Priest who disrupted Olympic marathon to be tried on indecency counts

Published: 2004-09-08

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- The suspended Irish priest who disrupted the Olympic marathon will be tried in October on two charges of indecency with minors. At a Sept. 2 hearing, a judge ordered Father Neil Horan, who denied the indecency charges, to leave his home only to visit his lawyer or his doctors. Father Horan, a priest from Scartaglin who has not been formally laicized, was suspended from the active ministry in 1995. The charges stem from offenses alleged to have occurred between 1990 and 1993. On Aug. 29, Father Horan, dressed in a kilt, dragged Brazilian runner Vanderlei Lima into the crowd several miles from the end of the Olympic marathon in Athens, Greece. Lima was leading the race at the time of the assault but subsequently placed third, winning the bronze medal instead of the gold. Father Horan said he was trying to draw attention to the second coming of Christ and said on Ireland's RTE radio, "I am only apologizing in the limited sense of a human being."

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