"God created a child that his Priest Raped and destroyed,"
reland’s Holocaust
How ironic that the Roman Catholic Church bans Atheists, Homosexuals, has a ban on Female Priests and all things female including banning divorce, contraceptives, abortion but yet protects and accepts Pedophiles as long as they are male and more importantly that they are ordained Priests within the Church. This Roman Catholic Church is morally corrupt and is an organisation dominated by corrupt conservative Christian Pedophiles. For centuries the Roman Catholic Church knew about and tried to cover-up an epidemic, a holocaust of sexual rape, torture and the death of millions of children within their organisation, even going so far as keeping a secret record. The Roman Catholic Church knew that its Clerics systematically raped millions of children in every country they operated in. They even kept records that were never turned over to authorities for prosecution. The Roman Catholic Church actively protected their pedophiles, they even promoted them to even higher positions within the Church. This was true conservative Catholic values. Catholic Priests meanwhile demanded that each child, or family member recognise their “obligation to God” while they, the clerics protected and enabled active pedophiles from within their organisation, to feed and prey on the rape of millions of innocent children, under the cloak of religion.
Why use the word Holocaust, you see I couldn’t find another word to describe the horrors of what truly took place in the Religious run Institutions in Ireland. Like the Nazis who gassed, raped, tortured, brutalised - horrific drug experiments on and then murdered their captives, the Catholic Church in Ireland did the exact same. Except I haven’t heard of any child or woman gassed as of yet.. The Nazis killed millions in their concentration camps, the Catholic Church in Ireland did the same, in their concentration camps, except it was hundreds of thousands of women and children. They both disposed of the murdered corpses the same way, into mass pits and septic tanks. The system of brutality was the same, the Nazis learnt from the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church in Ireland learnt from the Nazi. They really were one and the same.
The true virtues of the caricature Priests known as the Catholic pedophiles have been obvious, the real corrupt virtues as practiced in all their Religious run Institutions In Ireland. We had a dark culture of denial, sadly we still do. The Irish Cult known as the Catholic Church in Ireland admit their own complicity in the cover-up of sexual rape, murder of tens of thousands of women and children, this moral wreckage of the Church is still powerful in its dying days. The time has come when we must choose between light and darkness. There was and they're still evil among us, The Cult has democratised cruelty. We Survivors have very little left after a childhood of Clerical rapes.
Every child ravished and raped by a pedophile cleric, the child’s soul was murdered, the child’s childhood robbed forever. Ireland was a haven for pedophile Priests nurtured by the Irish Catholic Church, The Cult acted as heaven’s choir of rapists, while vulnerable children were raped, tortured and murdered. The Irish Clerics had, across many decades, violently violated tens of thousands of innocent women and children, this is Ireland’s Holocaust. Please read “The Ryan Report”
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/3c76d0-the-report-of-the-commission-to-inquire-into-child-abuse-the-ryan-re/
The Irish Commission’s report published in May 2009, states the total number of vulnerable children who were admitted to Industrial Schools between 1936 and 1970 was approximately 170,000. Now add their Mothers, another 170,000. The Ryan Report found that children held in Catholic Orphanages and Reformatory Schools were treated no better than slaves—in all cases, Sex Slaves. Rape and molestation of Children were “endemic.” This was a real Holocaust, one fourth of the Irish Population at the time were detained in these Religious run Institutions in Ireland. Like the Religious Orphanages and Industrial Schools, Mother and Baby Homes and the notorious “Magdalene Laundries,” where girls and women were condemned to lives of coercive servitude, daily rapes, brutalities and torture, eventually death came by.
The “Magdalene Laundries,” for-women scandal climaxed in 2017, when a Irish Government report revealed that from 1925 to 1961, at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, in Tuam, County Galway, babies who died—nearly 800 of them—were routinely disposed of in mass graves or sewage pits. Not only Priests, and other male Orders had behaved despicably, so had the Holy Nuns.
Even the head man, Pope Francis himself came by to visit Ireland in 2018, His timing could not have been worse. Ireland’s so called Catholic Country was no longer a Catholic country. Two referendums in Ireland would changed that notion of a Catholic Country. Gay Marriage and Abortion, both referendums, Irish People overwhelming voted yes to repealing the arcane religious laws. Now is the time that we as a nation must deal with our unique Holocaust and we must move aggressively to preempt the disinformation of the still powerful Cult. The Irish Catholic Church authorities had successfully silenced many victims, through fear and secret agreements. The Cult has deflected law enforcement, the Irish Police, while shielding their Clerical pedophiles, who still operate freely in Ireland.
Many children now men, including myself, told of gangs of sexual predators stalking children like prey, Pedophile Priests who gave many children they raped the gift of a gold cross to wear, so that other Pedophile Priests could instantly recognise the chosen one, anywhere the child went. The Pedophile Priests who enjoys the sport of pursuing and raping children, like hunters who pursue game animals and birds. The predator Priests does it for the fun, the chase, the rape, the power, and because he can, he is immune. The chosen child is his food, his game, his sport, his pleasure. The naive child trusted these holy men of God, and would proudly wear the golden cross with innocent pride, as a-badge-of-honour. This gullible child would be told he was chosen by God, easy prey in the hands of any sophisticated sexual predator Priest, who would then go on to brutally rape the child, knowing that he the Pedophile Priest had complete immunity. The vulnerable child could not resist his own rape, even their own murder.
The child’s life would be ruined forever, the invisible scar of the golden cross would sear like a red hot poker into the child’s mind still the day that child dies. The Pedophile Priests, the sexual predators, would be promoted, extravagantly lauded by their many fellow sexual predators. Sexual predators continue to hunt, secretly, to enable them to enjoy their sport of ruthlessly exploiting vulnerable children, raping and even killing their game, the chosen child, all for fun. In reality, but factually and especially throughout the Christian world- North America, South America, anywhere in Europe, Australasia, anywhere in Africa -Pedophile Priests are major predators of children.
“This is the murder of a soul,” I wrote about earlier in this article and all my other articles that can be viewed on my website www.tuambabies.org
There will never be true accountability and transparency as long as this sick organisation, this Cult is allowed to function with our tax payers money, and as long as they continue to run our schools and hospitals. I accuse the Bishops of Ireland of protecting an organisation of clerical pedophiles that committed a Holocaust, with an avalanche of organised rape, torture and murder of tens of thousands of vulnerable Irish women and children in their care in the many Religious run Institutions they operated for profit in Ireland.
Here is what a “shame and sorrow.” Pope Francis did, he called for a four-day meeting of his senior bishops, to be held in Rome under the rubric “The Protection of Minors in the Catholic Church.” This was like putting convicted Pedophiles in charge of an Orphanage of children, sorry we in Ireland did just that for the last 70 years.
Something else, One of the astonishments of Pope Francis’s Irish pilgrimage was his claim, made to International Reporters during his return trip to Rome, that until then he had known nothing of the Magdalene Laundries or their scandals:
Pope Francis- “I had never heard of these Mothers—they call it the laundromat of women, where an unwed woman is pregnant and goes into these hospitals.” Never heard of these mothers?
I suppose he never heard of the tens of millions of children raped, tortured, and murdered world wide by his Catholic Clerics either. They're his pedophiles after all. What a grotesque Liar this Pope Francis is, but they all were really and holy to boot, a few were even made Saints. After all a Saint is a deviant person who is recognised as having an exceptional degree of bullshit or likeness or closeness to evil. We must remember that they the Clerics were and are profoundly immoral and wicked. Professional liars, hard working sexual predators, making a living from raping and lying to prepubescent children, immorality flows, like a cancer in their rancid blood. Owen Felix O’Neill
How ironic that the Roman Catholic Church bans Atheists, Homosexuals, has a ban on Female Priests and all things female including banning divorce, contraceptives, abortion but yet protects and accepts Pedophiles as long as they are male and more importantly that they are ordained Priests within the Church. This Roman Catholic Church is morally corrupt and is an organisation dominated by corrupt conservative Christian Pedophiles. For centuries the Roman Catholic Church knew about and tried to cover-up an epidemic, a holocaust of sexual rape, torture and the death of millions of children within their organisation, even going so far as keeping a secret record. The Roman Catholic Church knew that its Clerics systematically raped millions of children in every country they operated in. They even kept records that were never turned over to authorities for prosecution. The Roman Catholic Church actively protected their pedophiles, they even promoted them to even higher positions within the Church. This was true conservative Catholic values. Catholic Priests meanwhile demanded that each child, or family member recognise their “obligation to God” while they, the clerics protected and enabled active pedophiles from within their organisation, to feed and prey on the rape of millions of innocent children, under the cloak of religion.
Why use the word Holocaust, you see I couldn’t find another word to describe the horrors of what truly took place in the Religious run Institutions in Ireland. Like the Nazis who gassed, raped, tortured, brutalised - horrific drug experiments on and then murdered their captives, the Catholic Church in Ireland did the exact same. Except I haven’t heard of any child or woman gassed as of yet.. The Nazis killed millions in their concentration camps, the Catholic Church in Ireland did the same, in their concentration camps, except it was hundreds of thousands of women and children. They both disposed of the murdered corpses the same way, into mass pits and septic tanks. The system of brutality was the same, the Nazis learnt from the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church in Ireland learnt from the Nazi. They really were one and the same.
The true virtues of the caricature Priests known as the Catholic pedophiles have been obvious, the real corrupt virtues as practiced in all their Religious run Institutions In Ireland. We had a dark culture of denial, sadly we still do. The Irish Cult known as the Catholic Church in Ireland admit their own complicity in the cover-up of sexual rape, murder of tens of thousands of women and children, this moral wreckage of the Church is still powerful in its dying days. The time has come when we must choose between light and darkness. There was and they're still evil among us, The Cult has democratised cruelty. We Survivors have very little left after a childhood of Clerical rapes.
Every child ravished and raped by a pedophile cleric, the child’s soul was murdered, the child’s childhood robbed forever. Ireland was a haven for pedophile Priests nurtured by the Irish Catholic Church, The Cult acted as heaven’s choir of rapists, while vulnerable children were raped, tortured and murdered. The Irish Clerics had, across many decades, violently violated tens of thousands of innocent women and children, this is Ireland’s Holocaust. Please read “The Ryan Report”
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/3c76d0-the-report-of-the-commission-to-inquire-into-child-abuse-the-ryan-re/
The Irish Commission’s report published in May 2009, states the total number of vulnerable children who were admitted to Industrial Schools between 1936 and 1970 was approximately 170,000. Now add their Mothers, another 170,000. The Ryan Report found that children held in Catholic Orphanages and Reformatory Schools were treated no better than slaves—in all cases, Sex Slaves. Rape and molestation of Children were “endemic.” This was a real Holocaust, one fourth of the Irish Population at the time were detained in these Religious run Institutions in Ireland. Like the Religious Orphanages and Industrial Schools, Mother and Baby Homes and the notorious “Magdalene Laundries,” where girls and women were condemned to lives of coercive servitude, daily rapes, brutalities and torture, eventually death came by.
The “Magdalene Laundries,” for-women scandal climaxed in 2017, when a Irish Government report revealed that from 1925 to 1961, at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, in Tuam, County Galway, babies who died—nearly 800 of them—were routinely disposed of in mass graves or sewage pits. Not only Priests, and other male Orders had behaved despicably, so had the Holy Nuns.
Even the head man, Pope Francis himself came by to visit Ireland in 2018, His timing could not have been worse. Ireland’s so called Catholic Country was no longer a Catholic country. Two referendums in Ireland would changed that notion of a Catholic Country. Gay Marriage and Abortion, both referendums, Irish People overwhelming voted yes to repealing the arcane religious laws. Now is the time that we as a nation must deal with our unique Holocaust and we must move aggressively to preempt the disinformation of the still powerful Cult. The Irish Catholic Church authorities had successfully silenced many victims, through fear and secret agreements. The Cult has deflected law enforcement, the Irish Police, while shielding their Clerical pedophiles, who still operate freely in Ireland.
Many children now men, including myself, told of gangs of sexual predators stalking children like prey, Pedophile Priests who gave many children they raped the gift of a gold cross to wear, so that other Pedophile Priests could instantly recognise the chosen one, anywhere the child went. The Pedophile Priests who enjoys the sport of pursuing and raping children, like hunters who pursue game animals and birds. The predator Priests does it for the fun, the chase, the rape, the power, and because he can, he is immune. The chosen child is his food, his game, his sport, his pleasure. The naive child trusted these holy men of God, and would proudly wear the golden cross with innocent pride, as a-badge-of-honour. This gullible child would be told he was chosen by God, easy prey in the hands of any sophisticated sexual predator Priest, who would then go on to brutally rape the child, knowing that he the Pedophile Priest had complete immunity. The vulnerable child could not resist his own rape, even their own murder.
The child’s life would be ruined forever, the invisible scar of the golden cross would sear like a red hot poker into the child’s mind still the day that child dies. The Pedophile Priests, the sexual predators, would be promoted, extravagantly lauded by their many fellow sexual predators. Sexual predators continue to hunt, secretly, to enable them to enjoy their sport of ruthlessly exploiting vulnerable children, raping and even killing their game, the chosen child, all for fun. In reality, but factually and especially throughout the Christian world- North America, South America, anywhere in Europe, Australasia, anywhere in Africa -Pedophile Priests are major predators of children.
“This is the murder of a soul,” I wrote about earlier in this article and all my other articles that can be viewed on my website www.tuambabies.org
There will never be true accountability and transparency as long as this sick organisation, this Cult is allowed to function with our tax payers money, and as long as they continue to run our schools and hospitals. I accuse the Bishops of Ireland of protecting an organisation of clerical pedophiles that committed a Holocaust, with an avalanche of organised rape, torture and murder of tens of thousands of vulnerable Irish women and children in their care in the many Religious run Institutions they operated for profit in Ireland.
Here is what a “shame and sorrow.” Pope Francis did, he called for a four-day meeting of his senior bishops, to be held in Rome under the rubric “The Protection of Minors in the Catholic Church.” This was like putting convicted Pedophiles in charge of an Orphanage of children, sorry we in Ireland did just that for the last 70 years.
Something else, One of the astonishments of Pope Francis’s Irish pilgrimage was his claim, made to International Reporters during his return trip to Rome, that until then he had known nothing of the Magdalene Laundries or their scandals:
Pope Francis- “I had never heard of these Mothers—they call it the laundromat of women, where an unwed woman is pregnant and goes into these hospitals.” Never heard of these mothers?
I suppose he never heard of the tens of millions of children raped, tortured, and murdered world wide by his Catholic Clerics either. They're his pedophiles after all. What a grotesque Liar this Pope Francis is, but they all were really and holy to boot, a few were even made Saints. After all a Saint is a deviant person who is recognised as having an exceptional degree of bullshit or likeness or closeness to evil. We must remember that they the Clerics were and are profoundly immoral and wicked. Professional liars, hard working sexual predators, making a living from raping and lying to prepubescent children, immorality flows, like a cancer in their rancid blood. Owen Felix O’Neill
Irish Cardinal reportedly ordered shredding of Child Rape Documents
An Irish Cardinal with the help of all the Catholic Bishops of Ireland both in Ireland and The Vatican ordered all documents pertaining to child rape in Ireland to be shredded. The result was in a May 1994 a secret memo that identified 435 priests and 2,200 Brothers and Nuns suspected of abuse or pedophilia in Dublin.
As discussed in the secret memo dated March 12, 1992, a meeting with all Bishops of Ireland. After the meeting, The Cardinal of all Ireland, ordered his top aides to shred the memo and any documents about the meeting and also all documents relating to sexual rape anywhere in Ireland are to be destroyed, immediately. 100s of thousands of documents, a few days later were destroyed.. The meeting stated, we must do all to protect the Mother Church, at all cost…This action was taken on the basis of a directive from the Cardinal of all Ireland with the support of all the Bishops of Ireland. Also The Cardinal and The Irish Bishops denied any such meeting took place..
An Irish Cardinal with the help of all the Catholic Bishops of Ireland both in Ireland and The Vatican ordered all documents pertaining to child rape in Ireland to be shredded. The result was in a May 1994 a secret memo that identified 435 priests and 2,200 Brothers and Nuns suspected of abuse or pedophilia in Dublin.
As discussed in the secret memo dated March 12, 1992, a meeting with all Bishops of Ireland. After the meeting, The Cardinal of all Ireland, ordered his top aides to shred the memo and any documents about the meeting and also all documents relating to sexual rape anywhere in Ireland are to be destroyed, immediately. 100s of thousands of documents, a few days later were destroyed.. The meeting stated, we must do all to protect the Mother Church, at all cost…This action was taken on the basis of a directive from the Cardinal of all Ireland with the support of all the Bishops of Ireland. Also The Cardinal and The Irish Bishops denied any such meeting took place..
Call for archbishops who knew to resign
Fingal Independent By John MANNING, Wednesday December 02 2009
ANY living member of the hierarchy who knew of Fr James McNamee's abuses and simply moved him on to another parish or institution should immediately resign, according to one of the paedophile priest's victims. Bernard from Swords, was serially abused by the priest who was originally from Skerries, when Fr McNamee was serving in the parish of Crumlin in the 1970s. The Swords abuse victim said: 'Any bishop or archbishop who knew about priests who were abusing and just moved them on to serial abuse somewhere else, should resign.'
'I know people have asked them to look into their own conscience, but do they have a conscience?'
He said that victims and authorities alike had been intimidated into silence over the years. Bernard said: 'It shows the power of the Catholic Church at the time that people were afraid to speak out.' The Swords man who is now 43 years old criticised Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD for failing to call for the resignation of bishops and archbishops named and shamed in the Murphy Report on clerical abuse in Dublin. He said he was worried that the failure of those in authority to call for resignations meant that the 'deference' to the church was still endemic in Irish society.
Priest swam nude with boys
Fingal Independent By John MANNING Wednesday December 02 2009
THE first accusations of the sexual abuse of young boys by Fr James McNamee date back to 1960 and for the next 40 years his church conspired to move him on and hide him away rather making him answer for his abuses. The first complaint in 1960 centred around 'inappropriate behaviour' with two boys from Stella Marris football club. The allegations were investigated by the church with both Bishop Dunne and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, accepting the priests explanation of events after he said he 'merely permitted the boys to use the showers after returning from the seaside'.
Archbishop McQuaid was convinced of the priest's innocence and told him to 'forget about' the incident, according to the Murphy Report on clerical abuses in Dublin.
Subsequently there were a number of complaints from members of the Stella Maris football club who recalled Fr McNamee 'swimming nude with other team members’.
Abuse horror
Fingal Independent By John MANNING Wednesday December 02 2009
A MAN from Swords who was consistently abused over a period of four years by a paedophile priest says the lessons of the Murphy Report on clerical abuse must be learned to protect our children's future.
Bernard, a 43-year-old man from Swords, was abused in the swimming pool and car of Fr James McNamee between the ages of six and 10 and he still carries the psychological scars of those events today.
For Bernard, the publication of the Murphy Report has brought some closure and after the last five years in therapy, he hopes his life has turned a corner and he can put the events of those dark days behind him finally.
Victim still longs to confront abuser
Fingal Independent, By John MANNING, Wednesday December 02 2009
A SWORDS victim of a paedophile priest exposed in the Murphy Report says that seven years after the priest's death he still longs to confront him and ask him why he abused children under his care. Bernard from Swords was one of at least 21 victims of Fr James McNamee who was a serial abuser of young boys while serving in the dioceses of Crumlin in the mid 1970s.
Between the ages of six and 10, Bernard was one of the boys from Crumlin and Walkinstown that Fr McNamee abused in a swimming pool at his house in the diocese.
'I was one of the chosen few,' Bernard told the Fingal Independent wryly. 'It is amazing to think now that other boys who were not given access to the pool were jealous of us - how lucky they are.
Every auxiliary bishop had some knowledge of crimes
According to The Irish Times;-
Many other bishops failed and they should all resign, writes MARY RAFTERY
AS BISHOP Donal Murray thrashes about trying to save his own skin, it is clear he is doing immense damage to his brother bishops, as he divides and sets them against each other. It is not too difficult to find a rationale for his tenacity in the face of such strong public revulsion at his lack of action to protect children from gruesome abuse – he was not the only one (true), and consequently it is unfair that he be singled out to pay for the gross negligence of so many other bishops (also true).
The answer to this is not of course that Donal Murray should remain as bishop of Limerick. It is rather that all the other guilty ones should also resign. The point has been made that some of these are more seriously implicated than others, and all should not be tarred with the same brush.
Church and State relations
The Irish Times December 03, 2009
THE BISHOPS named in the Dublin diocese report must be made accountable for their behaviour. There is, nevertheless, a danger that in focusing in particular on the position of Bishop Donal Murray, we may miss a central point. Ultimate responsibility for the way in which the safety of children was so recklessly ignored does not lie with any individual bishop. It does not lie even with the Irish hierarchy as a whole. It lies with the Vatican.
