For centuries, the Catholic Church has held tightly to its veneer of moral authority, often at the expense of truth. While the public is well aware of the Church’s sexual abuse scandals, a lesser-known and equally troubling reality persists: children born to Catholic priests, hidden away, shamed, or erased entirely.
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Linda Kelly Lawless is one of those children. Her story is not just about personal discovery, but about systemic denial, institutional secrecy, and a fight to be seen. Born in Australia, Linda discovered as a child that the man raising her was not her biological father. It wasn’t until 2018, years after her mother’s passing, that Linda learned the truth through DNA testing: her father was the late Father Joseph Kelly, a Catholic priest.
“Always Loved, But Unknown”
Those five words, etched on her biological father’s headstone, speak volumes. For decades, Linda was denied the basic right of knowing her parentage. Like 
many in her situation, she lived under a cloud of shame, conditioned to believe she was the problem, a secret that must be kept.
Her mother, constrained by fear and the heavy stigma of bearing a priest’s child, kept the truth hidden. As Linda later discovered, this was not just a private burden but part of a broader Church practice of silencing and disappearing such children through forced adoptions or social exile.
A Six-Year Battle for Truth
After discovering her father’s identity, Linda launched a six-year campaign to gain recognition from the Catholic Church. Despite providing overwhelming DNA evidence, including advanced autosomal testing from Parabon NanoLabs confirming 99.6% relatedness to both sides of the Kelly family, the Church resisted.
At every turn, she encountered bureaucratic stonewalling, deflection, and gaslighting. The Church suggested exhuming Father Kelly’s body, refused to acknowledge the results as definitive, and issued contradictory statements that both affirmed and dismissed her claim. One archbishop admitted, “I believe you,” only for Church officials to later walk that statement back.
The Moral Failing of Forced Adoptions
What Linda’s story reveals is not just a personal injustice, it is a systemic one. For decades, the Church’s preferred response to pregnancies involving priests was to remove the child from public view through adoption. As Linda and others have pointed out, this policy wasn’t designed to protect the mother or child. It was designed to protect the Church.
“A crisis to be managed, rather than a life to be nurtured,” (source unknown). This chilling phrase sums up the Church’s utilitarian view of these children, not as human beings with the right to love and identity, but as public relations liabilities to be handled discreetly.
Trauma Passed Down Through Silence
Linda’s mother was brave. She defied the odds and kept her child in an era when unwed motherhood, especially involving a priest, was taboo. But the cost was steep. Fear consumed her. She lived with the unrelenting shame imposed by an institution more concerned with appearances than compassion.
“I must have been a constant reminder of what she thought she’d done wrong,” Linda said. “And she carried that with her to her grave.” Yet Linda, too, bore that burden, internalizing the shame, enduring the silence, and suffering emotional trauma that was compounded, not alleviated, by the Church’s denials.
Genealogy, DNA, and the Fight for Identity
Linda is now a professional genealogist who helps others like her uncover their true origins. Her expertise in building family trees, analyzing DNA matches, and
navigating bureaucratic barriers has made her a resource for adoptees, children of priests, and others seeking long-lost family ties.
Because of her work, she became the first person in Australia to have her birth certificate legally amended to reflect her biological father’s identity despite being born out of wedlock. This unprecedented victory is not just personal. It opens a door for others who have been denied recognition for decades.
Systemic Reform Is Long Overdue
The Church has created internal “guidelines” for dealing with cases like Linda’s. But as she points out, these were written without input from the very people they affect. Worse, they fail to acknowledge those born in previous generations or provide meaningful support. Linda argues the process needs to be independent of the Church altogether, grounded in truth and accountability, not protectionism.
The trauma of abandonment and denial doesn’t vanish with recognition, it lingers. Linda’s hope is that her journey encourages others to come forward, to speak up, and to know they are not alone. “There are thousands of us,” she said. “The Church wants us to go away. But we’re not going anywhere.”
The Radical Truth
What Linda Kelly Lawless has exposed is a deeply embedded moral contradiction: a Church that claims to champion life while disappearing the lives it helped create. Her courage has given a voice to the voiceless, and her work continues to uncover the hidden legacies of clerical abuse, secrecy, and shame.
This is not about revenge. It’s about recognition, accountability, and healing. As Catholics, as citizens, and as human beings, we must demand better from institutions that claim to speak for God.
About Linda Kelly-Lawless
Linda Kelly-Lawless is an Australian genealogist and advocate whose personal journey has illuminated the hidden lives of children born to Catholic priests. At the age of eight, she discovered that the man raising her was not her biological father. This revelation marked the beginning of a lifelong quest to uncover her true heritage.
Her mother, bound by fear and societal stigma, kept the identity of Linda’s biological father a secret. It wasn’t until 2018, years after her mother’s passing, that Linda turned to DNA testing to seek answers. The results connected her to the Kelly family, leading to the astonishing discovery that her father was the late Father Joseph Kelly, a Catholic priest.
Determined to have her identity acknowledged, Linda embarked on a six-year campaign for recognition from the Catholic Church. Utilizing advanced DNA analysis from Parabon NanoLabs, she provided compelling evidence of her paternity. In April 2025, Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne acknowledged her claim, stating, “From the materials that you have presented, I want to assure you that I believe that Fr Kelly was your biological father.” Premier Christian News
Linda’s advocacy extends beyond her personal story. She has become a beacon for others in similar situations, offering support and guidance to those seeking to uncover their origins. Through her website and public engagements, she raises awareness about the experiences of children of priests and the importance of truth and recognition.
For more information, visit her official website: lindakellylawless.com.
About Margaret Mary O’Connor
Margaret Mary O’Connor, as a member of the Catholic Laity, thought she knew everything about the Catholic Church, at least until she came upon a centuries-old Scandal of lies and cover-up by the Hierarchy of that Church. Frankly, she was fed up being lied to by her own Church, about its own past Church’s History on Women priests. With that realization, she truly felt in that moment, the monumental feeling of betrayal by her own Church.
Follow Margaret, as she travels down this Highway of Radical Truth where lies and outright coverup will be disclosed. Millions of Catholics are unaware of that past presence of Women Bishop’s, Women Deacons, as well as Women Priests, all there hiding in plain sight, in Early Church History.
As the complicity of this centuries-old Scandal continues, Margaret wants her fellow Catholics to learn the actual truth of this matter for themselves. She strongly
believes, at minimal, any Catholic deserves the actual truth of this matter. To say that change is needed is hardly an understatement. She doesn’t let the Church’s betrayal stop her from uncovering some very fascinating Church Skeleton’s – one which very well might help solve our current priest shortage issue today.
Margaret Mary O’Connor has been called, “The Modern Day David” on many occasions. On a mission to reveal carefully guarded secrets of the Catholic Church, she unveils the truth through her well-researched writings.
Author of Scandal in the Shadows and Journey of a Celiac’s Soul, Margaret Mary is a force to be reckoned with.
