Missionary who Battles Evil of Child Sex Tourism
Published in the Irish Mirror
March 27, 2000
CRUSADING Irish- priest Fr. Shay Cullen is set to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, it was revealed yesterday.
Fr. Cullen is known throughout the world for his courageous work with child abuse victims.
But in his daily life the man who is as revered as Mother Teresa would prefer not to be recognised at all.
In the dangerous underworld of child prostitution where he battles against ruthless pimps, there is a big price on his head.
The Dublin-born priest who is to be nominated for the award by Scottish MP Nigel Griffiths - has saved hundreds of children from organised sex rings and has helped cage sick abusers who flock to the world's child sex capital of the Philippines.
But the 57-year-old, whose allies include Hollywood actor, Martin Sheen, is now I a walking target.
To the money men who make fortunes selling children, some as young as just two - to international paedophiles, Fr. Shay Cullen is seen as their biggest enemy.
Every week chilling death threats are received at his Preda Foundation in Olongapo City in the Philippines.
It is here that the priest and a team of specialists counsel child victims rescued from brothels and red light districts.
"They are coming in all the time - the threats;" said Fr. Cullen, who is currently in Ireland as part of a European tour to highlight the plight of the children.
"We just take the necessary security precautions. Because of our work it has become more difficult for these pimps.
"We have helped in jailing a number of paedophiles and breaking up sex rings. We are not popular, and some of the people operating in this business would just love to see the back of us.
"I have to take the threats seriously as I am aware that some of the people we are fighting are capable of anything. But as long as we are there we are helping abused children and hopefully preventing others from ever being abused."
The Columban priest dices with death every day, going undercover,... posing as a sex tourist to rescue the children.
It is believed that around a million youngsters are living on the streets of the poor Southeast Asian Country, many of them exploited as prostitutes.
Exposing pimps and their lucrative trade makes the priest a constant target for rogue cops and crooked politicians who also make fortunes from the sex industry.
Over the past few years he has had to fight false charges brought against him in a bid to top his work.
Only last year he was cleared in court of a child rape charge.
He was framed by paedophile supporters who paid witnesses to make the allegations against him.
Fr. Cullen said the trumped up charge was retaliation for supplying evidence to prosecute paedophiles.
"They tried to frame us many times but have consistently failed," he said.
"Foreign bar owners run establishments that are fronts for child prostitution with the connivance of local politicians.
"We are determined to close them down and save these sexually exploited children. No wonder we have made enemies."
Fr. Cullen has been battling against the vice bosses in the Philippines for three decades.
He first began his missionary working with drug addicts but soon concentrated on the sex industry as horror stories unfolded from those in his care.
Over the years he has helped jail many of the world's most notorioup paedophiles.
Information gathered through his work helped to imprison British fugitives Brett Tyler and Timothy Morrs.
They fled to the Philippines after the sickening murder of nine-year old London schoolboy Daniel Handley.
They posed as priests to lure slum children.
Australian Paedophile Victor Keith Fitzgerald is currently appealing, a 17-year jail sentence after Fr. Cullen exposed him. He lured victims with hamburgers.
Among Fr. Cullen's many supporters throughout the world is American actor Martin Sheen.
The two first met when Sheen was filming Apocalypse Now in 1979.
The actor was so moved by the exploitation of children by sex tourists, he became a strong ally of Fr. Cullen, donating much needed cash to his work.
Recently, Sheen said: "I would be honoured to portray him in a movie if only the film industry, had the couragie to allow it.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what was happening. to those poor kids, treated like contraband, sexually abused and simply thrown away. Thank God for Fr. Shay."
Fr Cullen's work has also caught the eye of high-ranking politicians across the world.
Scottish parliamentarian Nigel Griffiths is leading a motion to have him nominated for a Nobel Prize.
Fr Cullen leaves Ireland on Wednesday to return to his dangerous mission.
But last night he met abuse victim Sophia McColgan, 26, when he visited her in Sligo.
Sophia, who won the heart'of the nation two years ago when she fought to have her evil father jailed and later won El million compensation from the system that failed her, will travel to Fr. Cullen's mission in the Philippines later this year.