We know this because the approach to allegations of child abuse was consistent, not simply between bishops or across Irish dioceses, but around the world. There was a way of doing things – keeping the crimes secret and moving the abusers on to another parish until the whole pattern began to repeat itself. It does not absolve Donal Murray from personal responsibility to say that he was part of this system. Equally, however, the mindset behind the system would not be fundamentally altered by his resignation.
It is in the light of the primary role of the Vatican that we must see the unwillingness of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the papal nuncio to respond to requests for information from the Murphy commission. The Taoiseach, in a painfully deferential statement in the Dáil, has endorsed these refusals as acts of “good faith” consistent with diplomatic norms. This submissiveness is entirely inappropriate to the leader of a republic, some of whose most vulnerable citizens have been grievously harmed by the policies and practices of the Holy See. It also shows either an unwillingness or an inability to grasp the nature of the scandal with which his Government is supposed to be dealing.
Bishop should not 'cling on to office'
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
CHURCH OF IRELAND: A PROMINENT Church of Ireland figure said last night that “a bishop should not cling on to office on the basis of some opinion poll, some ‘X-Factor’ vote, some popularity contest among his clergy and their parishioners”.
Canon Patrick Comerford, director of spiritual formation at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute in Dublin, said “a bishop must be a focus of unity.”
He continued: “Mistakes based on poor moral judgment, on low moral standards must be a cause of resignation.
Prelate reluctant to remain if thought a 'divisive figure'
The Irish Times By KATHRYN HAYES
BISHOP MURRAY RESPONSE: THE BISHOP of Limerick Donal Murray says he is not looking to save his position and does not wish to remain on if he is going to be a “divisive figure”.
In a statement issued yesterday, in response to comments made by Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin, a spokesman for Bishop Murray said the Limerick Bishop had given a “thorough public response” after the publication of the Dublin diocesan report.
Speaking on RTÉ on Tuesday night, Archbishop Martin said he was writing to all auxiliary bishops named in the report as he is not satisfied with some of their responses so far. He said bishops shouldn’t look for support in their own diocese as the report refers specifically to the Archdiocese of Dublin.
Cab-style child abuse body being considered
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent.
A PROPOSAL to set up a statutory body similar to the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) to deal with the issue of child abuse is being prepared for presentation to the Government by Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews.
He has also said that an audit by the HSE of child protection practices in Catholic dioceses and religious congregations is expected to be completed by December 22nd next.
The Minister is proposing that the Garda vetting unit, based in Thurles, be put on a statutory basis and that it have responsibility for the management of all soft and hard information relevant to allegations or suspicions of child abuse.
'No instructions' from State on any approach to Vatican
The Irish Times from PADDY AGNEW in Rome
CHURCH CO-OPERATION: THE IRISH Embassy to the Holy See in Rome said yesterday it had so far received “no instructions” from the Government about any approach to the Vatican related to the Commission of Investigation into the Archdiocese of Dublin.
This was relatively “normal”, Ambassador Noel Fahey suggested, as the Government only received the report last Thursday and was still considering it.
The Ambassador did not rule out that the Government might, at some future date, wish to make a representation to the Holy See about the Murphy commission report, but suggested it was much too early for such a decision. In one section of the report, “Documents Held By Rome”, the commission appeared to imply that full co-operation was not forthcoming from the Holy See. The commission reported that requests for information made to the Vatican and to the papal nuncio in Dublin went unanswered.
Cowen shows he is 'second an Irishman, first a Catholic'
The Irish Times
DUBLIN DIOCESAN REPORT: LISTENING TO Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the Dáil on Tuesday as he delivered his semper fidelis (always faithful) defence of the Vatican and the papal nunciature to Ireland over their lack of co-operation with the Dublin diocesan commission, was to be reminded of other days and another Taoiseach, writes PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent.
In April 1951, during debate on the ill-fated Mother and Child Scheme, opposed by the Catholic bishops led by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, then Taoiseach John A Costello felt impelled to announce, “I am an Irishman second: I am a Catholic first and I accept without qualification in all respects the teaching of the hierarchy and the church to which I belong.” He told the Dáil: “I, as a Catholic, obey my church authorities and will continue to do so.”
It is hardly unfair to suggest that in his doughty defence of the Vatican’s non-co-operation with a commission of this State, set up by a Government of which he was a member, our current Taoiseach has discovered he too is “an Irishman second”.
Story being used 'to get at' Bishop Murray
The Irish Times
VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: THE TEENAGE daughter of abuse victim Peter McCloskey, who died tragically following a meeting with the Limerick Catholic diocese, says she does not think Bishop Donal Murray should resign.
The late Mr McCloskey alleged that Fr Denis Daly, a priest ordained for Sydney who served in Limerick from 1978 until his death in 1987, abused him in 1980/81.
His brother Joseph claimed the 37-year-old, who was found dead on April 1st, 2006, was “devastated” by the mediation process with the diocese.
Following the publication of the Dublin diocesan report last week, Peter McCloskey’s mother Mary repeated calls she made for Bishop Murray’s resignation following her son’s death three years ago.
Bishop Murray: Conscience clear about time in diocese
Irish Examiner By Jimmy Woulfe and Fiachra O Cionnaith Thursday, December 03, 2009
THE Bishop of Limerick has said "his conscience is clear" about his time in Dublin but admitted some things should have been done differently.
Despite repeated calls from him to resign in the wake of the Murphy report into the handling of child sex abuse, Dr Donal Murray said he wouldn’t be forced out of the Church.
The embattled bishop said he is now engaged in a "listening process" in which he will gauge opinion in the Diocese of Limerick but also public opinion nationwide. He said he wants to hear in particular from the victims in Dublin.
Bishop O'Reilly "revolted " by abuse wrongdoing
The Westmeath Independent
The Bishop of Ardagh of Clonmacnois Colm O'Reilly has said this week he finds the wrongdoing highlighted in the Report from the Dublin Commission of Inquiry into child abuse by clergy revolting and shameful.
The Bishop has encouraged anyone in [the] diocese who still feels they need to be heard in relation to child abuse to contact the civil authorities.
He said: "The Report from the Dublin Commission of Enquiry into child abuse by clergy brings home once again the extent of the suffering caused to innocent children by priests who abused them. What makes this criminal activity most abhorrent is that it was perpetrated by people with a sacred calling who betrayed the trust place in them. A great wrong has been done which I find revolting and shameful.”
Litany of evil
The Irish Echo (United States), By Alana Fearon, [email protected] , December 2, 2009
There have been calls for abuse investigations in every diocese in Ireland following publication of a shocking report detailing decades of sickening child abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said the cover-up by the Catholic hierarchy in Dublin of child abuse by priests was shocking and disturbing, this in the wake of a highly-anticipated report that revealed decades of abuse was concealed by the church in an attempt to save its reputation.
The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, 1975 to 2004, also found that gardai had colluded in the cover-ups.
Canon lawyer criticises archbishop
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
IRISH AMERICAN canon lawyer Fr Tom Doyle has strongly criticised Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin’s comments on the Dublin archdiocese report.
Fr Doyle took particular exception to the archbishop’s stance on RTÉ Radio’s This Week on whether Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick should resign after publication of the report, which described the bishop’s handling of an allegation of clerical child abuse while an auxiliary bishop in Dublin as “inexcusable”.
Archbishop Martin had said resignation was a matter for Bishop Murray and indicated in his RTÉ interview that it was a matter for public opinion. Fr Doyle felt this stance was “a contradiction in terms”.
Fr Doyle added: “Anyone in any way involved with a cover-up should be forced to resign. It is far, far worse than any doctrinal slip.” As far back as the mid-1980s, Fr Doyle warned the US Catholic Church of dire consequences if the scandal of clerical child sex abuse was not dealt with openly and effectively. He was ignored and removed from his position at the Vatican embassy in Washington.
Meeting urged
The Irish Times.
THE MINISTER for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, is being urged to meet the papal nuncio to establish why the Vatican refused to supply information to the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
Labour MEP Nessa Childers said: “The Government appears to have settled for the papal nuncio’s account of events and seems prepared to allow this matter to lie unchallenged.”
She said she regretted “that the Department of Foreign Affairs appears to have ruled out any re-assessment of relations with the papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza.
Victims have challenged whole of society, says CofI archbishop
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY
VICTIMS OF clerical child sex abuse have been praised by the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev John Neill for “having the courage to bring to light the dreadful experiences of their own childhood, the victims of abuse have challenged the whole of Irish society.”
They had “performed an invaluable service to those who might be at risk now or indeed into the future.”
Commenting on the Dublin diocesan report, he said it made for “horrific reading”. He continued “the very first and by far the most important response must be one of deep sorrow for and sympathy with the many people who have suffered deeply at the hands of those in whom they should have been able to place their trust.”
Church engaged in 'damage limitation' exercise
The Irish Times By PAMELA DUNCAN
ABUSE SURVIVOR Andrew Madden has accused the Catholic Church of attempting to undermine the findings of the Dublin diocesan report and of engaging in a process of “damage limitation” since its publication.
Mr Madden, a victim of Fr Ivan Payne, said comments in recent days by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Bishop Eamon Walsh and Bishop Willie Walsh had caused considerable anger and deep distress” to those who had been sexually abused.
He added that he was shocked by the decision of priests and lay people to issue a statement in support of Bishop Donal Murray.
Ireland report into abuse by Catholic priests finds police coverup
The Christian Science Monitor, By Jason Walsh | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, from the December 2, 2009 edition
DUBLIN, Ireland - That the Catholic church covered up sexual abuse by priests for years is hardly news anymore. But the highest-profile investigation into abuse allegations yet in Ireland found another breach of public trust: The Garda Síochána, the police force for the republic, failed to investigate reports of priest abusing children and conspired to protect Catholic officials in Dublin for 30 years.
The commission on child abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin led by Judge Yvonne Murphy released its long-awaited report on the matter last week. Justice Murphy's commission investigated how allegations of child sex abuse by priests in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin were dealt with by both state and church authorities from 1975 to 2004. The report slammed the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland and, for the first time, reprimanded state agencies, particularly the Garda.
Unlike the Catholic sex abuse scandal uncovered by The Boston Globe in the archdiocese of Boston in 2002 where, instead of reporting the incidents to police, the dioceses directed the offenders to seek psychiatric treatment, in Ireland children, parents, and others reported suspicions of abuse to police but investigations did not follow. Many cases were simply referred back to church authorities instead.
COMMENT: If this is correct, there must have been a serious lack of honesty and decency in the Irish police force, as well as in those wearing religious "uniforms."
The Irish Map of Hell - 7000 in victims' march.
Religion in the News, by Christine McCarthy McMorris
On June 10, 7,000 survivors of institutional child abuse and their supporters conducted a silent March of Solidarity in Dublin. The march began at the Garden of Remembrance that honors Irish fighters for independence and proceeded to the General Post Office, which was partially destroyed by British gun ships in the 1916 Easter Rebellion.
There, organizers raised a banner quoting the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: “Cherishing all of the children of the nation equally.” The crowd carried white ribbons and held single children’s shoes above their heads on walking sticks in order, The Irish Times reported the next day, to “symbolize the innocence of so many lost childhoods.”
The march ended at Leinster House, where the Dáil, the Irish Parliament, sits. As shoes, ribbons and wreathes were laid in a pile, the silence gave way to an outbreak of weeping, shouting, and fury. Cries of “Compulsive liars!” and “We were not criminals!” and chants of “Tell the truth, tell the truth!” overwhelmed the designated speakers at the podium.
There was, wrote The Irish Times’ Carl O’Brien, “no way now of containing decades of grief, frustration and anger” suffered by “thousands of children who passed through more than 200 Catholic-run institutions over the past 70 years.” The impetus for the march was the May 20 release of the Irish government’s Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (popularly known as the Ryan Report after the commission’s chair, Justice Seán Ryan).
Journalists, critics, and clerics alike wondered what impact it would have on the already faltering Catholic Church in Ireland. “Is the Catholic Church entering into exile?” asked the Rev. Dr. Patrick Claffey in an Irish Times op-ed August 25.
Gardai near end of Meath abuse investigation [1969
Irish Independent By Elaine Keogh Wednesday December 02 2009
A garda investigation into allegations against a priest of sexually abusing young boys in the diocese of Meath is almost complete. Some of the alleged offences are said to have taken place in the presbyteries where the priest was living at the time, and others in different locations in and outside the diocese.
The offences are alleged to have taken place in 1969. The priest, now in his 70s, is no longer an active minister in the Church.
Archbishop Martin 'unhappy' with Bishop of Limerick's response
Limerick Leader Published Date: December 02, 2009
ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has said that he is not happy with the response of Limerick's Bishop, Dr Donal Murray, following the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
In an interview with RTÉ News, the Dublin Archbishop said he is writing to Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray and others to say that their responses are a matter for the people of the Dublin Archdiocese and not their own dioceses.
He gave his response last evening to Limerick journalist Joe Little on RTE as Bishop Murray gave an extensive interview to the Limerick Leader, covering in depth all the issues involved in the crisis.
The interview will be published in the Limerick Leader's weekend editions.
Limerick Bishop: 'I'm not looking to save my position'
Limerick Leader Published Date: December 02, 2009
A SPOKESPERSON of the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, has said he is "not looking to save his position", but has "merely entered into a process of engagement with the people and priest of his diocese as to whether his ministry is a hindrance or help to the diocese."
Bishop Murray was responding to comments made by the Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on Primetime on Tuesday night, in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the response received to date by the bishops named in the Murphy report.
"We would also like to stress that full consideration is being given to the opinions of all members of the public, not least those in the Archdiocese of Dublin and, particularly, survivors of clerical child sex abuse during Bishop Murray's time there as an auxiliary bishop. All voices are being heard," said a spokesperson for the bishop.
Threat of rift over abuse report
The Press Association
The country's Catholic hierarchy is facing a damaging rift after a Bishop publicly clashed with a senior colleague over the inexcusable mishandling of child sex abuse.
As the fall-out from a report on the cover-up of paedophile priests deepened, Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray hit back over calls for him to stand up and take responsibility for his actions.
Athy priest: I'll go to Lough Derg on pilgrimage in solidarity gesture with abused
Leinster Leader By Maeve McGovern and Conor McHugh
THE parish priest of Athy, Fr Michael Murtagh, said the findings described in the Murphy Commuission's Report sent shivers down his spine.
And he has said he will complete a pilgrimage to Lough Derg next summer as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the abuse.
Addressing Mass goers, Fr Murtagh said that amid the horrific hurt that has been inflicted on victims no institution, bishop or priest can completely erase the face of Christ or undo his mission.
Bishop would back report into child abuse
Longford Leader, By Liam Cosgrove, Published Date: December 04, 2009
The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois has indicated he would be willing to allow an investigatory body to undertake a report similar to the Murphy report in the Dublin archdiocese on clerical sex abuse if the "public and political will" called for it.
Bishop Colm O'Reilly was speaking less than a week after the Murphy Report uncovered shocking tales of abuse from hundreds of priests on children spanning three decades, whilst also revealing details of a massive cover-up involving Church and some agencies of the State.
The long serving cleric said he would have "no problem" in sanctioning an independent audit of the diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois as calls mount for a nationwide investigation of every diocese in the country.
‘Nothing has changed’
Irish Examiner, By Dan Collins, Wednesday, December 02, 2009
MARIE COLLINS, who was 13 years of age when she was raped in hospital by a priest, has said she is shattered by the silence of the Vatican and the response of the Church leadership in Ireland to the report on abuse in the Dublin diocese.
It is almost one week since the 720-page report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, and in that time, "nothing has changed".
"We have got the drawbridges pulled up, we have got closing of ranks; we have bishops who have not even bothered to read the report, and we have had all the apologies again about what these men did, the abusers. But we have had nothing that has said, ‘we the leadership of the Church are sorry for our actions’," Ms Collins said yesterday.
Church's view of sex the root cause of its troubles
The Irish Times
OPINION: AFTER THE first wave of revelations over a decade ago, the sexual abuse of children by the clergy was explained away by the Roman Catholic Church by the bad apple theory – that these isolated “sexual acts” were transgressions by a minority of weak priests. In the wake of the Dublin diocesan report, that explanation has been amplified to include institutional failures of decision-making in dealing with offenders and victims, and a culture of secrecy and cover-up, writes MAUREEN GAFFNEY
But tidying up corporate governance and instituting a more transparent culture is not going to resolve the scandal of clerical sexual abuse. That will require the church to face up to a much more profound problem – the church’s own teaching on sexuality.
Consider the list of issues the church has failed to deal with credibly since the 1960s: premarital and extramarital sex; remarriage; contraception; divorce; homosexuality; the role of women in ministry and women’s ordination; and the celibacy of the clergy. All have to do with sexuality.
Bishop defends response to report
BBC News —- {Prime Time}
A Catholic bishop says he has given a "thorough response" to criticisms of him in a report into the cover-up of paedophile priests in Dublin.
The Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, has released a statement following comments by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, on the Murphy Report.
Bishop Murray denies he is trying to save his position.
Murray defends 'thorough public response'
RTE News with video, Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Bishop Donal Murray has said he has given a thorough public response to the Murphy report since its publication last Thursday.
The Bishop of Limerick was responding to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's challenge to ten serving and retired bishops to explain whether they should resign in light of their handling of clerical child sexual abuse while they were prelates in Dublin.
In a statement, responding to Archbishop Martin's comments on last night's Prime Time programme, Bishop Murray says he has done three lengthy media interviews and communicated twice with Limerick's massgoers about criticisms of him in the Report.
Murray defends response
The Irish Times By CHARLIE TAYLOR
The Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray “is not looking to save his position” and has answered all questions related to the Murphy report, it was claimed today
In a statement issued this morning, a spokesman for Bishop Murray said he “had entered into a process of engagement with the people and priest of his diocese as to whether his ministry is a hindrance or help to the diocese.”
The statement comes in response to comments made by the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin last night in which he said he was not satisfied with the response of some of the bishops named in the Dublin diocesan report.
Controversial art displayed by local Dundalk Priest depicts sexual abuse
Dundalk Democrat By Tamara O'Connell
A DUNDALK priest has unveiled a controversial art installation which is "an unashamed attempt to get at the heart" of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Friar Fr Joe Walsh from Castle Road, Dundalk created the installation, which depicts sexual abuse, as a "visual response to the Ryan Report".
The brightly coloured exterior of the installation looks like a funfair or circus tent. However, the interior is darker and appears more sinister.
Teddy bears are nailed to crosses and the music to Teddy Bears' Picnic plays eerily in the background with only candles to light the way.
Unholy row with Rome an affront to victims
Irish Independent By John Cooney Wednesday December 02 2009
ALL eyes in a crowded Italian restaurant in the leafy Dublin suburb of Terenure a few weeks ago surveyed the grand entrance of a refined-looking foreign church dignitary and a well-dressed Irishman. Both men were led deferentially by Fabbio, the head waiter, to the best table in the house.
Word soon spread that the special dinner guests were none other than the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and the general secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach Dermot McCarthy.
What the Taoiseach's right-hand man and the Pope's representative in Ireland discussed at table was of little concern to the other diners, who were more thrilled that they had sighted in their midst a powerful Vatican official with access to Pope Benedict XVI.
Empty apologies from bishops an insult to victims
Irish Independent By Andrew Madden Wednesday December 02 2009
The reaction of the Catholic hierarchy to the publication of the Murphy report last Thursday is extremely annoying and deeply hurtful.
I had a meeting with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin some months ago; I made it very clear to him that if the Commission of Investigation found that the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse against priests by bishops was found to have contributed in any way to more children being sexually abused by those priests, then the very least the bishops needed to do was to own up to their part in that and apologise for it very clearly -- they should not hide their own actions behind apologies for what the abusing priests had done.
The report showed that many children were sexually abused by priests whom the bishops knew were a danger. Indeed, in the case of former priest Ivan Payne, the commission identified at least seven boys who were abused by him after I had reported him to church authorities in 1981.
Tearful Walsh apologises for 'head on a plate' remark
Irish Independent, By Gordon Deegan, Wednesday December 02 2009
THE Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh broke down and cried on live radio yesterday after saying that he didn't want to pass judgment on others.
Dr Walsh broke down after stating: "Part of my nature is never really to judge anyone else. Part of the reason for that is that I am only too conscious of my own frailty and failures, so I don't want to pass judgment on anyone else."
An under-pressure Dr Walsh was responding to the fallout from his remarks on RTE radio, on Monday, when he warned against a desire to get "a head on a plate" over calls for the resignation of the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray.
Second order has 'no more money for victims'
Irish Independent By Conor Kane and John Walshe Wednesday December 02 2009
A SECOND religious order, which ran institutions where children were abused, says it has no money to make any additional contribution to a compensation fund for victims.
The Rosminian Order and the Good Shepherd Sisters have both apologised for the hurt caused to children in their care but said they were unable to make any contribution on top of what they have already paid.
The revelation comes a week after several other congregations, including the Christian Brothers, offered an additional €200m in cash and property.
