IMMACULATE DECEPTION Sunday World Nov 1, 2009 BY JIM GALLAGHER

Sunday World

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CHRISTINA’S PRAYER AT BEDTIME

BY JIM GALLAGHER

How she flew into rage and said ‘Mind your

own f**king business’ when one follower

objected to male pal in her hotel bedroom

November 1, 2009

IMMACULATE DECEPTION

THE shocking secret life of millionaire ‘visionary’ Christina Gallagher is laid bare today in a new book, based on a series of Sunday World revelations, which lifts the lid on her scams, greed and lies. Immaculate Deception reveals for the first time how

the self-proclaimed holy woman told her most loyal supporters how she was recovering from a heart attack when in fact she had sneaked off to England for two weeks to meet a boyfriend. The book also exposes how the money-grabbing leader of the House of Prayer in Achill Island was furious when a generous American benefactor gave her “only” $800,000 when she expected $2 million.

 

Immaculate Deception, which is released tomorrow, uncovers the extraordinary goings-on at the west of Ireland prayer centre which Gallagher has controlled with absolute power for the last 16 years. It reveals how one former manager, Chuck McNerney, quit after just five weeks when Gallagher refused to allow him even to open the mail which was often filled with cash.

 

Questions

She told the American man that opening the post was her “only joy”. The book  reveals how a devout Catholic solicitor from England, John Beighton, raised questions in the 1990s over the finances of the House of Prayer which, he said, had no controls. Ten years before the Sunday World began publishing a series of exposés about Gallagher’s fabulous lifestyle, starting in January 2008; Beighton was asking Gallagher the same questions. He demanded to know why she was driving a luxury seven series BMW, where she had got the money to buy a fabulous home in Newport, Co. Mayo, and the £300,000 she then spent doing it up, and why the House of Prayer was covered in secret cameras and audio equipment.

 

Immaculate Deception reveals how 56- year-old Gallagher has managed to keep her loyal spiritual director Fr Gerard McGinnity onside by massaging his ego with ridiculous messages supposedly from the Virgin Mary. Incredibly, Gallagher told the

gullible priest that Our Lady said he was going to be the next Irish Cardinal – and Fr McGinnity lapped it up. She often tells the Co Louth-based priest that the Blessed Virgin had given a specific message for “my son Gerard” and that Gallagher could see

angels flying around him. The book reveals how McGinnity warned all House of Prayer followers that they had to vote against both the Maastricht Treaty and the recent Lisbon Treaty because they both would lead to one-world government and the

“mark of the beast”. This mark was a microchip which would be planted in everyone’s arms.

Immaculate Deception reveals how Gallagher was able to fool tens of thousands of pilgrims into thinking she was a genuine visionary until her former devoted follower Mike McCrory turned on her after he discovered a sexual scandal in the House of Prayer. A young man complained to McCrory that a regular at the prayer centre had made unwanted homosexual advances on him.

 

The outraged McCrory, who was already growing suspicious of Gallagher’s obvious wealth, reported the incident to the supposed visionary and her spiritual director but they just “laughed it off.” Mr McCrory went to the Sunday World – and the rest is history. But it is Gallagher’s relationship with a man called Lawrence ‘Chalky’

White that will shock her supporters most.

 

 

Gallagher, a mother of two, still claims to be happily married although she has been separated from husband Paddy since 1995. She met the twice divorced Englishman Chalky on a holiday in Devon in 1998. She was so smitten with him that weeks later she travelled back to the seaside resort of Paignton with a devoted follower. She explained her absence from the House of Prayer by claiming she was recovering from a heart attack. Gallagher even got Fr McGinnity to ring their most loyal supporters to ask them to pray for her. But far from recuperating from a life threatening illness, Gallagher was out drinking double Baileys and dancing with Chalky every night, even wearing a tight-fitting leopard skin cat suit on one occasion. Gallagher’s devout travel companion was appalled by her behaviour. Hearing loud chatter coming from Gallagher’s adjoining room at 2.30am one night, she walked in and found the two dressed on the bed. She said to Chalky: “Don’t you think it’s time you went home?” But Gallagher exploded with anger saying: “Get out the f**king door and mind your own f**king business!”

 

The next day Gallagher moved to another floor of the hotel claiming her room was too small. Even though she claimed to be completely besotted with Chalky, she still flirted outrageously with other men, even going out on a lunchtime date with one of them, a college lecturer. Gallagher and the unemployed Chalky were certainly an unlikely match. He had long grey hair and smoke-stained teeth. He was scruffy and Gallagher tried to tidy him up by dying his hair and buying him an array of expensive clothes which she always paid for in cash.

 

Astonishingly, Gallagher invited Chalky over to Ireland days after her return and she stunned her travel companion by announcing: “He is going to be taking charge of the House of Prayer.”

 

Kissing

Gallagher even invited Chalky to her son Brendan’s wedding in Co Mayo that year as her guest. One man photographed them kissing outside the church. At a House of Prayer Christmas party a couple of months later Gallagher flew into a fury when Chalky asked another woman up to dance. But the plan to make Chalky the new manager of the House of Prayer eventually fell through and he went back to England.

 

During her holiday in Paignton, Gallagher also revealed just how religious she really was. When her travelling companion said that they would have to find a church for Sunday Mass, Gallagher said: “They turned their back on me, I am turning my back on them.” Gallagher’s friend said: “We were away from the 9th to the 18th [August 1998] and I never saw the inside of a chapel until I came back home again. Christina never said one prayer in that time. “I have never once seen her praying, unless she was trying to impress somebody. Christina does not go to Mass at all.” Co. Mayo priests have also asked where this supposedly holy Catholic woman goes to Mass as she certainly does not go to any of their churches.

