more information I needed. Interestingly, in that summer (2010), Kate spent a week vacation in Canada, in the house of a family member of Susan Hubbard, the wife of the priest.

Construction Works

Back in 2007, the public area of the Village of Luz had been for months undergoing sanitation improvements and road works. Behind the church there were ongoing construction works. Being a place of worship, various legal issues hampered a search there. At the time, PJ sources admitted to the possibility that the girl's body could have passed through that location, or even, to have been buried in the deactivated cemetery.

The Big Bluff

The British police came to Portugal to investigate the Maddie case. They dug and went into the sewers looking for a dead girl or clues that could lead to her whereabouts. The PJ had said the very same and had done those searches seven years ago.

“A movie for the English to see”, said an elderly lady, mockingly, to CMTV recently. One and a half year ago the English police announced that they would find the girl in a few days. So far nothing. Scotland Yard's work in Portugal is discussed by all in a very critical way. “They haven't done anything that our PJ hasn't done years ago”, stated a Portuguese in the same area. The searches are causing discontent among tourists and locals as they consider them detrimental to tourism, now that the peak season begins.

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The British police wanted the searches to be accompanied by the media but the PJ refused. Since the 2nd of June, Praia da Luz in Lagos has a large team of policemen, geologists, archaeologists, cutting edge technology and also sniffer dogs. They all come from England “under the supervision of PJ and the Public Prosecutor Office”. In addition there are PJ inspectors, GNR military officers on foot and horseback and Portuguese forest sappers. A setting worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster movie.

[Translation by Joana Morais ]

Question Father Pacheco and Haynes Hubbard , why not Father David Heal as well as according to Kate in her " account of the truth " he was the one who was with them in the early hours of 4th May ? Not Haynes Hubbard as they hadn't arrived yet ! 

Was he ever interviewed by the PJ , nothing in the Files ? 

Why is this man ignored , airbrushed out never mentioned . If he and his wife did indeed spend hours with the Mccanns so soon after the " abduction " surely they would have a lot to say about the parents state of mind that could be beneficial to the investigation ? 

This one has  always got me thinking !

sandancer wrote:Question Father Pacheco and Haynes Hubbard, why not Father David Heal as well as according to Kate in her "account of the truth" he was the one who was with them in the early hours of 4th May ? Not Haynes Hubbard as they hadn't arrived yet ! 

Was he ever interviewed by the PJ, nothing in the Files ? 

Why is this man ignored, airbrushed out, never mentioned. If he and his wife did indeed spend hours with the McCanns so soon after the "abduction" surely they would have a lot to say about the parents state of mind that could be beneficCal to the investigation? 

This one has  always got me thinking !

I don't think this is correct.

The only mention of Father Heal that I am aware of is in that fake account of Wednesday 2 May by that liar Vicky Boyd in that fake magazine First Magazine.  According to Boyd's version of events, Kate McCann rushed into Father Heal's arms, clinging to him, and it took three hours for him to comfort her

Yet in 'madeleine', by Kate McCann, which is what I think you mean by the 'Book of Truth', there is no mention of Father Heal at all.

Here are the relevant parts of Kate's 'Book of Truth', 'madeleine' (hard copy):

p. 73:  "Gerry and I were standing in the living room, clutching each other, utterly distraught..."

p. 73:  "By this time the Mark Warner people had rounded up as many of their colleagues as they could..."

p. 74:  "At 1.35 the police had still not arrived..."

p. 74   "John Hill...came up to the veranda...I remember I screamed at him to do something..."

p. 74   "I was banging my fists on he metal railing..."

p. 74   "Gerry was running from pillar to post..."

p. 74   "I was in my bedroom, on my knees beside the bed, just praying and praying and praying..."

p. 75   "Emma Knight came in..."

p. 75   "Another British woman came in, in her late forties...quite drunk and smelled of cigarettes..."

p. 75   "Then a lady appeared on the balcony..."

p. 75   "I wandered into the children's bedroom several times to check on Sean and Amelie..."

p. 75   "At 11.10pm, two policeman arrived..."

p. 76   "Gerry called his sister, Trisha..."

p. 76   "At 11.52pm, Gerry spoke to my uncle Brian and Auntie Janet..."

p. 77   "Just after midnight, Gerry 'phoned my Mum and Dad..."

p. 78   "Desperate for God's intervention, I asked the staff to find a priest to come and pray with us..."

p. 78   "Just after 2am, I spoke to my friend Father Seddon..."

p. 79   "Next I called my best mate, Michelle.."

p. 79   "At about 3am, I managed to get hold of Jon Corner...

p. 79   "The next thing I knew, the PJ officers were heading for the front door...they had finished for the night..."

p. 79   "A retired British couple in a nearby apartment lent Gerry their computer and he sent an email to Sky News..."   

p, 80   "We probably could have stayed in our apartment...the staff put up two extra cots in Fiona and David's apartment and we carried Sean and Amelie into their sitting room..."

p. 80   "On my insistence, Gerry and Dave went out again to look for Madeleine..."

p. 81   "At one point, I went out to speak to the police..."

p. 81   "Back in the apartment the cold, black night enveloped us all for what seemed like an eternity. Dianne and I sat there just staring....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."


So, zero mention of clutching Father Heal for three hours   

PeterMac wrote:I MUST correct you.

Vicky BOYD was traduced, and never said any of the things attributed to her 
by the LYING journalist Danielle GUZMAROLI
I spoke to her one-to-one at length, and had an email exchange which I wrote up in the Chapter.

Sorry, I accept the correction.

Yes, Guzmaroli was a liar. 

However, I cannot accept Ms Boyd as entirely without fault in this matter.

IMO if she had been entirely honest, she would have said: "Look, let me check the copy before you go to print. I want to be sure that you're printing exactly what I remembered."

She never said anything like that

PLUS. Was she paid for this article? I think that is highly likely