Call for State to step in on bishops' role in schools
Irish Independent By John Walshe Education Editor Wednesday December 02 2009
PARENTS want the State to decide if certain bishops should remain as patrons of primary schools.
At present the Catholic bishops are patrons of around 3,000 of the country's 3,200 primary schools. Some of them were criticised in last week's Murphy report for not doing enough in relation to allegations of abuse when they were auxiliary bishops in the Dublin diocese.
One of them, Bishop of Limerick Dr Donal Murray, has come under strong pressure to step down.
Bishop's future in balance as diocese looks at resignation
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, Wednesday December 02 2009
THE fate of the besieged Bishop of Limerick hung in the balance last night as arrangements began across his diocese for a series of meetings to decide whether he should stay or resign.
Dr Donal Murray is anxiously waiting to hear back from the parishes of the Limerick diocese to gauge the public and priests' reaction to the shocking revelations in the Murphy report.
The bishop has been under severe pressure to resign after the report labelled his failure to investigate a paedophile priest during his time as an auxiliary bishop in the Dublin Archdiocese as “inexcusable".
Taoiseach defends Vatican's silence
Irish Independent, By Michael Brennan, Wednesday December 02 2009
TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has defended the Vatican's failure to respond directly to requests for information from the Commission of Investigation into child abuse in Dublin.
The commission had sought information from the Vatican, since September 2006, about reports of child sexual abuse passed on by the Archdiocese of Dublin.
But two letters requesting information from the Pope's ambassador, the Papal Nuncio, were not answered. And the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith insisted, in March 2007, that it would only respond through the proper "diplomatic channels" -- in a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Martin demands answers 'to satisfy congregations'
Irish Independent, By Louise Hogan, Wednesday December 02 2009
ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Diarmuid Martin last night cranked up the pressure on senior clerics at the centre of the growing controversy over child sexual abuse.
Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray has been under severe pressure to resign after a state inquiry labelled his failure to investigate a paedophile priest -- during his time as an auxiliary bishop in the Dublin archdiocese -- "inexcusable".
Last night Archbishop Martin said he was writing to all the clerics in Judge Murphy's report indicating he was not happy with their replies to the Murphy Commission's findings.
Papal nunscience: Calls to expel the Vatican ambassador miss the point
Forth Wed, Dec 02, 2009
IRELAND -- Jason Walsh says public outrage at the Catholic Church is understandable but the Holy See isn’t the state at fault – Ireland is.
Demands to boot Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, the Papal nuncio, out of the country are growing louder and more vociferous by the day. Protests, both real and virtual in the form of a Facebook a group, have forced Dr. Leanza to respond to criticism that the Vatican has washed its hands of the matter and taken no interest in seeing clerical abusers tried.
The affair started when the Murphy Report into Catholic sexual abuse in Ireland revealed that both Dr. Leanza, who was appointed in 2008, and his predecessor Archbishop Giueeppe Lanzzarotto had failed to respond to two separate requests for information from the commission. Outraged parents, mostly drawn from Ireland’s rapidly growing ranks of lapsed and ex-Catholics, see this as evidence that the Vatican is at the very least complicit in the abuse of children.
Irish clerical sex abuse report reveals ‘betrayal of sacred trust,’ bishops say
Catholic News Agency, 01:43 am, Dec 2, 2009
DUBLIN, Ireland, / (CNA).- Last week an Irish government investigation released its report about the Irish bishops’ failure to combat and report clerical sexual abuse. Irish prelates have reacted with dismay and shame about their predecessors’ “betrayal of the sacred trust.” The report focused on why church leaders in the Archdiocese of Dublin did not report to police a single abuse complaint against a priest until 1995.
Archbishops and their senior deputies had compiled confidential files on more than 100 parish priests accused of sexually abusing children since 1940. The files were locked in the Dublin archbishop’s private vault, the Associated Press says.
Archbishops of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara did not report cases of abuse but tried to avoid public scandal by moving offenders from parish to parish and also overseas to U.S. churches.
Bagert will remain on supervised release for three years after serving his 51-month prison sentence. He is likely to have to register as a sex offender for life, officials said.
Our View-Cover-up of sex abuse aids holy pedophiles
UNITED STATES / IRELAND -- The Catholic Church in Ireland has come under some well-deserved fire recently for covering up widespread pedophilia. Much like similar cases across the U.S. over the past 25 years, children have been continuously exposed to the dangers of sexual abuse from those who they should be able to trust the most – priests and law enforcement.
Since the early 1990s, the Catholic Church has worked hard to avoid association with child sexual abuse. So with numerous abuse cases being brought up each year, it is no surprise that over time four archbishops – with the assistance from police and elected officials – succeeded in covering up numerous abuse cases.
In the newly released three-year Ryan Report done by the Commission of Investigation, investigators looked at a sampling of 46 priests with complaints from 320 children between 1975 and 2004. Out of the 46 only 11 were ever prosecuted; some died without ever facing accusations.
Is child sex abuser in your town?
The Irish Post, BY ROBERT MULHERN AND GRAHAM CLIFFORD;
UNITED KINGDOM -- THE LOCATION of a convicted sex offender who worked in Britain and who has been named in Ireland’s most damning child abuse report is unknown and a cause for concern.
John Kinsella was one of 46 priests named in an investigation as part of a Diocesan Report, which exposed a litany of abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin. Kinsella, who was born in 1948, was based in Yorkshire for 26 years.
He served three years of an eight-year sentence in the Curragh prison after pleading guilty to four counts of indecent assault on two brothers aged 12 and 13 in 1999.
Call for inquiry into clerical abuse
IRELAND -- Kilkenny People
Published Date: 01 December 2009 By Staff Reporter
A LEADING advocate of abuse victims in Kilkenny has called for an independent inquiry to be set up to investigate the extent of clerical child sex abuse in the Diocese of Ossory.
Manager of the Kilkenny Rape Crisis Centre, Catherine Twomey has called for an immediate investigation into the extent of abuse in the Diocese of Ossory in the wake of the findings of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, which was published last weekend.
"We have to move forward and come clean. The findings in this report are having a huge effect on people's spirituality and even more so considering that there is a retired bishop from the Diocese quoted in the report.
Altar boys were abused during Kerry holidays
Kerryman By DÓNAL NOLAN [email protected]
Wednesday December 02 2009
ALTAR boys were abused in Kerry by two priests of the Dublin Archdiocese during trips to the county in the 1970s, it was revealed in the Report of the Commission this week.
It emerged that one of the priests who abused children in his care during a Kerry trip, Fr William Carney, was reinstated to his priestly duties by former Kerry bishop, Kevin McNamara, even after he had admitted to abusing children. That evidence emerged in a shocking indictment of McNamara's record as Archbishop of Dublin contained in the report.
Fr Carney – who was restored to priestly duties by Archbishop McNamara after he pleaded guilty to charges of child sex abuse in 1983 – abused one young boy on a trip to Kerry in the late 1970s, the Commission heard. He fondled his victim's penis on that occasion as they stayed in an unspecified Kerry location. The victim told gardaí that Fr Carney had fondled his penis with his hand, but that no other abuse had taken place on the trip. The group was also accompanied by another infamous predator, Fr Francis McCarthy – who accepted that he and Fr Carney had taken two groups of altar boys to Tralee for a week's holidays. Fr McCarthy, who pleaded guilty in 1997 to abusing two people, told investigators he was unaware of any untoward behaviour on the visit.
Bishop's 'regret' over revelations in Murphy Report
Kerryman By DÓNAL NOLAN [email protected]
Wednesday December 02 2009
BISHOP Bill Murphy said he does not think a Commission should be established to inquire into child sex abuse in the Kerry diocese, but added that if it were the Church in Kerry would welcome it and do all to assist in its work.
In an interview with Radio Kerry this week, Bishop Murphy said he did not think an inquiry was necessary to examine the issue in Kerry. And in a letter to parishioners read at Masses throughout the diocese on Sunday, he expressed his 'sincere sympathy and regret' to survivors of clerical abuse.
One survivor of religious abuse in Kerry, John Prior, has said the Bishop's comments do not go far enough to addressing the problem at its root, however.
McNamara's actions caused 'severe damage'
Kerryman, By DÓNAL NOLAN, Wednesday December 02 2009
FORMER Bishop of Kerry, Kevin McNamara, 'allowed' convicted absuer Fr Tom Naughton to 'severely damage' more victims through his apparent sloth in reacting to the complaint of a victim's family, the Murphy Report found.
He also restored notorious predator, Fr William Carney, to 'priestly faculties despite his having pleaded guilty to charges of child sexual abuse in 1983 and despite the fact there were suspicions about him in relation to numerous other children,' the Report states.
The Clare native, who was Bishop of Kerry after Eamon Casey from 1976 to 1984 was one of the leading voices of conservative Catholicism in Ireland through the divisive period of liberalisation in the Irish State during the 1980s.
COMMENT: Every diocese should have sex abuse inquiry
Kerryman Wednesday December 02 2009
THE shocking implications of the Murphy Report are a matter for all jurisdictions of the Catholic Church and a commission should be established to inquire into the sexual abuse of children by clerics of all dioceses, including Kerry, at the earliest opportunity.
Such a move is necessary if the people of this country are to have any confidence in the Church's ability to protect children within its ministry in all corners of our island.
It can only be the first step of any meaningful attempt to address the wrongs inflicted by the abusers of the Church and the superiors who protected them. No other step towards ending this culture of protection can happen without it, as it is the only baseline for a full and honest rehabilitation of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
Abusers organised trips with young boys
Kerryman Wednesday December 02 2009
ABUSE was carried out by a number of priests of the Dublin archdiocese on trips organised to Kerry in the 1970s, the Commission report reveals.
Kerry was the location for a number of trips organised by priests of the Dublin Archdiocese for young people in the 1970s during which abuse took place. The Commission also heard that one suspected abuser spoke to his superiors about bringing separated wives on visits to the Kingdom, in an apparent effort to deflect attention from complaints of abuse raised about him.
In evidence heard by the commission, one farm outside of Tralee was the scene for a week's holiday organised by an unnamed priest attached to the ProCathedral in 1972. A victim of this priest – an altar boy at the ProCathedral) recalled one trip to a farm outside of Tralee: "I would have been on one holiday in Kerry, which would have been his first from the Pro-Cathedral, his first to organise. So that was probably 1972. He ha d an arrangement with …there was a farm …near Tralee. A lady there […] and she had, I think it was a bungalow on her farm and she rented it out as a holiday home."
One Kerry priest has been convicted
Kerryman Wednesday December 02 2009
WHILE allegations of child sex abuse have been made against 11 priests of the Kerry Diocese since 1955 only one has ever been convicted. Fr John Brosnan, of Gurteenrow, Firies, was senteced to four years' in jail when he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of indecent asssault on four females and one male between 1977 and 1985.
He was sentenced following a trial at Tralee Circuit Court in which jurors heard shocking evidence of his abuse from five witnesses.
It emerged following the case that the then Bishop of Kerry, Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin, had been told of the allegations against Fr John Brosnan several years before the court case, but had not removed him from his duties. He was finally relieved from his duties by Bishop Bil Murphy in 1996. Fr Brosnan is still serving a sentence at Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin.
Priest calls for bishops to resign
Drogheda Independent By Alison COMYN Wednesday December 02 2009
A LOCAL priest has condemned some figures of authority in the Catholic Church, saying anyone who covered up the heinous crimes of abuse must no longer remain in their positions.
Fr Iggy O'Donovan, from the Augustinian Church, has also told how he reported serious allegations of clerical abuse made by a local person early last year, and the bishop he contacted has never responded to him.
'Other authorities, including the gardaí, have taken action, but I have never heard from the bishop and he remains in office to this day,' says Fr Iggy. 'At the same time the person came to me telling of the crime, I went to the police, which I felt was my duty, and also the bishop, but I would have expected to have heard something from him.
http://www. independent. ie/opinion/ analysis/ bishops-must- sacrifice- themselves- to-fix-church- 1963993.html ;
Irish Independent By David Quinn, Friday December 04, 2009
AS usual the publication of a report into clerical sex abuse is being used to advance all sorts of agendas, chief among them being the long-standing aim of secularists to drive the Church from education. That this would mean depriving ordinary Catholics, who have nothing to do with the scandals, of their schools turns not a hair on their head.
Priests themselves are being portrayed as collectively suspect and threatening because of the rule of celibacy, as though non-celibates never abuse children.
Ludicrously, calls are being made to expel the Papal Nuncio even though the present nuncio is in Ireland barely a year and was never asked for documentation by the Murphy Commission.
Plea for new probe into Bernadette's murder amid claims of cover-up
[1970 Fr Columba (Passionist) and another clergyman] - RCC. Bernadette Connolly (10) dead.
The Herald, ~ December 03, 2009
The Herald has learned that detectives investigating the murder of Bernadette Connolly in Sligo were ordered not to detain a Passionist priest for questioning over the killing -- just hours before they were to move on hi Case detectives believe a Sligo-based priest, Fr Columba had information about the murder and intended to arrest him. But they received a direct order not to do so, from unnamed senior figures in the force.
According to sources, the arrest was arranged to take place at the Passionist monastery in Mount Argus, Dublin, after Fr Columba was moved there from Sligo.
A former detective told the Herald: "I got this instruction to reopen the file, to bring Father Columba in. But the night before it came from very senior figures that I was to forget about it. I had been told that Fr Columba was in Mount Argus and was told to prepare my interview. A superior officer came to me and said to call it off. I was told this was coming right from senior gardai."
A Catholic rather than a Christian country
The Irish Times, December 04, 2009
We appear not to have absorbed into our culture any real understanding of what Christ came to tell us, writes JOHN WATERS
THERE IS a place, between pew and public square, which has yet to be heard or even acknowledged in the wake of the Dublin diocesan report. It is not reached by either the moral/legalism of the media-driven public conversation or the pious mantras in which the Irish Catholic Church addresses its faithful.
Because our public discourse has an agnostic rulebook, there are limits to its probing. All Christians are citizens but not all citizens Christians, so the discussion avoids showing an interest in matters that might be deemed in-house. The Murphy report has, of course, many implications of a civic, moral and socio-political complexion, and the debate has been pretty exhaustive about these. But there are deeper questions pertaining to Christianity, which by definition cannot be dealt with in a public discussion in which faith has been separated from knowledge of reality.
Catholics can go to church seeking answers, but the most they can hope for is a replication of the responses offered to the civic realm. Some priests may address their congregations, but of necessity their contributions will be tailored to take account of external realities, while adhering to a form of cultural expression that might be deemed part of the larger problem. The bishops are preoccupied with institutional survival.
Papal princes immune to censure
The Irish Times, December 04, 2009
ANALYSIS: The Catholic Church’s hypocrisy starts right at the top of the organisation, writes JASON BERRY
THE DUBLIN diocesan report spotlights the crisis tearing at the Catholic Church’s central nervous system. At issue is the Vatican’s pathological obsession with protecting guilty church officials.
Since the 1990s, the Vatican has forced at least 15 bishops and one cardinal (the late Hans Hermann Groer of Austria) to step down for sexual abuse of youngsters. The Vatican has defrocked dozens of priests but not one bishop has been so punished – they have been removed from office but not from the priesthood.
Irish-born Anthony O’Connell, who abused three seminarians, resigned as bishop of Palm Beach, Florida in spring 2002. A titular bishop still, he lives in a South Carolina monastery.
The Wounded Irish Church
Catholic Online, By Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D., Inside Catholic ( www.insidecatholic.com ), Dec/4/2009
DUBLIN, IRELAND (Inside Catholic) - The responsory at today's Mass was especially appropriate: "The Lord is coming and will not delay; He will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation."
Sadness and anger pervades Ireland this first week of Advent. The release of the massive Murphy Report revealed more details about the three decades of abuse of minors by priests. But it was the evidence of a widespread and deliberate cover-up by Church officials and police that many found "impossible to imagine," as Emma McDermott told me.
Emma is 24 years old, a former Montessori teacher and Bailieborough native, who rediscovered her faith several years ago when her mother gave her one of the books published by lay apostolate Direction for Our Times (DFOT). "This makes me want to cry -- I was raised to have the highest regard for priests."
Martin to quiz Papal Nuncio over abuse inquiry
Irish Examiner, By Paul O’Brien and Sean O’Riordan, Friday, December 04, 2009
IRELAND -- FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin is to meet with the Papal Nuncio to Ireland to discuss the Vatican’s failure to supply information to the Dublin archdiocese abuse inquiry.
It follows a meeting between the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and the secretary general of Mr Martin’s department on Wednesday.
In a statement last night, the department said the Papal Nuncio had "called at his own request" on the secretary-general, David Cooney.
Prelate's position as chairman of maternity hospital queried
The Irish Times, By MARIE O'HALLORAN, December 04, 2009
A GOVERNMENT backbencher has told the Dáil that it is inappropriate for the Archbishop of Dublin to be chairman of the National Maternity Hospital.
Ciarán Cuffe (Green, Dún Laoghaire) said it was “time to move on from that” and it was “not appropriate for a representative of the church to chair such a hospital or many other State institutions. We have to examine carefully the possibility of putting in place an alternative mechanism for these institutions”.
Referring to the controversy over the papal nuncio’s failure to respond to the Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, Mr Cuffe said that responsibility “has to go to the top. The pope should comment on this matter and set out the changes that will arise from the horrendous evidence contained in these volumes”.
Talks with Brown on sex abuse urged
The Irish Times By MARIE O'HALLORAN
A CALL has been made for the Government to engage in direct talks with British prime minister Gordon Brown and the Northern Ireland Executive to address allegations of child sexual abuse in the North.
“There is no reason to believe that clerical sexual abuse stopped at the Border,” said Fine Gael spokesman on children Alan Shatter.
He also accused the Taoiseach of “defending the indefensible” when he “excused the conduct” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the papal nuncio. Mr Shatter said “it is a scandal the congregation and the Vatican relied on diplomatic protocol to avoid providing information to the Murphy commission”.
O'Rourke rejects Cowen's defence of Vatican silence
The Irish Times.
FIANNA FÁIL backbencher Mary O’Rourke has disagreed with the Taoiseach’s defence of the Vatican and papal nuncio who refused to co-operate with the Dublin diocesan report.
Ms O’Rourke, a former minister, referred to the “sheer discourtesy of a body called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, or something with an equally convoluted title”.
She added: “This wonderful doctrine body, wherever it is, does not reply to letters.
“Consider the discourtesy of it, and the discourtesy of the head of the Vatican, parading around Ireland in his wonderful glitzy clothes, but not replying to letters and not seeing fit to talk to his counterpart … whoever that is. It is just not good enough.”
Minister requests meeting with papal nuncio over abuse report
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY and MARY FITZGERALD
IRELAND -- THE PAPAL nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza has been requested to attend a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Iveagh House in Dublin next week.
In a brief statement last night, Mr Martin said he would be meeting the nuncio “to discuss issues surrounding the report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation”. This would include “the commission’s findings as well as the issue of the co-operation of the nuncio and the Holy See with the commission”, he said.
It also emerged yesterday that, on Wednesday, Dr Leanza called on the secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, David Cooney, at Iveagh House. The meeting was at the nuncio’s request. No details of what took place have been released.
HSE to write to all bishops over child protection audit
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
IRELAND -- THE HSE is to write to each bishop and provincial of a religious order in the State requesting further information, in addition to the statistical details already supplied by them as part of the current audit of child protection practices in Catholic dioceses and religious congregations.
It is hoped the audit will be completed by December 22nd next. However, as a number of dioceses had already asked to resubmit their questionnaire responses, this may be delayed.
The request for further information from bishops and provincials follows an intervention by Phil Garland, the HSE’s newly appointed assistant national director for children and family services.
Response to clerical child abuse report
The Irish Times
Madam, – I started reading the Murphy report at 10am in an office of the Department of Justice last Thursday week and quickly became both very angry and very sad as chapter after chapter revealed sickening details of acts of abuse perpetrated by priests on vulnerable young children. No matter how many other reports I may have read or how easily I recall my own childhood experiences at the hands of former priest Ivan Payne, there is nothing that prepares a decent human being for the details of how any adults, let alone priests, sexually abused young children.
And then there is the cover-up of that abuse. The knowing calculating self-serving cover-up of the sexual abuse of children in order to maintain secrecy, avoid scandal, protect the reputation of the church and preserve its assets. The report is quite clear that these were the preoccupations of the archdiocese in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, adding that the commission of investigation had no doubt that child sexual abuse was covered up by the archdiocese and that the structures and roles of the church facilitated that cover-up.
Ireland: call to expel Nuncio after abuse inquiry
Church Times, by Gregg Ryan, Ireland Correspondent
IRELAND -- WIDESPREAD condemnation of the way the Roman Catholic bishops of the Dublin archdiocese dealt with paedophile priests over three decades culminated in a call for the expulsion of the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, over the Vatican’s failure to respond to the scandals (News, 27 November).