 

WHEN $800,000 WASN’T ENOUGH

■ONE former House of Prayer devotee reveals in Immaculate Deception how Gallagher went into “ecstasy” in his front room. The professional man was being courted by Gallagher and Fr McGinnity who were desperate for him to do some promotional work for them.

■During a Mass, Gallagher went into one of her trances, which is when she is supposed to get her messages direct from the Virgin Mary. “She was kneeling by the couch and threw her arms back and was looking up at the ceiling and at the gold curtains there she said Our Lady appeared to her. There were angels apparently

flying all over the room,” said the man.

■Gallagher later revealed that the Madonna was carrying baby Jesus and was smiling down at them. “Her face lit up completely in front of me. She told Christina it seems that God the Father had chosen me to give glory to her son Jesus,” the man revealed.

■Today, of course, he doesn’t believe a word of it and accepts he was conned for ten years. He also revealed how he once rang Gallagher to tell her a wealthy American businessman was going to give her $800,000 for supposedly healing his son of a blood disorder. Rather than being pleased, a sour Gallagher said: “$800,000! They are

worth $10 million. “They could easily give me a couple of million.”

 

IMMACULATE DECEPTION ACTING?

 

‘SHOW US THE MONEY.’

 

A FURIOUS war of words erupted between self-proclaimed ‘visionary’ Christina Gallagher and a group of her followers over her lifestyle. It happened in 1998 after an American, Chuck McNerney, quit as manager of the House of Prayer after just five weeks, claiming it was impossible to work with Gallagher. McNerney said he was not

allowed to do his job properly and was shocked when Gallagher would not even let

him open the mail, which was often filled with cash donations. The American thought this was ludicrous. He also wanted to introduce a proper computer and financial

management system which would have prevented the possibility of fraud. But Gallagher strongly opposed these moves, as the book Immaculate Deception reveals,

and he resigned. Other followers were appalled at the way McNerney was treated

and eight of them confronted Gallagher and McGinnity on September 18 that year.

The group demanded answers about her relationship with Lawrence ‘Chalky’ White, who was staying with her in her Newport home at the time. “Her supporters were uncomfortable with this new relationship, as Gallagher was married, although she

had been separated from her husband Paddy for some time,” said the book.

“Some of her staff and supporters concluded that her over-familiarity with Chalky, and his attitude to her, suggested they were more than just good friends.”

Gallagher was furious at being questioned and called them “traitors”

and said there was nobody she could trust. The group left the heated meeting

with none of their questions answered. One of the eight, a British solicitor called John

Beighton, subsequently wrote a scathing letter to Gallagher. Supporters who had given their lives to the House of Prayer should be allowed to raise legitimate concerns

and get answers without being called a Judas, he stormed. “He said he was shocked by the lack of control over the finances. He stated that Gallagher had recently admitted to him that she was unsure of the trustworthiness of some of the staff,” the book revealed. “As far as he was aware, there were no proper accounts kept at the House of Prayer for donations in cash or by cheque.” Beighton demanded to know why Gallagher hadn’t implemented the recommendations made by Chuck McNerney and why some staff were being paid in cash. Why was cash paid to Gallagher’s

daughter Mary? And why was she only put on the PAYE system years after starting

work at the House of Prayer, which still had charity status at that time? And why was Mary given a brand-new Opel car when she worked there only one day a week?

He demanded to know who owned Christina Gallagher’s brand-new, top-of-the-range 7 Series BMW – she subsequently bought another 7 Series with an 05 registration.

“If it was owned by the charity or purchased with money from the charity, how can this possibly be justified?” he asked, particularly as the charity had just bought her

a brand-new Opel Vectra. He asked if the BMW was a charity asset, why was it “hidden” and wasn’t used to drive to the House of Prayer. He also asked why, in a

recent radio interview, Gallagher refused to admit its existence. “If she has nothing to hide, why does she not show clearly where the money came from for the car in the first place?” he asked. Beighton said this would end the rumours. But if the charity did not buy the BMW, where did Gallagher get the money to buy it “as she does not work and it cost around £40,000 (€50,000)?” The lawyer asked about gifts made

directly to Gallagher over the previous ten years and said that with all the rumours flying around about her becoming “a rich woman”, he was sure she would want to make “a full and frank disclosure.” Beighton asked why Gallagher made all decisions in the House of Prayer, rather than the charity trustees – and asked if they were

“puppets?”

 

Intolerable

The solicitor then turned his attention to the “high-powered microphones and cameras placed in every room” at the House of Prayer which were an “intolerable intrusion” on staff and volunteers. Gallagher had sworn that the cameras had not been working for a year but Beighton said he had discovered “beyond doubt” the system was working and was being used by Gallagher to spy on staff. Beighton wrote: “The cry of double standards must be heard in the deepest recesses of Heaven and I cannot help feeling that we were all being made fools of by Christina, who is showing herself

to be a deceiver and a liar.” The solicitor demanded answers to all his questions and warned: “She ignores them at her peril.” What was Gallagher’s response? She sent Beighton a legal letter threatening him with a lawsuit. Just as she did with the Sunday

World when we began our revelations last year. To this day Gallagher has refused

to answer a single question about her huge wealth and lifestyle. As for Beighton, he walked out never to return.

 

jim.gallagher@sundayworld.com

 

■Immaculate Deception by Jim Gallagher is published by Merlin and costs €12.99.

BY JIM GALLAGHER

Available from Dialogue Ireland email for terms and conditions