A retired priest who subjected three teenage boys to a string of sex attacks has been spared a jail sentence.
Colman McGrath abused youths who were training to join the priesthood at Blairs College near Aberdeen.
The 76-year-old then went on to indecently assault another boy he was tutoring at his chapel in Glasgow.
The abuse only came to light years later and in June 2014 McGrath – who retired in 2006 – was interviewed by police.
At Glasgow Sheriff Court McGrath he admitted three charges of indecent assault between August 1972 and September 1982.
Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell imposed a community payback order with the conditions that he will be supervised for three years and must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in 12 months.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register for three years.
The court heard McGrath was ordained as a priest in June 1962 and between August 1963 and June 1978 taught at Blairs College.
He was then based at St Helen’s Presbytery at Langside in Glasgow between 1979 and 1984.
Fiscal depute Mark Allan told the court that the first charge – relating to a period between August 1972 and June 1973 – involved a 17-year-old at Blairs.
He said McGrath’s first victim commented about a skin condition on his back.
Mr Allan said: “The victim was invited to the accused’s private room within the seminary and once there he was induced to take off all his clothes and lie face down on the bed there.
“The accused then rubbed an oil-based substance on to the back of the victim and left that substance on for about five minutes.”
The court heard that on another occasion McGrath rubbed the oil on his back then continued over his thighs and calves claiming the oil “would be good for his muscles”.
Mr Allan said that on the third occasion, the teenager was sent off during a football match McGrath was refereeing and told to go to his room to be punished.
McGrath then “struck the bare buttocks of the complainer repeatedly with a slipper”.
The court was told the second victim – a 16-year-old pupil – recalled four incidents between August 1973 and February 1974.
Mr Allan told the sheriff the young victim indicated to police he trusted the priest and was he was “induced” to take his trousers and underwear off and bend over a chair and then repeatedly hit on the bare buttocks with a hair brush as a punishment.
Mr Allan said that was the pattern over the four incidents.
McGrath had his clothes on during these incidents. The boy did not join the priesthood and later spoke to another priest about the abuse when his marriage broke down.
The final victim McGrath preyed on was a 14-year-old student struggling with maths who was sent to him for tutoring in September 1980 at St Helen’s Presbytery at Langside in Glasgow.
He was hit on the head with a belt for making a mistake made during teaching sessions, which progressed to being spanked by the priest.
The court was told that during his police interview in June 2014 McGrath remembered the boys involved but denied the allegations.
Through his lawyer, the retired priest made an “unreserved and full apology” to all three victims and said they “feature regularly” in his prayers.
In a statement, the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland church said: “We are grateful to those affected for coming forward and would encourage anyone else with concerns relating to child protection issues to contact ourselves and the police.
“There can be no place in the church for abuse of children and we are determined to root-out this evil no matter how long ago it occurred.”