The independent commission established by the Irish government under Ms Justice Yvonne Murphy of the High Court examined complaints against 46 individual priests, involving 320 children, the majority of whom were boys. One priest admitted sexual abuse of more than 100 children.
It found that four Archbishops and several auxiliary Bishops of Dublin, including five now serving in dioceses of their own, seriously failed in their duty of protection towards children.
Catholic order Sisters of Mercy in sex abuse payout -
€128,000,000.
IRELAND BBC News
The Irish Sisters of Mercy is to supply a 128m euros (£116m) package as reparation for decades of child abuse in its schools and orphanages.
In May, the Ryan report laid out a picture of systematic abuse.
The order of nuns ran five schools named in the damning report, including the notorious Goldenbridge.
Irish nuns offer 128 million euros to abuse victims
AFP
DUBLIN, Ireland – An Irish Catholic order of nuns who were strongly criticised in a report on child abuse said Thursday it will pay 128 million euros (193 million dollars) in damages.
The Sisters of Mercy said the cash and property was "reparation for the suffering of children while in residential institutions within Mercy care".
In deciding to make the contribution, the nuns said the order "attempted to be faithful to the values of reparation, reconciliation, healing and responsibility".
Murder case Gardai hit a Berlin-like wall of silence
- [1970 Unknown person] - Possible murder.
WHEN I, with others, joined the Garda Siochana's "Murder Squad" in 1980 the boss was Detective Chief Superintendent Dan Murphy, and his deputy was Detective Superintendent John Courtney. Both were vastly experienced investigators and longtime members of the squad.
One case that was always on the lips of Dan Murphy was the death of Bernadette Connolly in Co Sligo on that miserable spring day of Friday, April 17, 1970. I heard him speak about it many, many times, and that was more than 10 years since the young girl's death. …
During the course of the investigation, information was received about a green van and its registration.
Crucially, it was established that the van belonged to the Passionist priest who was based at a monastery in the locality.
When gardai tried to investigate, a wall of silence prevailed and no one would admit who was using the van between 4.30pm and 7.30pm on the day that Bernadette disappeared.
That wall of silence was more difficult to break down than the Berlin Wall and still to this day has not been penetrated.
Equally worrying are the reports that emerged that the garda file on the matter had been shown to a member of the church hierarchy.
Major Irish order of Catholic nuns offers €128 million in reparations to child abuse victims
Breaking News 24/7
DUBLIN – A major Irish order of Roman Catholic nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, is offering to pay victims of child abuse, the government and charities nearly €128 million ($193.5 million) to compensate for decades of abuse in its schools and orphanages.
Thursday’s compensation offer is the largest yet from 18 orders of Catholic priests, brothers and nuns who ran schools, workhouses and orphanages for generations of Ireland’s most deprived children until the 1990s.
"God created a child that you Priest destroyed,"
Diocese not told island priest was abuser
The Connacht Tribune December 3, 2009
Known paedophile transferred to Inishbofin in 1980's
THE Dublin Archdiocese successfully requested the transfer of a known paedophile priest to County Galway during the 1980s – without ever informing the local Catholic hierarchy that there were child protection concerns surrounding him.
Parishioners on Inisbofin were shocked to learn at the weekend that the clergy in the Tuam Archdiocese had no knowledge of potential allegations of abuse against Fr. Noel Reynolds prior to his appointment to the island.
The late Fr. Reynolds subsequently admitted abusing children on the island – however, there are no indications that any local children were targeted by the priest who was sent to the west from a Dublin parish.
'I was ashamed at having to face my congregation after damning Murphy Report'
The Strabane Chronicle By Conor Sharkey
A local parish priest has spoken of his "sha
me" at having to face his congregation in the wake of the latest sex abuse scandal to rock the Catholic church.
Fr Edward Kilpatrick, parish priest of St Patrick's Church, Murlog, spoke out days after the Murphy Report revealed the extent sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Dublin over three decades.
Published on Friday, the devastating report accused four former archbishops, a host of clergy and senior members of the Garda Síochána of covering up 30 years of sex crimes by priests in Ireland's capital.
Why clerical sex abuse probe must recognise no boundaries -
Belfast Telegraph By Eric Waugh
It was in the 1970s that the Irish bishops of the Roman Catholic Church were having one of their regular meetings in St Patrick's College, Maynooth. On these occasions they were provided with an ample luncheon.
After lunch on that day, the Bishop of Galway, Dr Michael Browne, a formidable character known to many of his people as 'Cross Michael', was still enjoying a post-prandial cigar when he strolled into the adjacent library of the college to collect a book.
The official at the desk mentioned to the bishop that, regrettably, there was a no-smoking rule in the library. But the bishop continued on his way unabashed and duly rejoined his colleagues.
Some time later, though, he had cause to re-enter the library. He was still smoking. "Second offence," he said jauntily to the attendant at the desk, waving the cigar in his fingers. In an era like our own, when the church has its back to the wall, facing public onslaught over the misdeeds of its clergy, this little cameo is not only interesting: it is significant.
Victims asked to come forward
Wickow People, Wednesday December 02 2009
GARDA COMMISSIONER Fachtna Murphy has directed an examination of the findings of the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin on the handling of complaints and investigations by Church and State authorities.
Referring to the ongoing work of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, the Commissioner said a substantial investigation was undertaken by the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit in 2002.
'The Commission itself acknowledged that this investigation was an effective, coordinated and comprehensive inquiry. The investigation has resulted in the submission of a number of files to the Director of Public Prosecutions and following his direction, people have appeared before the courts charged with serious offences.
Extend abuse probe all over, say priest and abuse victim
The Meath Chronicle, Dec 03, 2009
A Navan area parish priest has called for the Commission of Investigation into clerical abuse in Dublin to be extended to all dioceses in the country, declaring that if this was not done, the subject would continue to come up for the next 20 to 30 years.
Fr Martin Mulvaney, PP, Johnstown Parish, said that it would be "grossly unfair" to victims of abuse if their suffering was to be "regurgitated year after year", adding that he felt an extension of the remit of the commission nationwide was now warranted.
Meanwhile, a Trim resident who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of two Christian Brothers in an industrial school, said he felt vindicated by the findings of the Murphy Report and also demanded "a complete trawl of every diocese in the country so that we can root out this cancer in our midst". However, Michael Clemenger, who has written a book about his experiences - 'Holy Terrors' - said that while he wanted abusers to be "exposed, named and shamed", he did not see any point in jailing people.
Commission's inquiry should be extended to all dioceses -
The Meath Chronicle, Opinion.
Judge Yvonne Murphy's shattering report on the obsessive secrecy and culture of covering up sex abuse scandals in the Dublin archdiocese was every bit as bad as had been predicted, and sees the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland facing its greatest ever crisis after it was revealed that not only were thousands of children raped and abused by Catholic priests, many of them serial offenders, in the Dublin diocese over a 30-year period, but that the allegations of abuse were completely mishandled by both Church and State authorities.
The devastating abuse report accuses the Church of denial, arrogance and cover-ups, adding that there was no regard for child welfare among bishops. The report has been severely critical of the handling and covering up of abuse complaints by some of the most senior hierarchical figures within the archdiocese. The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation was established in 2006 to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse involving Dublin diocesan priests, as well as priests and members of religious orders who worked in or were attached to the capital's parishes and schools.
Irish Cardinal reportedly ordered shredding of child rape docs
An Irish Cardinal with the help of the Catholic Bishops of Ireland both in Ireland and The Vatican ordered all documents pertaining to child abuse in Ireland to be shredded. The result was in a May 1994 a secret memo that identified 435 priests and 2,200 Brothers and Nuns suspected of abuse or pedophilia.
As discussed in the secret memo dated March 12, 1992, a meeting with all Bishops of Ireland. After the meeting, The Cardinal of all Ireland, allegedly ordered his top aides to shred the memo and any documents about the meeting and also all documents relating to sexual abuse anywhere in Ireland are to be destroyed. Thousands of papers, a few days later were destroyed.. The meeting stated, we must do all to protect the Mother Church, at all cost…This action was taken on the basis of a directive from the Cardinal of all Ireland with the support of all the Bishops of Ireland. Also The Cardinal and The Irish Bishops denied any such meeting took place..
Denial of and inaction on abuse reflects badly on senior churchmen
The Southern Star, By Editor, Saturday December 5th, 2009
AT the time of the publication last May of the Ryan Report into systemic physical and sexual abuse of children in institutions run by various religious orders on behalf of the State – which made for terribly unsettling reading – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin hinted that what was to come in the report on clerical child abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin would be even more shocking. The publication on Thursday of last week of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, otherwise known as the Murphy Report, confirmed that the information that Archbishop Martin was privy to then was every bit as horrific as he had intimated and there is no doubt that it will be hugely damaging to the Roman Catholic Church at a time when the institution is already suffering from a huge drop in numbers attending Mass as well as a dearth of vocations to the priesthood.
The vast majority of clergy still serving are good people and should not be tainted as guilty by association with those who abused their positions of trust over the years to defile innocent young people by sexually abusing them and condemning them to lives of self-doubt about their own worth, which in turn led them to abuse alcohol or drugs or even other people, or perhaps to inflict self-harm or attempt suicide. However, there are some men still in positions of authority in the Irish hierarchy who failed to do the right thing by those unfortunate members of their flock who fell prey to evil abusers and, as Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny correctly called for at the weekend, they should resign.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was somewhat ambivalent when asked what he thought of that call, saying that it was a matter for these people’s own consciences to consider and decide on. However, as former Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte stated, the members of the hierarchy whose actions – or lack of same – have been exposed and branded as inexcusable by Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report should not be allowed by the State to have any further role in patronage of educational institutions in their dioceses.
Moral compass must point towards justice for victims
Irish Independent, By Collette Caddle, Thursday December 03 2009
There is much in our world today to annoy us. The banks lost all our money and yet we have to rescue them. The councils built on flood plains and people's homes have been destroyed as a result. And as if life wasn't miserable enough, we were robbed of the opportunity to play in the World Cup in South Africa. It was the final straw. We were incensed, furious, livid and we wanted action. Someone should pay.
Yet how apathetic is our reaction when we learn that the Catholic Church, instead of protecting our children, put them in danger? Where is the anger, where is the call for action? When did our moral compass become so skewed?
I'm not interested in witch hunts but I would like to see justice done and I do want change. Yet the main reactions to the Murphy report are ones of embarrassment, shame, disapproval and a certain acceptance that these things happen.
Senior clergy 'would not object' to further inquiries by State
Irish Independent By Gordon Deegan and John Cooney, Thursday December 03 2009
BISHOP of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh yesterday revealed that he and other bishops he has spoken to would have no difficulty with state inquiries into clerical child sex abuse in their own dioceses.
"I would certainly be quite happy to have an inquiry into my diocese," Dr Walsh said at his residence in Ennis yesterday.
"I would certainly co-operate fully with it. "It would be painful, but I would be quite happy to have it.”
Bishop Murray signals he may stand down over criticism
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, John Cooney and Elaine Keogh; Thursday December 03 2009
EMBATTLED Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray last night gave his first public signal that he may leave his post.
The Dublin-born bishop said he might resign -- even if the pastoral bodies from whom he has sought guidance about his record on child protection come out in favour of him staying.
Responding to criticisms of his "inexcusable" handling of a paedophile priest during his time as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin, Bishop Murray said: "In the unlikely event it (the guidance) was entirely positive, I still have my own decision … about whether I feel I can be Bishop of Limerick.”
Dead man's wife claims under-fire bishop is also victim
Irish Independent By Barry Duggan Thursday December 03 2009
THE former wife and daughter of a child sex abuse victim who took his own life believe the Bishop of Limerick should be allowed to continue his work. Cathy McCloskey, whose husband Peter died three years ago after repeated attempts to seek redress from Dr Donal Murray following the sexual abuse he suffered, said the bishop should not be forced from office. Peter McCloskey was repeatedly raped by Fr Denis Daly, who has since died, in the Caherdavin parish while serving as an altar boy in 1980/81. He reported the matter to Dr Murray in 2002, but died four years later. After Dr Murray was named in last week's Murphy report, Peter's father Aidan said that "a criminal would have been treated better by the bishop" and called for the bishop's immediate resignation.
Response to clerical child abuse report
The Irish Times
Madam, – My instinct is to defend the church from unfounded attacks. But the revelations of the Murphy report are something else. The actions, or rather, for the most part, the inactions of the bishops named there are simply indefensible.
At the very least, it would seem, all were guilty of negligence – some, such as Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, whose behaviour was described as “inexcusable”, more than others. But all were deemed guilty of inaction, of failing to listen to their conscience, as Mary Raftery put it on radio and television.
They were deemed guilty of putting the interests of the institution above the safety and welfare of children. Their failure to act when necessary, whatever the motivation, caused profound emotional damage to the victims of clerical sexual abuse and their families, and facilitated even more abuse. Their failure to act decisively has also, as Fr Tom Doyle, the American canon lawyer, said on Prime Time, caused untold spiritual damage to those entrusted to their pastoral care. To begin with, all bishops mentioned in the report should resign immediately from their current pastoral positions. The longer they delay in doing so, the greater the damage they will do to all faithful Catholics, and in particular to the survivors of abuse who are still paying the price for the sins of their priests and bishops. – Yours, etc, Rev Dr D VINCENT TWOMEY, SVD; Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, Divine Word Missionaries, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Madam, – I have just finished cutting Bishop Donal Murray out of my child’s confirmation photographs taken in 1990. I couldn’t stomach the sight of him standing there, not a care in the world, his arm resting around the shoulders of my lovely, innocent child. It breaks my heart to think that on that day that was so happy for my children and me, Bishop Murray was exposing other lovely, innocent little children to the demonic practices of his cohorts.
I’m a practising Catholic; one who is finding it very difficult to believe a word coming from the mouths of any bishop, priest, or the pope.
None of them cared a whit for those little children, if they did they would have, if necessary, placed themselves between those “monsters” and their tiny prey. I have no doubt their minds were on more important things, like minding the church’s millions.
I am a mother of retirement age, and feel sick every time I see any of those old reprobates on TV, their big heads swollen with self- indulgent piety. Where was Bishop Murray’s conscience in all of this, “his judgment of reason”? He was told and therefore knew that deeds were being done that ran contrary to the law of the land. Bishop Murray and the others are supposed to be “servants of God.” Poor God, what a disservice they’ve done him. He should resign immediately. – Yours, etc, LIZ BOWIE, Highthorn Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Theologian calls on all bishops in report to resign
The Irish Times By PATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent.
ALL BISHOPS named in the Dublin diocesan report “should resign immediately from their current pastoral positions”, leading theologian Dr Vincent Twomey has said. The former professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, said “the longer they delay in doing so, the greater the damage they will do to all faithful Catholics, and in particular to the survivors of abuse who are still paying the price for the sins of their priests and bishops”. In a letter published in The Irish Times today, he says “my instinct is to defend the church from unfounded attacks. But the revelations of the Murphy report are something else. The actions, or rather for the most part, the inactions of the bishops named there are simply indefensible.
No mother had a chance against the powers they were up against
The Herald, By Sinead Ryan, Friday December 04 2009
A caller to one of the many radio talk shows discussing the fallout from the Murphy Report this week simply couldn't understand why parents, who knew paedophile priests were operating, didn't do more.
"But why didn't they tell the guards?" she demanded. "Why didn't they keep it up?" She sounded young -- perhaps a young mother herself. Her bewilderment is easy to understand if we apply today's values and society to the question—-Insist
However, she was referring to 30 or 40 years ago when, despite parents' concerns and in some cases, full knowledge, the very authorities that today we would insist on hearing us, turned a deaf ear.
Worse, in some cases, they colluded with those suspected of committing crimes. Yesterday's re-telling of the tragic murder of Bernadette Connolly, believed to have been carried out by a monk, now deceased, at Cloonmahon Monastery, is a classic, if appalling, example of the extent of 'cover up' -- a word which in today's language merely means not quite telling the truth -- a 'mental reservation' if you like. Sure, it could happen to a bishop.
Bishop attended parties thrown by paedophile priest says abuse victim
The Herald, By Charlie Mallon, EXCLUSIVE, Friday December 04 2009
A LEADING Irish bishop enjoyed Sunday afternoon parties at the home of a notorious paedophile priest -- with abused children as guests.
Bishop James Kavanagh joined in parties at the home of sex abuser priest Fr Bill Carney while children abused by Carney were there as his weekend "guests". The astonishing claim was made today by one of defrocked Carney's victims, who bore him a child at the age of 22, having been abused by him from the age of 10.
The Herald has also learned that paedophile priest Carney is now a grandad.
Cowen critical of Church handling of abuse cases
Offaly Express Published Date: December 04, 2009
TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has criticised the handling of abuse cases by Catholic bishops and senior prelates, in a reaction to the Murphy report on the handling of cases in the Dublin archdiocese.
He stated "The Report of the Murphy Commission is truly shocking and disturbing.
It is a crushing verdict that the good name and standing of the Church as an institution was placed above the basic safety of children. Where this was facilitated by servants of the State, it was a betrayal of trust and a complete abandoning of duty.
Bernadette witness could still be quizzed
The Herald By Cormac Byrne, Friday December 04 2009
A POSSIBLE witness in the case of murdered schoolgirl Bernadette Connolly could still be questioned -- if the garda opt to reopen the case.
The revelation comes after an appeal in the Herald by broadcaster Gerry Ryan to have the 39-year-old cold case re-examined.
The schoolgirl (10) disappeared close to her Co Sligo home in April 1970, and her body was discovered three months later 15 miles away.
Gardai had two suspects in the case: a priest, Fr Columba; and a second person, a monk.
Minister tackles Papal Nuncio on abuse
The Herald, By Clodagh Sheehy, Friday December 04 2009
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal [? Micheál] Martin has asked the Papal Nuncio to meet him to discuss concerns about the Murphy Commission Report into abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
The failure of both the Vatican and Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza to co-operate with the commission was highlighted in the abuse report. The meeting will take place on Tuesday.
Defection from Catholic Church
Bock the Robber, Dec 3rd, 2009
I haven’t believed in any form of religion since I was twelve and even then I thought it was all nonsense. But yet, until recently, I thought it was sufficient simply to walk away. I was wrong. The Catholic church is not something you just walk away from, because the Catholic church clings like old chewing gum to everything it touches. It abuses our children and our sick. It owns our politicians, and it takes our money. It hates us.
Foreign Agents Cover Up Child Abuse in Ireland
Bock the Robber Dec 4th, 2009
The Commission of Investigation wrote to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in the Vatican asking for its help. It needed information about concealment of a multiple crime by agents of the Vatican. The CDF, formerly known as the Holy Inquisition, headed by Josef Ratzinger until he became Pope, ignored the letter.
The Commission also wrote to the Papal Nuncio, who is the Vatican’s ambassador to Ireland, seeking similar assistance. He also ignored the request. Subsequently, the Vatican complained to the Irish government that the Commission had breached protocol by not making the inquiries through diplomatic channels. This is false.
McCloskey Family Statement
Bock the Robber, Dec 3rd, 2009
This is a statement received from the family of Peter McCloskey. It has been reproduced here without alteration. McCloskey Family Statement on 3rd December 2009
Issued by Peter McCloskey’s parents, Aidan & Mary, his brother Joseph and sister Aida.
Peter McCloskey is our son and brother. United with common purpose we speak now on his behalf. As a family, we have found the events of recent years deeply traumatic. In common with many families, who have had similar experiences, we are familiar with “The Silent Episcopal Wall” that leaves us torn apart, above all wounded.
The publication of the Ryan Report, and more recently the Murphy Report concerning the Dublin Archdiocese, has resonated deeply within our family. It crystallises for us, that Peter’s search for truth and justice in approaching the Limerick Diocese, to expose his experience of clerical child sexual abuse, was as innately corrupt as that of the Dublin Archdiocese. The cover-up is endemic and country wide in the Catholic Church.
Fears for Harney as Facebook gets Govt to call papal nuncio to task
The Mire, Friday, December 4, 2009
Social media gurus are expecting a surge of activity on the Feck Off Mary Harney Facebook page after a Facebook campaign against the papal nuncio to Ireland resulted in his being called to task by the Government.
The page was created by Simon McGarr after the report of the commission of inquiry into sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese revealed that the papal nuncio had refused to reply to investigators. The government refused to find fault with the papal nuncio following the report but yesterday he was requested to attend a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Iveagh House in Dublin next week.
Report on clergy abuse in Dublin church leads to calls for more action
The Pilot (United States Boston RC archdiocese paper), By Cian Molloy, Posted: Dec/4/2009
IRELAND, (CNS) -- A report detailing failures of church leaders' handling of sex abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Dublin has resulted in calls for bishops' resignations and further investigations and prosecution.
"The Dublin Archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets," said the report by the independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy. "All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state." The report said church officials and police colluded in covering up instances of child sexual abuse by clergy.
Snodaigh calls for inquiry in every Diocese
An Problacht.
PRESSURE is building against Catholic bishops named in The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, also known as the Murphy Report, with widespread dissatisfaction with their responses to date.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said on Tuesday that he is writing to Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray and others to say that their responses are a matter for the people of the Dublin Archdiocese and not their own dioceses. Martin said: ‘Everybody has to stand up and accept responsibility for what they did.
Ireland should pray for a white knight to rid it of these bishops
Belfast Telegraph, Friday, 4 December 4, 2009
The Catholic church is in disgrace. We do not know how many priests have molested children, but we know that hundreds did. The old argument put up in defence of the church - that a child was in no greater danger from a priest than from any other type of person - is now invalidated. Children were in danger at the altar rails, in the sacristy and in schools.
Still, it is likely that more priests - many more - did not offend than did. There is no excuse for some of the craven whingeing from priests who tell us that they suffer now for sins they did not commit, drawn low in general esteem by the behaviour of others.
Suicide victim's parents say bishop should go
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, Friday December 04 2009
THE parents of a clerical sex abuse victim who took his own life have repeated their call for the Bishop of Limerick to resign.
Peter McCloskey (37) died in 2006 after repeated attempts to seek redress from Dr Donal Murray and the Limerick diocese following the sexual abuse he suffered as an altar boy in the early 1980s. He was repeatedly raped by deceased priest, Fr Denis Daly in the Caherdavin parish between 1980 and 1981.
Two more congregations reveal contributions to trust
The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY
TWO MORE of the 18 congregations investigated by the Ryan commission have revealed they intend to contribute to a trust being set up to help former residents of institutions that they managed.
The Sisters of Mercy are to contribute €127.5 million in cash and assets – €20 million in cash, and properties valued at €107,506,800.
Of this amount, the State is to receive €80,856,800; a trust for former residents is to be paid €11,590,000; and voluntary groups will receive €5,060,000.
€500m compensation offer to victims of clerical abuse
Belfast Telegraph Friday, December 4, 2009
Religious orders in Ireland are to hand over close to €500m in total to compensate victims of sex abuse.
The latest to announce their increased offer are the Sisters of Mercy who revealed last night that they are handing over more than €20m in cash and €107.5m in property.
They said that they wholeheartedly regretted the suffering experienced by children in their care.
An Irish Cardinal with the help of the Catholic Bishops of Ireland both in Ireland and The Vatican ordered all documents pertaining to child abuse in Ireland to be shredded. The result was in a May 1994 a secret memo that identified 435 priests and 2,200 Brothers and Nuns suspected of abuse or pedophilia.
As discussed in the secret memo dated March 12, 1992, a meeting with all Bishops of Ireland. After the meeting, The Cardinal of all Ireland, allegedly ordered his top aides to shred the memo and any documents about the meeting and also all documents relating to sexual abuse anywhere in Ireland are to be destroyed. Thousands of papers, a few days later were destroyed.. The meeting stated, we must do all to protect the Mother Church, at all cost…This action was taken on the basis of a directive from the Cardinal of all Ireland with the support of all the Bishops of Ireland. Also The Cardinal and The Irish Bishops denied any such meeting took place..
Denial of and inaction on abuse reflects badly on senior churchmen
The Southern Star, By Editor, Saturday December 5th, 2009
AT the time of the publication last May of the Ryan Report into systemic physical and sexual abuse of children in institutions run by various religious orders on behalf of the State – which made for terribly unsettling reading – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin hinted that what was to come in the report on clerical child abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin would be even more shocking. The publication on Thursday of last week of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, otherwise known as the Murphy Report, confirmed that the information that Archbishop Martin was privy to then was every bit as horrific as he had intimated and there is no doubt that it will be hugely damaging to the Roman Catholic Church at a time when the institution is already suffering from a huge drop in numbers attending Mass as well as a dearth of vocations to the priesthood.
The vast majority of clergy still serving are good people and should not be tainted as guilty by association with those who abused their positions of trust over the years to defile innocent young people by sexually abusing them and condemning them to lives of self-doubt about their own worth, which in turn led them to abuse alcohol or drugs or even other people, or perhaps to inflict self-harm or attempt suicide. However, there are some men still in positions of authority in the Irish hierarchy who failed to do the right thing by those unfortunate members of their flock who fell prey to evil abusers and, as Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny correctly called for at the weekend, they should resign.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was somewhat ambivalent when asked what he thought of that call, saying that it was a matter for these people’s own consciences to consider and decide on. However, as former Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte stated, the members of the hierarchy whose actions – or lack of same – have been exposed and branded as inexcusable by Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report should not be allowed by the State to have any further role in patronage of educational institutions in their dioceses.
Moral compass must point towards justice for victims
Irish Independent, By Collette Caddle, Thursday December 03 2009
There is much in our world today to annoy us. The banks lost all our money and yet we have to rescue them. The councils built on flood plains and people's homes have been destroyed as a result. And as if life wasn't miserable enough, we were robbed of the opportunity to play in the World Cup in South Africa. It was the final straw. We were incensed, furious, livid and we wanted action. Someone should pay.
Yet how apathetic is our reaction when we learn that the Catholic Church, instead of protecting our children, put them in danger? Where is the anger, where is the call for action? When did our moral compass become so skewed?
I'm not interested in witch hunts but I would like to see justice done and I do want change. Yet the main reactions to the Murphy report are ones of embarrassment, shame, disapproval and a certain acceptance that these things happen.
Senior clergy 'would not object' to further inquiries by State
Irish Independent By Gordon Deegan and John Cooney, Thursday December 03 2009
BISHOP of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh yesterday revealed that he and other bishops he has spoken to would have no difficulty with state inquiries into clerical child sex abuse in their own dioceses.
"I would certainly be quite happy to have an inquiry into my diocese," Dr Walsh said at his residence in Ennis yesterday.
"I would certainly co-operate fully with it. "It would be painful, but I would be quite happy to have it.”
Bishop Murray signals he may stand down over criticism
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, John Cooney and Elaine Keogh; Thursday December 03 2009
EMBATTLED Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray last night gave his first public signal that he may leave his post.
The Dublin-born bishop said he might resign -- even if the pastoral bodies from whom he has sought guidance about his record on child protection come out in favour of him staying.
Responding to criticisms of his "inexcusable" handling of a paedophile priest during his time as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin, Bishop Murray said: "In the unlikely event it (the guidance) was entirely positive, I still have my own decision … about whether I feel I can be Bishop of Limerick.”
Dead man's wife claims under-fire bishop is also victim
Irish Independent By Barry Duggan Thursday December 03 2009
THE former wife and daughter of a child sex abuse victim who took his own life believe the Bishop of Limerick should be allowed to continue his work. Cathy McCloskey, whose husband Peter died three years ago after repeated attempts to seek redress from Dr Donal Murray following the sexual abuse he suffered, said the bishop should not be forced from office. Peter McCloskey was repeatedly raped by Fr Denis Daly, who has since died, in the Caherdavin parish while serving as an altar boy in 1980/81. He reported the matter to Dr Murray in 2002, but died four years later. After Dr Murray was named in last week's Murphy report, Peter's father Aidan said that "a criminal would have been treated better by the bishop" and called for the bishop's immediate resignation.
Response to clerical child abuse report
The Irish Times
Madam, – My instinct is to defend the church from unfounded attacks. But the revelations of the Murphy report are something else. The actions, or rather, for the most part, the inactions of the bishops named there are simply indefensible.
At the very least, it would seem, all were guilty of negligence – some, such as Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, whose behaviour was described as “inexcusable”, more than others. But all were deemed guilty of inaction, of failing to listen to their conscience, as Mary Raftery put it on radio and television.
They were deemed guilty of putting the interests of the institution above the safety and welfare of children. Their failure to act when necessary, whatever the motivation, caused profound emotional damage to the victims of clerical sexual abuse and their families, and facilitated even more abuse. Their failure to act decisively has also, as Fr Tom Doyle, the American canon lawyer, said on Prime Time, caused untold spiritual damage to those entrusted to their pastoral care. To begin with, all bishops mentioned in the report should resign immediately from their current pastoral positions. The longer they delay in doing so, the greater the damage they will do to all faithful Catholics, and in particular to the survivors of abuse who are still paying the price for the sins of their priests and bishops. – Yours, etc, Rev Dr D VINCENT TWOMEY, SVD; Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, Divine Word Missionaries, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Madam, – I have just finished cutting Bishop Donal Murray out of my child’s confirmation photographs taken in 1990. I couldn’t stomach the sight of him standing there, not a care in the world, his arm resting around the shoulders of my lovely, innocent child. It breaks my heart to think that on that day that was so happy for my children and me, Bishop Murray was exposing other lovely, innocent little children to the demonic practices of his cohorts.
I’m a practising Catholic; one who is finding it very difficult to believe a word coming from the mouths of any bishop, priest, or the pope.
None of them cared a whit for those little children, if they did they would have, if necessary, placed themselves between those “monsters” and their tiny prey. I have no doubt their minds were on more important things, like minding the church’s millions.
I am a mother of retirement age, and feel sick every time I see any of those old reprobates on TV, their big heads swollen with self- indulgent piety. Where was Bishop Murray’s conscience in all of this, “his judgment of reason”? He was told and therefore knew that deeds were being done that ran contrary to the law of the land. Bishop Murray and the others are supposed to be “servants of God.” Poor God, what a disservice they’ve done him. He should resign immediately. – Yours, etc, LIZ BOWIE, Highthorn Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Theologian calls on all bishops in report to resign
The Irish Times By PATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent.
ALL BISHOPS named in the Dublin diocesan report “should resign immediately from their current pastoral positions”, leading theologian Dr Vincent Twomey has said. The former professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, said “the longer they delay in doing so, the greater the damage they will do to all faithful Catholics, and in particular to the survivors of abuse who are still paying the price for the sins of their priests and bishops”. In a letter published in The Irish Times today, he says “my instinct is to defend the church from unfounded attacks. But the revelations of the Murphy report are something else. The actions, or rather for the most part, the inactions of the bishops named there are simply indefensible.
No mother had a chance against the powers they were up against
The Herald, By Sinead Ryan, Friday December 04 2009
A caller to one of the many radio talk shows discussing the fallout from the Murphy Report this week simply couldn't understand why parents, who knew paedophile priests were operating, didn't do more.
"But why didn't they tell the guards?" she demanded. "Why didn't they keep it up?" She sounded young -- perhaps a young mother herself. Her bewilderment is easy to understand if we apply today's values and society to the question—-Insist
However, she was referring to 30 or 40 years ago when, despite parents' concerns and in some cases, full knowledge, the very authorities that today we would insist on hearing us, turned a deaf ear.
Worse, in some cases, they colluded with those suspected of committing crimes. Yesterday's re-telling of the tragic murder of Bernadette Connolly, believed to have been carried out by a monk, now deceased, at Cloonmahon Monastery, is a classic, if appalling, example of the extent of 'cover up' -- a word which in today's language merely means not quite telling the truth -- a 'mental reservation' if you like. Sure, it could happen to a bishop.
Bishop attended parties thrown by paedophile priest says abuse victim
The Herald, By Charlie Mallon, EXCLUSIVE, Friday December 04 2009
A LEADING Irish bishop enjoyed Sunday afternoon parties at the home of a notorious paedophile priest -- with abused children as guests.
Bishop James Kavanagh joined in parties at the home of sex abuser priest Fr Bill Carney while children abused by Carney were there as his weekend "guests". The astonishing claim was made today by one of defrocked Carney's victims, who bore him a child at the age of 22, having been abused by him from the age of 10.
The Herald has also learned that paedophile priest Carney is now a grandad.
Cowen critical of Church handling of abuse cases
Offaly Express Published Date: December 04, 2009
TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has criticised the handling of abuse cases by Catholic bishops and senior prelates, in a reaction to the Murphy report on the handling of cases in the Dublin archdiocese.
He stated "The Report of the Murphy Commission is truly shocking and disturbing.
It is a crushing verdict that the good name and standing of the Church as an institution was placed above the basic safety of children. Where this was facilitated by servants of the State, it was a betrayal of trust and a complete abandoning of duty.
Bernadette witness could still be quizzed
The Herald By Cormac Byrne, Friday December 04 2009
A POSSIBLE witness in the case of murdered schoolgirl Bernadette Connolly could still be questioned -- if the garda opt to reopen the case.
The revelation comes after an appeal in the Herald by broadcaster Gerry Ryan to have the 39-year-old cold case re-examined.
The schoolgirl (10) disappeared close to her Co Sligo home in April 1970, and her body was discovered three months later 15 miles away.
Gardai had two suspects in the case: a priest, Fr Columba; and a second person, a monk.
Minister tackles Papal Nuncio on abuse
The Herald, By Clodagh Sheehy, Friday December 04 2009
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal [? Micheál] Martin has asked the Papal Nuncio to meet him to discuss concerns about the Murphy Commission Report into abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
The failure of both the Vatican and Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza to co-operate with the commission was highlighted in the abuse report. The meeting will take place on Tuesday.
Defection from Catholic Church
Bock the Robber, Dec 3rd, 2009
I haven’t believed in any form of religion since I was twelve and even then I thought it was all nonsense. But yet, until recently, I thought it was sufficient simply to walk away. I was wrong. The Catholic church is not something you just walk away from, because the Catholic church clings like old chewing gum to everything it touches. It abuses our children and our sick. It owns our politicians, and it takes our money. It hates us.
Foreign Agents Cover Up Child Abuse in Ireland
Bock the Robber Dec 4th, 2009
The Commission of Investigation wrote to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in the Vatican asking for its help. It needed information about concealment of a multiple crime by agents of the Vatican. The CDF, formerly known as the Holy Inquisition, headed by Josef Ratzinger until he became Pope, ignored the letter.
The Commission also wrote to the Papal Nuncio, who is the Vatican’s ambassador to Ireland, seeking similar assistance. He also ignored the request. Subsequently, the Vatican complained to the Irish government that the Commission had breached protocol by not making the inquiries through diplomatic channels. This is false.
McCloskey Family Statement
Bock the Robber, Dec 3rd, 2009
This is a statement received from the family of Peter McCloskey. It has been reproduced here without alteration. McCloskey Family Statement on 3rd December 2009
Issued by Peter McCloskey’s parents, Aidan & Mary, his brother Joseph and sister Aida.
Peter McCloskey is our son and brother. United with common purpose we speak now on his behalf. As a family, we have found the events of recent years deeply traumatic. In common with many families, who have had similar experiences, we are familiar with “The Silent Episcopal Wall” that leaves us torn apart, above all wounded.
The publication of the Ryan Report, and more recently the Murphy Report concerning the Dublin Archdiocese, has resonated deeply within our family. It crystallises for us, that Peter’s search for truth and justice in approaching the Limerick Diocese, to expose his experience of clerical child sexual abuse, was as innately corrupt as that of the Dublin Archdiocese. The cover-up is endemic and country wide in the Catholic Church.
Fears for Harney as Facebook gets Govt to call papal nuncio to task
The Mire, Friday, December 4, 2009
Social media gurus are expecting a surge of activity on the Feck Off Mary Harney Facebook page after a Facebook campaign against the papal nuncio to Ireland resulted in his being called to task by the Government.
The page was created by Simon McGarr after the report of the commission of inquiry into sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese revealed that the papal nuncio had refused to reply to investigators. The government refused to find fault with the papal nuncio following the report but yesterday he was requested to attend a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Iveagh House in Dublin next week.
Report on clergy abuse in Dublin church leads to calls for more action
The Pilot (United States Boston RC archdiocese paper), By Cian Molloy, Posted: Dec/4/2009
IRELAND, (CNS) -- A report detailing failures of church leaders' handling of sex abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Dublin has resulted in calls for bishops' resignations and further investigations and prosecution.
"The Dublin Archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets," said the report by the independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy. "All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state." The report said church officials and police colluded in covering up instances of child sexual abuse by clergy.
Snodaigh calls for inquiry in every Diocese
An Problacht.
PRESSURE is building against Catholic bishops named in The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, also known as the Murphy Report, with widespread dissatisfaction with their responses to date.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said on Tuesday that he is writing to Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray and others to say that their responses are a matter for the people of the Dublin Archdiocese and not their own dioceses. Martin said: ‘Everybody has to stand up and accept responsibility for what they did.
Ireland should pray for a white knight to rid it of these bishops
Belfast Telegraph, Friday, 4 December 4, 2009
The Catholic church is in disgrace. We do not know how many priests have molested children, but we know that hundreds did. The old argument put up in defence of the church - that a child was in no greater danger from a priest than from any other type of person - is now invalidated. Children were in danger at the altar rails, in the sacristy and in schools.
Still, it is likely that more priests - many more - did not offend than did. There is no excuse for some of the craven whingeing from priests who tell us that they suffer now for sins they did not commit, drawn low in general esteem by the behaviour of others.
Suicide victim's parents say bishop should go
Irish Independent, By Barry Duggan, Friday December 04 2009
THE parents of a clerical sex abuse victim who took his own life have repeated their call for the Bishop of Limerick to resign.
Peter McCloskey (37) died in 2006 after repeated attempts to seek redress from Dr Donal Murray and the Limerick diocese following the sexual abuse he suffered as an altar boy in the early 1980s. He was repeatedly raped by deceased priest, Fr Denis Daly in the Caherdavin parish between 1980 and 1981.
Two more congregations reveal contributions to trust
The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY
TWO MORE of the 18 congregations investigated by the Ryan commission have revealed they intend to contribute to a trust being set up to help former residents of institutions that they managed.
The Sisters of Mercy are to contribute €127.5 million in cash and assets – €20 million in cash, and properties valued at €107,506,800.
Of this amount, the State is to receive €80,856,800; a trust for former residents is to be paid €11,590,000; and voluntary groups will receive €5,060,000.
€500m compensation offer to victims of clerical abuse
Belfast Telegraph Friday, December 4, 2009
Religious orders in Ireland are to hand over close to €500m in total to compensate victims of sex abuse.
The latest to announce their increased offer are the Sisters of Mercy who revealed last night that they are handing over more than €20m in cash and €107.5m in property.
They said that they wholeheartedly regretted the suffering experienced by children in their care.
When bishops were Herod's apprentices
The Herald, By Peter DeRosa, Saturday December 05 2009
Wake up, Ireland, and smell the corruption. But before you inhale, answer me a riddle.
First think of the priests who've listened to your woes, buried your dead and comforted the bereaved. Think of the nuns who taught your children or spent their lives in exile on behalf of the poor. Think of your joy at baptisms, first communions, weddings, parish ordinations. Now to the riddle: How could so much good co-exist for decades with so much evil? You assumed senior prelates put you and your children's welfare top of their list. You were wrong. In your worst nightmares you never dreamed they would do what Jesus hated most, cast your pearls before their swine. Was this why the awful stench didn't get to you earlier?
Brady, Martin to discuss Report with Pope
RTE News {Watch the full interview}
Cardinal Sean Brady, Catholic Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, is to accompany Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to Rome to discuss with the Pope the findings of the Murphy Report
In an interview with RTÉ News, Cardinal Brady said that very many people are very angry with their Church and with their bishops and rightly so.
He said he knew the Church had failed people and especially the survivors of abuse and that now is the time for action and accountability and the taking of responsibility for what has taken place.
Demonstration at papal nunciature
The Irish Times By GENEVIEVE CARBERY
A small group of some ten Catholics held a protest outside the office of the Papal Nuncio on the Navan Road in Dublin today
They handed an open letter to Pope Benedict into the Apostolic Nunciature calling for an enquiry into the failure of bishops in Ireland and abroad to protect children from clerical abuse.
The protesters were part of Voice of the Faithful Ireland (VOTFI), a group of Catholics that want to see change in the church and which supports victims of child abuse in Ireland.
Brady urges accountability over child abuse report
The Irish Times, By JASON MICHAEL
Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Séan Brady has today called for accountability among bishops in the wake of the Murphy report into the handling of complaints of child sexual abuse by priests.
Dr Brady said he would be travelling to the Vatican with Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin to discuss the findings of the report with Pope Benedict.
Dr Brady said it was only fair that time should be given to bishops to hear their side of the situation "before prescribing remedies".
Cardinal Sean Brady backs NI abuse inquiry
BBC News
NORTHERN IRELAND -- Cardinal Sean Brady has said he would support calls for a Northern Ireland inquiry into clerical sex abuse. The Catholic primate of Ireland is to go to the Vatican to meet the Pope next week to discuss the Murphy Report into abuse in the Dublin archdiocese. He also said he thought the bishop of Limerick would "do the right thing".
Bishops lied and covered up abuse but are unlikely to face prosecution
Colm O’Gorman
The horrifying contents of the Dublin Archdiocese report and the sheer scale of the cover up have shocked Irish society even after the Ryan report last May and the Ferns report in 2005.
Bishops in Dublin colluded with child abusers, protecting them and hiding them, enabling them to prey on the innocent. Children were deliberately sacrificed to protect the Church and its money. In all, fourteen bishops were found to have failed in some way in the handling of cases of child abuse by priests.
Worst of all, it was the most vulnerable children who often the victims. Dublin’s poorest communities, places where people were less likely to challenge the men who called themselves spiritual leaders, were used as sanctuaries for abusers.
Conference of Bishops to meet in wake of report
Irish Examiner, By Claire O’Sullivan, Saturday, December 05, 2009
THE CONFERENCE of Bishops is due to gather in Maynooth on Wednesday and Thursday in their first meeting since the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation report was published.
It’s understand that they will issue a statement on Thursday. The country’s 26 bishops and seven auxiliary bishops will be in attendance. There is no sign of pressure easing on Bishop Donal Murray to stand down as Bishop of Limerick, with many within the Church urging him to make a final statement this weekend in advance of the conference. Many ordinary Catholics see his position as untenable.
Demonstration at papal nunciature
The Irish Times
A protest is taking place outside the papal nunciature on Dublin’s Navan Road from noon today.
The Voice of the Faithful group is organising the protest. Accompanied by an abuse survivor, they will hand in a copy of an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI calling for an inquiry “into the appalling failure of so many Catholic bishops in Ireland and abroad to protect children from clerical child sex abuse”.
They will present a statement protesting at the failure of the nunciature and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to respond “in a timely and appropriate manner” to the Murphy commission.
Official to examine NI child abuse inquiry potential
BBC News
NORTHERN IRELAND -- The Department of Health and Social Services is to begin examining the possibility of setting up an inquiry into child abuse in Northern Ireland. Earlier this year, the Ryan report in the Irish Republic said sexual and physical abuse had been endemic in homes run by Catholic religious orders. After its publication, Northern Ireland MLAs called for a similar inquiry.
Old Ireland wants to believe the Vatican is behaving well … New Ireland can't believe it
Irish Independent, By Medb Ruane, Saturday December 05 2009
Thierry Henry's handball was an outrage so what can you do? Brian Cowen couldn't fix it but he had a word with Nicolas Sarkozy. Bad faith, Nicolas. A contrast to his statement on the Vatican who are acting 'in good faith,' he claims, by not responding to the Murphy commission on the Dublin archdiocese. The sight of an Irish Taoiseach expressing regret -- and delivering a robust defence of the Vatican's non-cooperation -- was infinitely more shocking than Thierry's foul play. It was a moment when two Irelands collided, never mind two states. Old Ireland wanted to believe that the Vatican did have children's best interests at heart. New Ireland could hardly believe its ears.
CBS concentration camp inmates still suffer from the ‘holy terrors’
Irish Examiner, By Ryle Dwyer, Saturday, December 05, 2009
ELSEWHERE in today’s paper (News Analysis, page 17) I have reviewed Michael Clemenger’s book Holy Terrors, dealing with life in the industrial school in Tralee in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It evoked many memories for me, having grown up within a mile of the school. Did we know what was going on there? No. But we did have a fairly good idea and local protestations of total ignorance ring about as true as claims by religious superiors that they had no understanding of paedophile abuse. Michael Clemenger managed to secure a position of some trust at the school. He was sent into town to collect the morning paper. "As I carried out my chores in the town my mind was continually asking questions about the people I saw," he writes. "Did their children have to put up with being pawed and slobbered on by old men?”
O'Connor calls for clerics to resign
Irish Independent, By Ken Sweeney, Entertainment Reporter, Saturday December 05 2009
SINEAD O'CONNOR yesterday weighed into the controversy over the Murphy report, calling for any bishops implicated to resign and referring to them as "vampires". The mother of four who is based in Bray, Co Wicklow has had a number of run-ins with the Church in the past. She demanded that Pope Benedict make an apology to the Irish people for the behaviour of the clergy, and that he take immediate action against those named. "What I want for Christmas is for every bishop named in the report on the Dublin Diocese as having acted inexcusably, and every bishop who did not report abusers to the gardai, to resign," O'Connor told the Irish Independent.
Pope to get open letter on failings of bishops
Irish Independent, By John Cooney and Aine de Paor, Saturday December 05 2009
AN OPEN letter to Pope Benedict calling for a thorough inquiry into the failures of bishops to protect children will be delivered today. The letter tells Pope Benedict that the time to root out paedophile clerics is now. It wants an inquiry to find out why "so many bishops endangered so many children by their failure to act decisively against sexual predators”.
O'Malley suggests having one Rome embassy
The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY- Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE FORMER Progressive Democrat leader and party founder, Des O’Malley, has suggested that now is a good time for the Government to consider having just one embassy in Rome. In a letter published in The Irish Times today, he said that in the past he had felt “our ambassador to Italy could fulfil in his spare time whatever duties pertained to the Vatican”. Mr O’Malley recalls how “a long time ago during one of the periodic bouts of government belt-tightening” he had suggested that one embassy in Rome was sufficient for Ireland. Though some ministers felt it might be a good idea, the Department of Foreign Affairs “was apparently outraged and described the suggestion as unthinkable”. Today he asks: “Might this not be a good time to reconsider my proposal?”
Hurdles that complicate efforts to sue the Vatican
The Irish Times ANALYSIS: A victim of US clerical abuse is tackling Vatican diplomatic immunity in pursuit of redress, writes PADDY AGNEW ROME --
LAST WEEK I rang the Holy See press office looking for an official reaction to the Dublin diocesan report. The Vatican’s senior spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, patiently trotted out the standard Holy See line as to how such “matters” were the concern of the local church. The Vatican was aware of the seriousness of the report but did not want to interfere, added the spokesman.
Given that the report continued to greatly exercise and trouble minds in Ireland, I inquired next day if the Holy See had anything to add. This time, Fr Lombardi’s number two, Don Ciro Benedettini, answered the phone.
When he heard my voice, knowing what I would want to ask, Don Ciro began to laugh. It was a friendly, inoffensive laugh of the sort that said, “Come on, Paddy, We have nothing more to say on this matter.”
Cowen failed to communicate country's outrage at child abuse
The Irish Times--The Taoiseach’s most high-profile intervention on the abuse was to defend the Vatican, writes NOEL WHELAN
THE TAOISEACH’S comments on how the Vatican and its representative in Ireland dealt with requests for information from the Murphy commission was extraordinary on a number of levels. Both the tenor and content of the Taoiseach’s remarks in the Dáil this week suggested he was not only seeking to explain the Vatican’s failure to respond to the commission’s request, but was also seeking to excuse and even justify that failure. It is a shame that the Taoiseach’s most high-profile intervention in the intense public debate following the publication of the Murphy report sounded defensive of the Vatican rather than adequately communicating the country’s outrage at the church’s connivance in the covering up of crime.
Bishops must end secrecy on child sex abuse
The Irish Times---Church leaders failed to grasp that sex abuse by clerics is a crime, not just a canon law offence, writes GARRET FitzGERALD
THE IMPACT of the Murphy report on all of us has been traumatic. No one who heard Marie Collins on RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline some days ago could be unmoved by her desolation at the reaction of some churchmen to the report. And the depth of anger at its revelations that has been expressed by so many members of the public will not easily be forgotten. There is a huge sense of collective shame that hundreds of children were so terribly damaged by their treatment, and that our State was structured so that most people were kept in ignorance of this abuse.
Response to clerical child abuse report [2001 Cardinal J. Ratzinger, a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI]
The Irish Times December 06, 2009
Dr Vincent Twomey, SVD, called on all the bishops mentioned in the Murphy report to resign immediately (December 3rd). The reason he gave is, “they are deemed guilty of putting the interests of the institution above the safety and welfare of children”. In 2001, every diocesan bishop in the Catholic Church around the the world received a letter from the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, instructing them to refer complaints of clerical child sex abuse to the Congregation which would then decide how they should be dealt with.
This directive from Rome, which effectively encouraged bishops to commit criminal offences in many jurisdictions, including Ireland, by not reporting the crime first to the police, certainly put the “interest of the institution above the safety and welfare of children.” Will Dr Twomey be calling for Pope Benedict’s resignation also? – Yours, etc,
Sunday Business Post December 06, 2009 By John Burke, Public Affairs Correspondent congregations ignored a government request to keep secret details of their offers to a fund to support survivors of clerical abuse. The government told the 18 religious orders that it wanted to inform the survivors of institutional abuse before the offers made by the Church bodies were made public, The Sunday Business Post has learned. The Provincial of the Dominican Order, Fr Pat Lucey, confirmed that the Department of Education wrote to the congregations last month asking them to hold off making their contributions public until victims had been consulted.
Bishop Murray flies out to Rome as resignation expected
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE BISHOP of Limerick Dr Donal Murray travelled to Rome yesterday to discuss his future. It is believed Bishop Murray departed from Cork airport in the afternoon and that he intends offering his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI. However neither Bishop Murray nor his secretary were available for comment last night. Earlier yesterday, Bishop Murray told parishioners he was “reflecting on the decision he now has to make”, in a statement read out at Masses across the diocese. Calls have been made for Bishop Murray’s resignation since the publication of the Dublin diocesan report which criticised his handling of complaints against clergymen who were later found to have been involved in the sexual abuse of children.
Ordinations: Three Join Redemptorists
The Irish Times By ELAINE KEOGH
THREE MEN were ordained as Redemptorist priests by Cardinal Seán Brady yesterday, the largest number to join the order for more than 10 years. Brian Nolan from Limerick and Tony Rice from Belfast are 31 and Seán Duggan from Galway is 30. Fr Rice, who worked in a bank for four years, says the difficulties in the church are symptomatic of a general lack of leadership in a number of areas in our society.
Bishop's Defence: Parishioners Speak Out
The Irish Times By KATHRYN HAYES
AS THE resignation of Bishop Donal Murray looks imminent, there was still some support for the beleaguered bishop in Limerick yesterday where he personally addressed parishioners a week ago. Mass-goers at St Joseph’s Church on O’Connell Avenue, where last week Bishop Murray said his only public Mass since the publication of the Murphy report, were still supporting the Limerick Bishop. At the Mass he received a round of applause after he told Mass-goers he would be guided by the people of Limerick as to whether his presence was a “help or a hindrance to the diocese”.
Open letter to nuncio calls on pope to remove bishops
The Irish Times By GENEVIEVE CARBERY
PROTEST: A SMALL group of lay Catholics delivered a letter to the office of the papal nuncio on Saturday calling on the pope to hold an inquiry into the failure of bishops to protect children. The open letter to Pope Benedict also called on him to remove the bishops who “enabled abuse” and urged him to bring in a culture of accountability. During a protest at the apostolic nunciature in Dublin, the 10 protesters also called on papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza to apologise for the failure of his predecessor to co-operate with the Murphy commission. They also asked for him to fully co-operate with the commission from now on.
Vatican should have replied to Murphy letters, says cardinal
The Irish Times By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE CATHOLIC primate Cardinal Seán Brady has criticised the lack of response by the Vatican and papal nunciature to correspondence from the Murphy commission. Speaking to The Irish Times in Dundalk yesterday he said “it was unfortunate that requests from the [Murphy] commission didn’t get the courtesy of a reply” from the Vatican. “They should have,” he said. Similarly, correspondence by the commission with the papal nunciature in Dublin “should have been acknowledged”, he added.
Cardinal confident bishop will 'do the right thing'
The Irish Times By PAUL CULLEN
RTÉ INTERVIEW: ARCHBISHOP OF Armagh Cardinal Seán Brady told RTÉ News in an interview, broadcast on Saturday, he was confident Bishop Donal Murray will “do the right thing” in terms of considering his position in the wake of criticism in the Dublin diocesan report. Cardinal Brady said Bishop Murray should be given “time and space” to respond to the report, which branded his handling of an abuse complaint against a priest as inexcusable. However, he went on to say that he would resign himself if he found a child has been abused as a result of any managerial failure on his part. “I would remember that child sex abuse is a very serious crime and very grave and if I found myself in a situation where I was aware that my failure to act had allowed or meant that other children were abused, well then, I think I would resign,” he told RTÉ television at the weekend.
Jail is penalty for concealing child sex abuse
The Irish Times By PEARSE MEHIGAN
OPINION: AS PART of an RTÉ news report on the continuing fallout from the Dublin archdiocesan commission more commonly known as the Murphy report, an elderly man was approached as he left a church and when asked to comment on the report simply replied “they should all be locked up” as he gestured towards the church. I’m not entirely sure who he had in mind but from the context of the report and the question put to him I imagine he was referring to those responsible for the dreadful abuse perpetrated on young children of the archdiocese or their superiors for covering up. Unlike the Ferns report and the Ryan report, the Murphy report was specifically set up to examine the handling of complaints made by victims of clerical abuse in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004.
Bishop of Limerick says he is 'reflecting on decision'
The Irish Times By KATHRYN HAYES and KILIAN DOYLE
The Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray told parishioners today that he is “reflecting on the decision he now has to make” in a statement read out at masses across the diocese. The statement was read at masses across Limerick yesterday evening and all day today as speculation grows that Dr Murray is to resign. Calls have been made for Bishop Murray’s resignation since the publication of the Murphy report which criticised his handling of complaints made against clergymen who were later found to have been involved in the sexual abuse of children.
Keep the faith, Archbishop urges
The Press Association
The head of the Catholic Church in Dublin has urged young people not to abandon their faith in the wake of a damning investigation into clerical child sex abuse. As speculation grew that a senior clergyman criticised in the Murphy report may stand down, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said the time had come for reform and accountability.
Irish bishops ask for forgiveness
BBC News
Irish bishops have asked to be forgiven for the "failure of moral leadership" identified by a report into clerical child abuse in Dublin archdiocese. Catholic bishops issued the apology as they met for their winter general meeting at Maynooth in County Kildare. The bishops said all normal business was suspended on the first day of their two-day conference, as they turned their "full attention" to the report.
"Out of touch" Catholic Church might be doomed
Westmeath Independent
Athlone TD Mary O'Rourke has blasted the Catholic Church in the wake of the report into child abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin. In a trenchant and stinging criticism of some of the church's attitudes, she warned it was "out of touch" and was "doomed to failure" unless it "starts to have an affinity again with ordinary people and their ordinary, everyday problems".
Deputy O'Rourke also stated that the church had an "extraordinary" attitude towards women. "It is as if we were a race apart or 'dirty people', only to be tolerated because we have the wombs to have the children," she commented.
Links Between Irish Priest Abuse Scandal and United States
Saunders Blog ~ January 01, 2010
UNITED STATES -- A lay group that has spent the better part of this decade documenting cases of Catholic priest abuse in the United States now claims there's a significant link between what has occurred in the US Catholic Church and the ongoing Irish priest abuse scandal. BishopAccountability.org has documented more than 7000 cases of Irish priests emigrating to the United States where they've abused in the United States as well. We blogged on the topic and the disturbing connection back on August 14th in a post entitled "Irish Priest Abuse Has US Connections".
It's a well-known fact that in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, the United States was considered missionary territory and many foreign born Irish priests came to the United States to serve in US dioceses across the country. The full extent of the connection is still under investigation and may take years for the depth of the relationship to be uncovered. However, we do know that a number of these priests are now documented sexual abusers of the young and innocent in this country.
In studying this relationship, Irish Central, a periodical targeting Irish-Americans, has quoted the founder of Bishop Accountability in exploring this issue.
Cardinal Daly brought Pope to Ireland but utterly failed on pedophiles
Irish Central, By PATRICK ROBERTS, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer , ~ January 02, 2010
IRELAND -- Cardinal Cahal Daly, who has died aged 92, will be remembered in equal parts as the man who brought the Catholic Church in Ireland to its highest point when Pope John Paul came to Ireland in 1979.
He will also be remembered as the man who oversaw the most rapid decline in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland because of the pedophile crisis. …
However, the seeds of Daly's downfall were sown during that same papal visit. Among the two most prominent clerics meeting the pope were Father Michael Cleary who later was discovered to have had two children by his housekeeper, and Bishop Edward Casey who also fathered a child by an American woman, Annie Murphy. Bad as those transgressions were, the pedophile scandal soon catapulted Daly into a much more unflattering light. He had many dealings with the worst pedophile of all, Father Brendan Smyth, who brought down an Irish government and may play a role in the laying low of the Catholic Church. Daly did not act decisively against Smyth, who was moved from parish to parish. He also did not head off the pedophile scandals in other parishes where he adopted a curiously hands off report.
The Public Has a Right to Know how Six Thousand Priests Got Away with Pedophilia
[1950-2009 ;- 6000 Pedophile Priest] - RCC. Hundreds of thousands of children.
City of Angels, by Kay Ebeling, ~ January 02, 2010
CHICAGO (IL) -- (The Forum in Chicago has some real reporting on the pedophile priest epidemic in that city. Here is link to Sins of the Father Part II published yesterday. City of Angels Lady has to drop in from her tropical island resort hotel vacation {yeah, right} to respond to the Sins of the Father series, and encourage The Forum to go on from Parts 1 and 2 to Part 222 and farther, to get the whole story told. Note this post is at our new 2010 address: City of Angels 8. Even though we are on a break until the 15th, I keep being compelled to post. Here is email to The Forum in Chicago reprinted below:) The Church turned at least six thousand pedophile priests loose on the population in the USA alone since 1950. Hundreds of thousands of American parish children were raped as a result. Yet the enormity of the crimes has somehow not gotten through to people. The public has a right to know how one organisation with as much influence as the Catholic Church can have so much criminal activity taking place among its employees and on its grounds for more than fifty years.
Reflections from 25 Years of Experience At the Start of the New Year
Voice from the Desert, Thomas Doyle, J.C.D., January 02, 2010
It is the beginning of 2010. Back many years ago when a new year would dawn, I remember when I would predict that this would be the last year of the Catholic sex abuse scandal. This year the Church will change. This year the bishops will shift gears and focus on the thousands of victims. This year the lawsuits will end because they will no longer be necessary. Some would call that wishful thinking. Others may believe it to be delusion. In either case it was obviously magical thinking based on unreality.
None of my past hopes have come true and I doubt they ever will. The contrast between the reality of what has happened and continues to happen to victims at the direction of bishops, and what the bishops themselves claim they have accomplished is a chasm the depth of which defies the imagination. …
In all of the research I have done and in every case I have seen or been involved in, the initial response of the official church whether it is on the part of the pope, a bishop or religious superior has been to hide the facts from the public. The second response has been just as consistent. The bishops have done everything they could to prevent the case from public exposure. If it does, then they do all they can to manipulate the truth so as to protect the image of the hierarchy first and the institutional church second.
Catholic Church child abuse scandal: religion as a licence to prey
Workers' Liberty, Author: Annie O'Keefe
Ireland in the 20th Century: for countless small children, orphans alone in the world and children confined in special prisons for some petty crime against property or for bunking off school, life in institutions and schools run by Catholic priests and nuns was a childhood-long nightmare of violence at the hands of nuns, priests and Christian Brothers (a male, monk like, celibate, teaching order).
There was no escape other than by way of the slow process of growing up in a priest and nun-made Hell, and then being released, often psychically maimed, into the adult world. In the nature of things, some of the victims would in turn prey on children as they themselves had been preyed upon.
In the Name of the Father
AllAfrica, Vanguard, by Owei Lakemfa-2 April 2010
NIGERIA -- When I was growing up in Lagos, almost all the non Nigerian catholic priests I knew were Irish.
They built and ran some of the best schools and were the embodiment of moral authority. It seemed that the primary profession of the Irish was priesthood. It is therefore shocking to learn that the Irish youth today has his attention turned to other callings.
In 2000, only one youth in a population of 700,000 Catholics in Northern Ireland was ordained a priest. With few new entrants, it means that the priesthood is greying; a 2007 survey showed that half the priests in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland were between 55 and 74 years. But the worst news is the waves of scandals that have swept through the Church. Father Brendan Smyth was found to have sexually abused children for four decades. A nine-year government inquiry published in May 2009 revealed a systematic abuse of children in church-run schools and orphanages over a 60 -year period from the 1930s. A new report this month revealed long lists of sexual abuse of children by Dublin priests from 1975 to 2004. These indictments caused Pope Benedict XVI to write a pastoral letter to the Irish Church in which he said "grave errors of judgement were made and failure of leadership occurred”.
Pope must answer for crimes against humanity
The Age, By GEOFFREY ROBERTSON- April 4, 2010
No legal immunity - the Vatican should feel the full weight of international law.
AUSTRALIA -- WELL may the Pope defy "the petty gossip of dominant opinion". But the Holy See can no longer ignore international law, which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity.
The anomalous claim of the Vatican to be a state - and of the Pope to be a head of state and hence immune from legal action - cannot stand up to scrutiny. The shocking finding of Judge Murphy's commission in Ireland was not merely that sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys' institutions but that the church hierarchy protected the perpetrators and allowed them to take up new positions teaching other children after their victims had been sworn to secrecy.
Anglican Archbishop Rebukes Irish Church
The New York Times, By JOHN F. BURNS, Published: April 3, 2010
LONDON – At a time when his relations with Pope Benedict XVI are already strained over the pope's offer to dissatisfied Anglicans of fast-track conversion to Roman Catholicism, the archbishop of Canterbury has plunged into the crisis over cases of abuse by Catholic priests, choosing the Easter weekend to describe the Catholic Church in Ireland as "losing all credibility" because of its poor handling of the crisis.
In a BBC radio interview, part of which was made public on Saturday, the archbishop, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, described the abuse scandal as a "colossal trauma" for Ireland in particular. He made no direct reference to the personal controversy that has swirled around the pope in the wake of accusations that he was involved in decisions that had the effect of covering up cases of abuse by pedophile priests in Germany and the United States. But Archbishop Williams, the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which claims 70 million adherents, was unusually blunt.
Church in Ireland 'has lost all its credibility', says Archbishop of Canterbury
The Times by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent,
UNITED KINGDOM / IRELAND The Archbishop of Dublin today said he was "stunned" to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury declare that the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost all credibility because of the child abuse scandal.
Diarmuid Martin, the second most senior Catholic in Ireland, responded to a rare breach of ecumenical protocol by Dr Rowan Williams in an interview with BBC Radio 4. Mr Martin said he had "rarely felt personally so discouraged" as when he woke to hear Dr Williams' comments. Those working to renew the church did not deserve the remarks, which "will be for them immensely disheartening and will challenge their faith even further”.
Mayor campaigns against abuse by the Catholic Church
The Times (United Kingdom) Ruth Gledhill: Case study; ~ Apr 04, 2010
IRELAND -- Michael O'Brien was one of 13 children who received a visit from the "cruelty man", an inspector for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, after their mother died in 1942.
Their father was out at work and by the time he returned, eight of the children had been taken to court and incarcerated in Roman Catholic-run institutions. When he tried to get them back, he was refused. Michael O'Brien, who was 8, remained at Ferryhouse in Clonmel, Tipperary, for eight years. He is incredulous that the sufferings of his childhood and countless others were dismissed yesterday at the Holy See as "petty gossip". He described "massive beatings" with a leather strap that were dealt out for no reason by the brothers of the Rosminian Order.
Saunders Blog ~ January 01, 2010
UNITED STATES -- A lay group that has spent the better part of this decade documenting cases of Catholic priest abuse in the United States now claims there's a significant link between what has occurred in the US Catholic Church and the ongoing Irish priest abuse scandal. BishopAccountability.org has documented more than 7000 cases of Irish priests emigrating to the United States where they've abused in the United States as well. We blogged on the topic and the disturbing connection back on August 14th in a post entitled "Irish Priest Abuse Has US Connections".
It's a well-known fact that in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, the United States was considered missionary territory and many foreign born Irish priests came to the United States to serve in US dioceses across the country. The full extent of the connection is still under investigation and may take years for the depth of the relationship to be uncovered. However, we do know that a number of these priests are now documented sexual abusers of the young and innocent in this country.
In studying this relationship, Irish Central, a periodical targeting Irish-Americans, has quoted the founder of Bishop Accountability in exploring this issue.
Cardinal Daly brought Pope to Ireland but utterly failed on pedophiles
Irish Central, By PATRICK ROBERTS, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer , ~ January 02, 2010
IRELAND -- Cardinal Cahal Daly, who has died aged 92, will be remembered in equal parts as the man who brought the Catholic Church in Ireland to its highest point when Pope John Paul came to Ireland in 1979.
He will also be remembered as the man who oversaw the most rapid decline in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland because of the pedophile crisis. …
However, the seeds of Daly's downfall were sown during that same papal visit. Among the two most prominent clerics meeting the pope were Father Michael Cleary who later was discovered to have had two children by his housekeeper, and Bishop Edward Casey who also fathered a child by an American woman, Annie Murphy. Bad as those transgressions were, the pedophile scandal soon catapulted Daly into a much more unflattering light. He had many dealings with the worst pedophile of all, Father Brendan Smyth, who brought down an Irish government and may play a role in the laying low of the Catholic Church. Daly did not act decisively against Smyth, who was moved from parish to parish. He also did not head off the pedophile scandals in other parishes where he adopted a curiously hands off report.
The Public Has a Right to Know how Six Thousand Priests Got Away with Pedophilia
[1950-2009 ;- 6000 Pedophile Priest] - RCC. Hundreds of thousands of children.
City of Angels, by Kay Ebeling, ~ January 02, 2010
CHICAGO (IL) -- (The Forum in Chicago has some real reporting on the pedophile priest epidemic in that city. Here is link to Sins of the Father Part II published yesterday. City of Angels Lady has to drop in from her tropical island resort hotel vacation {yeah, right} to respond to the Sins of the Father series, and encourage The Forum to go on from Parts 1 and 2 to Part 222 and farther, to get the whole story told. Note this post is at our new 2010 address: City of Angels 8. Even though we are on a break until the 15th, I keep being compelled to post. Here is email to The Forum in Chicago reprinted below:) The Church turned at least six thousand pedophile priests loose on the population in the USA alone since 1950. Hundreds of thousands of American parish children were raped as a result. Yet the enormity of the crimes has somehow not gotten through to people. The public has a right to know how one organisation with as much influence as the Catholic Church can have so much criminal activity taking place among its employees and on its grounds for more than fifty years.
Reflections from 25 Years of Experience At the Start of the New Year
Voice from the Desert, Thomas Doyle, J.C.D., January 02, 2010
It is the beginning of 2010. Back many years ago when a new year would dawn, I remember when I would predict that this would be the last year of the Catholic sex abuse scandal. This year the Church will change. This year the bishops will shift gears and focus on the thousands of victims. This year the lawsuits will end because they will no longer be necessary. Some would call that wishful thinking. Others may believe it to be delusion. In either case it was obviously magical thinking based on unreality.
None of my past hopes have come true and I doubt they ever will. The contrast between the reality of what has happened and continues to happen to victims at the direction of bishops, and what the bishops themselves claim they have accomplished is a chasm the depth of which defies the imagination. …
In all of the research I have done and in every case I have seen or been involved in, the initial response of the official church whether it is on the part of the pope, a bishop or religious superior has been to hide the facts from the public. The second response has been just as consistent. The bishops have done everything they could to prevent the case from public exposure. If it does, then they do all they can to manipulate the truth so as to protect the image of the hierarchy first and the institutional church second.
Catholic Church child abuse scandal: religion as a licence to prey
Workers' Liberty, Author: Annie O'Keefe
Ireland in the 20th Century: for countless small children, orphans alone in the world and children confined in special prisons for some petty crime against property or for bunking off school, life in institutions and schools run by Catholic priests and nuns was a childhood-long nightmare of violence at the hands of nuns, priests and Christian Brothers (a male, monk like, celibate, teaching order).
There was no escape other than by way of the slow process of growing up in a priest and nun-made Hell, and then being released, often psychically maimed, into the adult world. In the nature of things, some of the victims would in turn prey on children as they themselves had been preyed upon.
In the Name of the Father
AllAfrica, Vanguard, by Owei Lakemfa-2 April 2010
NIGERIA -- When I was growing up in Lagos, almost all the non Nigerian catholic priests I knew were Irish.
They built and ran some of the best schools and were the embodiment of moral authority. It seemed that the primary profession of the Irish was priesthood. It is therefore shocking to learn that the Irish youth today has his attention turned to other callings.
In 2000, only one youth in a population of 700,000 Catholics in Northern Ireland was ordained a priest. With few new entrants, it means that the priesthood is greying; a 2007 survey showed that half the priests in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland were between 55 and 74 years. But the worst news is the waves of scandals that have swept through the Church. Father Brendan Smyth was found to have sexually abused children for four decades. A nine-year government inquiry published in May 2009 revealed a systematic abuse of children in church-run schools and orphanages over a 60 -year period from the 1930s. A new report this month revealed long lists of sexual abuse of children by Dublin priests from 1975 to 2004. These indictments caused Pope Benedict XVI to write a pastoral letter to the Irish Church in which he said "grave errors of judgement were made and failure of leadership occurred”.
Pope must answer for crimes against humanity
The Age, By GEOFFREY ROBERTSON- April 4, 2010
No legal immunity - the Vatican should feel the full weight of international law.
AUSTRALIA -- WELL may the Pope defy "the petty gossip of dominant opinion". But the Holy See can no longer ignore international law, which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity.
The anomalous claim of the Vatican to be a state - and of the Pope to be a head of state and hence immune from legal action - cannot stand up to scrutiny. The shocking finding of Judge Murphy's commission in Ireland was not merely that sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys' institutions but that the church hierarchy protected the perpetrators and allowed them to take up new positions teaching other children after their victims had been sworn to secrecy.
Anglican Archbishop Rebukes Irish Church
The New York Times, By JOHN F. BURNS, Published: April 3, 2010
LONDON – At a time when his relations with Pope Benedict XVI are already strained over the pope's offer to dissatisfied Anglicans of fast-track conversion to Roman Catholicism, the archbishop of Canterbury has plunged into the crisis over cases of abuse by Catholic priests, choosing the Easter weekend to describe the Catholic Church in Ireland as "losing all credibility" because of its poor handling of the crisis.
In a BBC radio interview, part of which was made public on Saturday, the archbishop, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, described the abuse scandal as a "colossal trauma" for Ireland in particular. He made no direct reference to the personal controversy that has swirled around the pope in the wake of accusations that he was involved in decisions that had the effect of covering up cases of abuse by pedophile priests in Germany and the United States. But Archbishop Williams, the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which claims 70 million adherents, was unusually blunt.
Church in Ireland 'has lost all its credibility', says Archbishop of Canterbury
The Times by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent,
UNITED KINGDOM / IRELAND The Archbishop of Dublin today said he was "stunned" to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury declare that the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost all credibility because of the child abuse scandal.
Diarmuid Martin, the second most senior Catholic in Ireland, responded to a rare breach of ecumenical protocol by Dr Rowan Williams in an interview with BBC Radio 4. Mr Martin said he had "rarely felt personally so discouraged" as when he woke to hear Dr Williams' comments. Those working to renew the church did not deserve the remarks, which "will be for them immensely disheartening and will challenge their faith even further”.
Mayor campaigns against abuse by the Catholic Church
The Times (United Kingdom) Ruth Gledhill: Case study; ~ Apr 04, 2010
IRELAND -- Michael O'Brien was one of 13 children who received a visit from the "cruelty man", an inspector for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, after their mother died in 1942.
Their father was out at work and by the time he returned, eight of the children had been taken to court and incarcerated in Roman Catholic-run institutions. When he tried to get them back, he was refused. Michael O'Brien, who was 8, remained at Ferryhouse in Clonmel, Tipperary, for eight years. He is incredulous that the sufferings of his childhood and countless others were dismissed yesterday at the Holy See as "petty gossip". He described "massive beatings" with a leather strap that were dealt out for no reason by the brothers of the Rosminian Order.
Dukes calls for bishops to quit
Irish Examiner, Saturday, May 01, 2010
THE chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Alan Dukes last night called for all Irish Catholic bishops to resign. At the annual Burren Law School in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, Mr Dukes also called for a Ryan-type enquiry to be carried out in each diocese across the country. In the opening address of the school, themed Power, its uses and abuses, Mr Dukes also criticised the regulatory authorities that presided over the boom and subsequent bust, claiming that they had abused the power given to them.
Martin's role in Irish church praised in US
The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID Martin of Dublin and the Irish Catholic Church could yet be leaders in the evolution of a new type of church post the sex abuse crisis, America's most influential Catholic weekly has said. In its editorial this week, the National Catholic Reporter said Archbishop Martin "arrives as a fresh voice, unencumbered by any involvement in the scandal. So far he has rendered a sober and honest assessment of the crisis and its causes." It noted how "after reading the documentation assembled as part of an Irish Government investigation of sexual abuse by priests in his archdiocese, {he} predicted that we would become 'a humbler church’.
Irish archbishop quits over 'sexual misconduct'
Irish Independent, By John Cooney Tuesday June 01 2010
POPE Benedict has accepted the resignation of an Irish archbishop -- who headed one of Nigeria's chief dioceses -- for sexual misconduct. Richard Burke (61), from Fethard, Co Tipperary, had previously stepped down as Archbishop of Benin, in southern Nigeria, after the Vatican investigated a complaint against him of child sexual abuse. A missionary priest, he also faced being defrocked by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Priests and their evil ways
Posted by PZ Myers 3:09 PM, June 4, 2010
UNITED STATES -- It's odd, but several of the major sex abuse cases involving the Catholic church involve deaf kids. I didn't understand why, until I heard this song. And now I have to get some q-tips and sulfuric acid and scrub out my ears.
For a not-quite-so entertaining story, read this account of Father Oliver O'Grady, a despicable monster who committed all kinds of depravities.
O'Grady has admitted abusing many children of various ages, boys and girls, and said he slept with two mothers to get access to their children. He was convicted of child sexual abuse in 1993 and spent seven years in prison.
Now here's where the Catholic church simply doesn't get it. The few priests who didn't like this fellow, who wanted to get rid of him, are making excuses for their inaction even after his criminal conviction. It was too hard to defrock a priest, they say, it took a long time and lots of paperwork, and there was no guarantee the process would even come to a successful conclusion, which says to me that there are some serious problems of the institution of the church, and that maybe they should be working on fixing it so the kind of moral turpitude involved in molesting five year old girls would be sufficient grounds to swiftly eject someone from the priesthood. But no! Institutional change in the church is not a goal to which they aspire.
Children 'rarely in equation over abuse'
The Irish Times PATSY McGARRY, June 05, 2010
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said it was hard to understand why in the church's dealing with the sexual abuse of children, "the children themselves were for many years rarely even taken into the equation".
Speaking last night, he said: "Yes, in the culture of the day children were to be seen and not heard, but different from other professions church leaders should have been more aware of the Gospel imperative to avoid harm to children, whose innocence was indicated by the Lord as a sign of the kingdom of God." Archbishop Martin was addressing Oxford University's Newman Society.
No respite for church from abuse scandals -- Martin
Irish Independent By John Cooney Religion
Correspondent Saturday June 05 2010
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin revealed last night that he often feels Dublin will turn out to be "the most investigated diocese in the world". And he said he felt the light at the end of the tunnel was still a long way off as far as the church's emergence from the scandal of child sexual abuse was concerned. In an address to members of Oxford University's Newman Society, Archbishop Martin said that revelations about the management and cover-up of sexual abuse by priests had influenced him deeply over the six years he had led the capital's 1.2 million Catholics.
Deliver Us From Evil
Documentary Post, {video presentation}, ~ June 06, 2010
UNITED STATES -- Filmmaker Amy Berg recounts a harrowing story of child abuse and how a serial child molester went free for the better part of two decades in this documentary. Oliver O'Grady was a Catholic priest who served in a number of parishes in Southern California during the 1970s and '80s. O'Grady was also a habitual child molester who abused dozens of youngsters who were entrusted to his care, and while his superiors in the church were aware of O'Grady's crimes as early as 1973, they opted to simply move him from one congregation to another rather than turn him in to authorities or strip him of his ordination.
Power to the prelates as State is bypassed
Irish Independent, Monday June 07 2010
Archbishop Dolan is set to prescribe a return to prayer, humility and a rediscovery of identity. AS SHERLOCK Holmes might observe to Dr Watson, it smacks of a case of the secular watchdog not barking in the night at the national incursion by robed envoys of a foreign power. Curiously, the Government has remained ominously silent about its attitude to the Vatican-appointed team of investigators of the Catholic Church in Ireland that was announced last week by Pope Benedict XVI. This autumn, under the mandate of pontifical secrecy, as decreed by Rome's canon law, two cardinals, three archbishops, two religious-order clerics and two nuns will roam round the country's four main archdioceses, seminaries and religious houses to draw up recommendations for the future direction of the post-Murphy Report Irish church. These will go directly to Pope Benedict XVI.
Church probe to inform gardai of fresh crimes
Irish Independent By Tom Brady Monday June 07 2010
GARDAI expect the church authorities to make immediate contact with them if the Vatican inquiries uncover fresh evidence of a potential criminal offence. Senior officers investigating clerical abuse cases said last night contact could be made through the channels of liaison already in place. An investigation into the findings of the commission, which examined allegations of clerical sex abuse in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin, is under way.
New Vatican campaign to clamp down on 'liberal opinion'
Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Monday June 07 2010
VATICAN investigators to Ireland appointed by Pope Benedict XVI are to clamp down on liberal secular opinion in an intensive drive to re-impose traditional respect for clergy, according to informed sources in the Catholic Church.
The nine-member team led by two cardinals will be instructed by the Vatican to restore a traditional sense of reverence among ordinary Catholics for their priests, the Irish Independent has learned. Priests will be told not to question in public official church teaching on controversial issues such as the papal ban on birth control or the admission of divorced Catholics living with new partners to the sacraments -- especially Holy Communion.
Sour old men have new plan to capture the love of Ireland
IRELAND -- Pharyngula Posted by PZ Myers 6:35 AM, June 8, 2010
We all know the Catholic Church has a serious public relations problem right now – they're hidebound, they're insensitive to the human needs of their congregations, and, well, sheltering an evil bunch of child-rapers that they shuttle about among unknowing parishes like a buggerymobile or a penis-on-wheels program doesn't help. You would think that someone would realise that maybe some substantial reform is in order, and they have–but it's not the kind of reform rational people might have imagined. Instead, the church is planning to crack the whip in Ireland and insist on more dogmatism. Vatican investigators to Ireland appointed by Pope Benedict XVI are to clamp down on liberal secular opinion in an intensive drive to re-impose traditional respect for clergy, according to informed sources in the Catholic Church.
The pope takes action on Ireland!
Times LIVE, By Bruce Gorton, June 10, 2010
I have been trying to think of a way of putting this for a while now, but words just fail me. This is a post about the Catholic Church, my favourite example of just how rotten and corrupt organised religion is.
So, lets summarise the story thus far: After a lengthy investigation in Ireland it came to light that the Church was systematically abusing the kids that it had under its care – who were there mainly because the government was paying maintenance for them. In other words if this wasn't Ireland's major religion the Church would be getting charged with welfare fraud aside from anything else.
The pope after many a not-pology (It sounds like he is saying sorry but when you read his actual words he is just expressing how painful it is that he got caught) decided to send a group to investigate the abuse. The group included at least three cardinals who themselves are involved in covering up for peadophile priests.
Pope can keep experts at home - we all know what went wrong here
Herald, Saturday June 12 2010
Italians say: The wise do freely at first what fools are forced to do at last. The Vatican has a long way to go before exhausting its folly and begins to do what it should've done to start with. As if our problems were not bad enough, Rome is sending to Ireland a group of top prelates to sort out priest sex-abuse. Doesn't every dog in every Irish street know what's needed? Obey Jesus and protect victims, not abusers. No more cover-ups. Treat abuse as firstly a crime that clerics have no right to deal with. Call in the cops to deal with these horrendous crimes.
Apology is not matched by actions: victims
Irish Independent By Grainne Cunningham, Saturday June 12 2010
IRISH victims of child sexual abuse yesterday rejected a public apology from Pope Benedict, saying the words of remorse had not been matched with actions to rectify the sins of the past. Marie Collins said while she accepted his words were sincere, Benedict had failed to accept the resignation of those exposed by the Murphy Report for six months. "We have not seen some of the actions he needs to take … we have to complete the acknowledgement of the past so we can move forward," she said.
75 percent say Irish Cardinal Brady should resign over child sex scandal
Irish Central By DONAL THORNTON, ~ June 14, 2010
More than three quarters of Irish adults firmly believe that the disgraced Cardinal Sean Brady should resign because of his bad handling of the clerical sex abuse scandals within the Irish church. According to a poll conducted by the Irish Times newspaper, 76% of respondents felt the Cardinal should resign, 15% felt he should stay in office while 9% had no opinion. The poll revealed that support for Cardinal Brady was strongest in Ulster and Connacht were support for Brady stood at 33%, support for Brady in Leinster and Connacht dropped to less than 25%.
Cardinal 'aware' of negative poll
RTE News Monday, 14 June 2010
Cardinal Seán Brady has said he is aware of this morning's opinion poll finding that three out of four adults in the Republic think he should resign. But the Catholic Primate of All Ireland also expressed confidence that he had the prayers and support of many people as he continued his work in renewing faith and structures in the Church at what he termed 'this challenging time'. The Cardinal was responding to a query from RTE News about his unpopularity revealed in the latest set of results of last week's Ipsos/MRBI survey.
Just 11% satisfied with church response to sex abuse
The Irish Times
Over time more and more Irish people believe the church has not responded adequately to the Murphy report, writes PATSY McGARRY
WE ARE frequently reminded that the Catholic Church is not a democracy, whether by those within the church itself who trenchantly support the status quo or by its opposition, who very much lament the fact. But, as they gather for their summer meeting in Maynooth this morning, members of the Irish Episcopal Conference would hardly be human were they not relieved that here, as elsewhere, their church does not have to answer before the court of public opinion.
Three-quarters of Irish adults polled say cardinal should quit
The Irish Times PATSY McGARRY and STEPHEN COLLINS
THREE-QUARTERS OF Irish adults believe that Cardinal Seán Brady should resign from office because of the sex abuse scandals in the Irish church, according to the latest Irish Times /Ipsos, MRBI poll. When asked for their opinion on the issue, 76 per cent said the cardinal should resign, 15 per cent said he should not while 9 per cent had no opinion. The strongest opposition to the cardinal was expressed in Dublin, where 83 per cent felt he should resign, while the most supportive region was Connacht/Ulster, where the figure fell to 67 per cent.
Clerical sex abuse 'robs us all of our innocence'
The Irish Times PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE CLERICAL child sex abuse scandal "robs us all of our innocence," Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor has said in an address to Irish priests.
"It does not matter that the great majority of priests and bishops were good servants and pastors of their people. When the scandal of abuse runs so deep, it casts its shadow over everything."
Former Catholic primate of England and Wales, and Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, the cardinal was speaking to Catholic priests at Maynooth yesterday in an address to mark the end of the Year of Priests. Last month it was announced that he will lead an apostolic visitation to the archdiocese of Armagh in the autumn.
Remorseful cardinal recalls sex abuse failures
IRELAND -- CathNews
Retired archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said he has felt "isolation and shame" over his handling of a case involving an abusive priest in the 1990s, and wants make amends in his role as apostolic visitor to Ireland.
"The things I remember about my life as a priest are not the successes but rather the failures, and one particular and painful failure occurred 10 years ago when, owing to my grave mishandling of a priest who was an abuser, I was attacked and vilified for nearly two years," Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor is reported saying by the Catholic News Service.
"But I also began to understand in a new way, by talking with victims, the pain and grave damage done to them," he said. "I myself am not free from blame but have had to learn from mistakes to become, as someone described it, a wounded healer.
Irish Examiner, Saturday, May 01, 2010
THE chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Alan Dukes last night called for all Irish Catholic bishops to resign. At the annual Burren Law School in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, Mr Dukes also called for a Ryan-type enquiry to be carried out in each diocese across the country. In the opening address of the school, themed Power, its uses and abuses, Mr Dukes also criticised the regulatory authorities that presided over the boom and subsequent bust, claiming that they had abused the power given to them.
Martin's role in Irish church praised in US
The Irish Times, By PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID Martin of Dublin and the Irish Catholic Church could yet be leaders in the evolution of a new type of church post the sex abuse crisis, America's most influential Catholic weekly has said. In its editorial this week, the National Catholic Reporter said Archbishop Martin "arrives as a fresh voice, unencumbered by any involvement in the scandal. So far he has rendered a sober and honest assessment of the crisis and its causes." It noted how "after reading the documentation assembled as part of an Irish Government investigation of sexual abuse by priests in his archdiocese, {he} predicted that we would become 'a humbler church’.
Irish archbishop quits over 'sexual misconduct'
Irish Independent, By John Cooney Tuesday June 01 2010
POPE Benedict has accepted the resignation of an Irish archbishop -- who headed one of Nigeria's chief dioceses -- for sexual misconduct. Richard Burke (61), from Fethard, Co Tipperary, had previously stepped down as Archbishop of Benin, in southern Nigeria, after the Vatican investigated a complaint against him of child sexual abuse. A missionary priest, he also faced being defrocked by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Priests and their evil ways
Posted by PZ Myers 3:09 PM, June 4, 2010
UNITED STATES -- It's odd, but several of the major sex abuse cases involving the Catholic church involve deaf kids. I didn't understand why, until I heard this song. And now I have to get some q-tips and sulfuric acid and scrub out my ears.
For a not-quite-so entertaining story, read this account of Father Oliver O'Grady, a despicable monster who committed all kinds of depravities.
O'Grady has admitted abusing many children of various ages, boys and girls, and said he slept with two mothers to get access to their children. He was convicted of child sexual abuse in 1993 and spent seven years in prison.
Now here's where the Catholic church simply doesn't get it. The few priests who didn't like this fellow, who wanted to get rid of him, are making excuses for their inaction even after his criminal conviction. It was too hard to defrock a priest, they say, it took a long time and lots of paperwork, and there was no guarantee the process would even come to a successful conclusion, which says to me that there are some serious problems of the institution of the church, and that maybe they should be working on fixing it so the kind of moral turpitude involved in molesting five year old girls would be sufficient grounds to swiftly eject someone from the priesthood. But no! Institutional change in the church is not a goal to which they aspire.
Children 'rarely in equation over abuse'
The Irish Times PATSY McGARRY, June 05, 2010
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said it was hard to understand why in the church's dealing with the sexual abuse of children, "the children themselves were for many years rarely even taken into the equation".
Speaking last night, he said: "Yes, in the culture of the day children were to be seen and not heard, but different from other professions church leaders should have been more aware of the Gospel imperative to avoid harm to children, whose innocence was indicated by the Lord as a sign of the kingdom of God." Archbishop Martin was addressing Oxford University's Newman Society.
No respite for church from abuse scandals -- Martin
Irish Independent By John Cooney Religion
Correspondent Saturday June 05 2010
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin revealed last night that he often feels Dublin will turn out to be "the most investigated diocese in the world". And he said he felt the light at the end of the tunnel was still a long way off as far as the church's emergence from the scandal of child sexual abuse was concerned. In an address to members of Oxford University's Newman Society, Archbishop Martin said that revelations about the management and cover-up of sexual abuse by priests had influenced him deeply over the six years he had led the capital's 1.2 million Catholics.
Deliver Us From Evil
Documentary Post, {video presentation}, ~ June 06, 2010
UNITED STATES -- Filmmaker Amy Berg recounts a harrowing story of child abuse and how a serial child molester went free for the better part of two decades in this documentary. Oliver O'Grady was a Catholic priest who served in a number of parishes in Southern California during the 1970s and '80s. O'Grady was also a habitual child molester who abused dozens of youngsters who were entrusted to his care, and while his superiors in the church were aware of O'Grady's crimes as early as 1973, they opted to simply move him from one congregation to another rather than turn him in to authorities or strip him of his ordination.
Power to the prelates as State is bypassed
Irish Independent, Monday June 07 2010
Archbishop Dolan is set to prescribe a return to prayer, humility and a rediscovery of identity. AS SHERLOCK Holmes might observe to Dr Watson, it smacks of a case of the secular watchdog not barking in the night at the national incursion by robed envoys of a foreign power. Curiously, the Government has remained ominously silent about its attitude to the Vatican-appointed team of investigators of the Catholic Church in Ireland that was announced last week by Pope Benedict XVI. This autumn, under the mandate of pontifical secrecy, as decreed by Rome's canon law, two cardinals, three archbishops, two religious-order clerics and two nuns will roam round the country's four main archdioceses, seminaries and religious houses to draw up recommendations for the future direction of the post-Murphy Report Irish church. These will go directly to Pope Benedict XVI.
Church probe to inform gardai of fresh crimes
Irish Independent By Tom Brady Monday June 07 2010
GARDAI expect the church authorities to make immediate contact with them if the Vatican inquiries uncover fresh evidence of a potential criminal offence. Senior officers investigating clerical abuse cases said last night contact could be made through the channels of liaison already in place. An investigation into the findings of the commission, which examined allegations of clerical sex abuse in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin, is under way.
New Vatican campaign to clamp down on 'liberal opinion'
Irish Independent, By John Cooney, Monday June 07 2010
VATICAN investigators to Ireland appointed by Pope Benedict XVI are to clamp down on liberal secular opinion in an intensive drive to re-impose traditional respect for clergy, according to informed sources in the Catholic Church.
The nine-member team led by two cardinals will be instructed by the Vatican to restore a traditional sense of reverence among ordinary Catholics for their priests, the Irish Independent has learned. Priests will be told not to question in public official church teaching on controversial issues such as the papal ban on birth control or the admission of divorced Catholics living with new partners to the sacraments -- especially Holy Communion.
Sour old men have new plan to capture the love of Ireland
IRELAND -- Pharyngula Posted by PZ Myers 6:35 AM, June 8, 2010
We all know the Catholic Church has a serious public relations problem right now – they're hidebound, they're insensitive to the human needs of their congregations, and, well, sheltering an evil bunch of child-rapers that they shuttle about among unknowing parishes like a buggerymobile or a penis-on-wheels program doesn't help. You would think that someone would realise that maybe some substantial reform is in order, and they have–but it's not the kind of reform rational people might have imagined. Instead, the church is planning to crack the whip in Ireland and insist on more dogmatism. Vatican investigators to Ireland appointed by Pope Benedict XVI are to clamp down on liberal secular opinion in an intensive drive to re-impose traditional respect for clergy, according to informed sources in the Catholic Church.
The pope takes action on Ireland!
Times LIVE, By Bruce Gorton, June 10, 2010
I have been trying to think of a way of putting this for a while now, but words just fail me. This is a post about the Catholic Church, my favourite example of just how rotten and corrupt organised religion is.
So, lets summarise the story thus far: After a lengthy investigation in Ireland it came to light that the Church was systematically abusing the kids that it had under its care – who were there mainly because the government was paying maintenance for them. In other words if this wasn't Ireland's major religion the Church would be getting charged with welfare fraud aside from anything else.
The pope after many a not-pology (It sounds like he is saying sorry but when you read his actual words he is just expressing how painful it is that he got caught) decided to send a group to investigate the abuse. The group included at least three cardinals who themselves are involved in covering up for peadophile priests.
Pope can keep experts at home - we all know what went wrong here
Herald, Saturday June 12 2010
Italians say: The wise do freely at first what fools are forced to do at last. The Vatican has a long way to go before exhausting its folly and begins to do what it should've done to start with. As if our problems were not bad enough, Rome is sending to Ireland a group of top prelates to sort out priest sex-abuse. Doesn't every dog in every Irish street know what's needed? Obey Jesus and protect victims, not abusers. No more cover-ups. Treat abuse as firstly a crime that clerics have no right to deal with. Call in the cops to deal with these horrendous crimes.
Apology is not matched by actions: victims
Irish Independent By Grainne Cunningham, Saturday June 12 2010
IRISH victims of child sexual abuse yesterday rejected a public apology from Pope Benedict, saying the words of remorse had not been matched with actions to rectify the sins of the past. Marie Collins said while she accepted his words were sincere, Benedict had failed to accept the resignation of those exposed by the Murphy Report for six months. "We have not seen some of the actions he needs to take … we have to complete the acknowledgement of the past so we can move forward," she said.
75 percent say Irish Cardinal Brady should resign over child sex scandal
Irish Central By DONAL THORNTON, ~ June 14, 2010
More than three quarters of Irish adults firmly believe that the disgraced Cardinal Sean Brady should resign because of his bad handling of the clerical sex abuse scandals within the Irish church. According to a poll conducted by the Irish Times newspaper, 76% of respondents felt the Cardinal should resign, 15% felt he should stay in office while 9% had no opinion. The poll revealed that support for Cardinal Brady was strongest in Ulster and Connacht were support for Brady stood at 33%, support for Brady in Leinster and Connacht dropped to less than 25%.
Cardinal 'aware' of negative poll
RTE News Monday, 14 June 2010
Cardinal Seán Brady has said he is aware of this morning's opinion poll finding that three out of four adults in the Republic think he should resign. But the Catholic Primate of All Ireland also expressed confidence that he had the prayers and support of many people as he continued his work in renewing faith and structures in the Church at what he termed 'this challenging time'. The Cardinal was responding to a query from RTE News about his unpopularity revealed in the latest set of results of last week's Ipsos/MRBI survey.
Just 11% satisfied with church response to sex abuse
The Irish Times
Over time more and more Irish people believe the church has not responded adequately to the Murphy report, writes PATSY McGARRY
WE ARE frequently reminded that the Catholic Church is not a democracy, whether by those within the church itself who trenchantly support the status quo or by its opposition, who very much lament the fact. But, as they gather for their summer meeting in Maynooth this morning, members of the Irish Episcopal Conference would hardly be human were they not relieved that here, as elsewhere, their church does not have to answer before the court of public opinion.
Three-quarters of Irish adults polled say cardinal should quit
The Irish Times PATSY McGARRY and STEPHEN COLLINS
THREE-QUARTERS OF Irish adults believe that Cardinal Seán Brady should resign from office because of the sex abuse scandals in the Irish church, according to the latest Irish Times /Ipsos, MRBI poll. When asked for their opinion on the issue, 76 per cent said the cardinal should resign, 15 per cent said he should not while 9 per cent had no opinion. The strongest opposition to the cardinal was expressed in Dublin, where 83 per cent felt he should resign, while the most supportive region was Connacht/Ulster, where the figure fell to 67 per cent.
Clerical sex abuse 'robs us all of our innocence'
The Irish Times PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE CLERICAL child sex abuse scandal "robs us all of our innocence," Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor has said in an address to Irish priests.
"It does not matter that the great majority of priests and bishops were good servants and pastors of their people. When the scandal of abuse runs so deep, it casts its shadow over everything."
Former Catholic primate of England and Wales, and Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, the cardinal was speaking to Catholic priests at Maynooth yesterday in an address to mark the end of the Year of Priests. Last month it was announced that he will lead an apostolic visitation to the archdiocese of Armagh in the autumn.
Remorseful cardinal recalls sex abuse failures
IRELAND -- CathNews
Retired archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said he has felt "isolation and shame" over his handling of a case involving an abusive priest in the 1990s, and wants make amends in his role as apostolic visitor to Ireland.
"The things I remember about my life as a priest are not the successes but rather the failures, and one particular and painful failure occurred 10 years ago when, owing to my grave mishandling of a priest who was an abuser, I was attacked and vilified for nearly two years," Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor is reported saying by the Catholic News Service.
"But I also began to understand in a new way, by talking with victims, the pain and grave damage done to them," he said. "I myself am not free from blame but have had to learn from mistakes to become, as someone described it, a wounded healer.
Church must hire professionals to investigate abuse
The Irish Times, July 03, 2010
It is unfair to expect priests and volunteers to handle highly complex abuse claims, writes BREDA O'BRIEN
IN A recent Diocese of Cloyne case, a woman alleging abuse complained that notes of her case had been handed over to the priest against whom the allegations were made. She described this as being like another violation. Fr Bill Bermingham, the priest with responsibility for child protection, initially defended his actions before resigning.
It is dreadful that an abuse victim should find the experience of reporting so distressing. As he correctly said, given that in spite of his best intentions, Fr Bermingham's actions had undermined victims' confidence in the process of investigation, he had no choice but to resign.
However, there are a number of deeper issues highlighted by this case. For example, the woman declared the church's position on child protection to be "an absolute farce", because "someone can go and alert an accused person before they can be interviewed by the gardaí". To view Fr Bermingham's actions as though he were somehow tipping off the priest in question is an understandable but unfair interpretation.
Dublin priest convicted of 30-year-old sex assaults [1979-83 Unnamed ex-priest* (54). National school. Convicted on 14. Boy (7-11).]
Breaking News, ~ Nov 01, 2010
A Dublin priest has been convicted of b*g*ering and sexually abusing a boy almost 30 years ago. The jury of seven men and five women returned verdicts of guilty on nine counts of indecent assault and five counts of b*g*ery on the boy between June 1, 1979 and June 30, 1983. They had been deliberating for one hour and 34 minutes on day four of the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The victim was aged between seven and 11 years old at the time of the offences.
Church loses fortune in bank share slump
Irish Independent, By Siobhan Creaton, Saturday November 06 2010
CATHOLIC dioceses headed up by Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin are nursing multimillion-euro losses following the collapse of the Bank of Ireland share price, an Irish Independent investigation reveals. They are among a number of dioceses -- and several leading political figures and charities -- that lost a fortune on their Bank of Ireland (BoI) shares. At their highest value in February 2007, the shares traded at €18.70, but yesterday they were trading at their lowest point this year -- at just 43c.
Rights commission calls for Magdalene laundries inquiry
IRELAND Breaking News
The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has today called on the Government to hold an immediate statutory inquiry into the treatment of women and children in the Magdalene laundries.
The State has always said it has no responsibility for the women involved when it comes to redress as the Laundries were privately run by religious orders. However, a report by the IHRC says the State regularly used the institutions to detain women and children.
Church silent to insurers on abuse suspects
The Irish Times, PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, Jan 04, 2011
The Tony Walsh chapter of the Murphy report casts light on how the church secured insurance cover ahead of child abuse claims, writes PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent. THE CATHOLIC Church in Dublin did not inform insurers it had 20 priests suspected of child sex abuse in its ranks when it successfully sought cover in 1987 against possible abuse claims.
In February 1995, the same month former priest Tony Walsh was first convicted in the courts on child abuse charges, the insurance company entered robust correspondence with the church seeking to renegotiate terms. Chapter 19 of the Murphy report, published last month, disclosed that at the time of Walsh's February 1995 conviction, the Dublin archdiocese was aware of complaints against him going back 17 years, to 1978.
Police under scrutiny in abuse inquiry for Irish diocese
Catholic Culture, January 03, 2011
An official inquiry into the handling of sex-abuse complaints in the Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland, has focused on the conduct of the Gardai (police), the Sunday Business Post reports. The newspaper reports that a commission headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy - who previously led an investigation of the Dublin archdiocese - found that the Gardai had failed to inform child-care authorities about an abuse complaint. Bishop John Magee reportedly believed that he had done his duty by informing the Gardai of the complaint. The bishop, who was harshly criticised for failing to disclose sex-abuse complaints, submitted his resignation in March 2010. The Vatican has not yet named his successor.
Pedophile priest Tony Walsh face is slashed in jail
Irish Central By CATHY HAYES, Published Tuesday, January 4, 2011, Pedophile and former priest Tony Murphy had his face slashed by a fellow inmate in the Midland's Prison. According to the Irish Daily Star Walsh was attacked by the inmate when he was on his way back to his cell having attended Mass on Sunday morning. The reports claim that he was cut from his ear to his cheek. He was rushed to hospital from the Portlaoise prison and received 12 stitches. It is believed that he was unable to indentify his attacker. The former priest dubbed "Fr Filth" was the focus of the recently released Chapter 19 of the Murphy Report, which focused on the clerical abuse in Dublin. This chapter of the report was only cleared for publication in December when Walsh was convicted of 17 counts of sexual abuse.
Vaccine trial victims in court bid to lift veil on experiments
[Orphanage children used as "guinea pigs" to text vaccine]
Irish Independent, By Patricia McDonagh, Tuesday January 04 2011
VICTIMS of controversial vaccine trials are taking a High Court case to get confidential records on the medical experiments carried out on them as children in the care of the State. A Dublin-based solicitor is preparing the action on behalf of Mari Steed (50), now living in the US city of Philadelphia, and Christopher Kirwan (50), from Cork, the Irish Independent has learned. Vincent Shannon, of Shannons Solicitors, is planning to apply to the High Court for an order of discovery this month to acquire all the victims' documents from four organisations at the centre of the scandal.
Some Church stories to watch in 2011
The Irish Catholic Michael Kelly.
IRELAND - Here are some stories that will be important for the Church in Ireland over the next 12 months. They are listed in no particular order of importance:
1. Cloyne Report:
The Catholic Church in Ireland has been reeling for more than 15 years now amid revelations of Church mishandling of abuse by priests and religious. 2011 will see more fallout from the crisis. Firstly, there will be the report of the Murphy Commission into the handling of allegations of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne. A previous inquiry by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) led to the resignation of Bishop John Magee after that report revealed Dr Magee has presided over inadequate child protection measures that the board labelled "dangerous".
The report is likely to detail some Church mishandling of allegations in Cloyne. It may also prove embarrassing for the former Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray (who resigned following the Murphy Report into the Dublin Diocese) as Limerick and Cloyne shared a child protection committee.
Sex abuse lawyer to sue Diocese of Clogher
The Irish Times, PADDY AGNEW in Rome,
THE DIOCESE of Clogher is to be sued in the US by clerical sex abuse specialist, lawyer Jeff Anderson, in connection with allegations of child sexual abuse in the early 1980s by a former Clogher priest. Announcing the formation of a new London-based law firm, set up in partnership with solicitor Ann Olivarus, Mr Anderson said yesterday that the firm's first joint case would be taken in Minnesota against a retired priest from the Diocese of Clogher.
The priest, now in his 80s, is alleged to have been a serial abuser who molested children in Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s and then in the US from the 1980s. In the case in question, taken in the US because the "John Doe plaintiff" is an American citizen, Mr Anderson is likely to argue the Diocese of Clogher is guilty of fraud because it sent the priest to a US diocese, despite knowing of his extensive history of child molestation in Ireland.
Hostel kids abused 'for decades'.
Hostel kids abused ‘for decades’
The West Australian, By GEORGIA LONEY, p 11, Friday, September 16, 2011
A parent raised the alarm 30 years ago that children were being sexually abused at a Great Southern hostel but was reassured "everything is lovely", it emerged yesterday. Convicted paedophile Dennis McKenna, 65, pleaded guilty last month to sexually abusing several boys at St Andrew's Boarding Hostel in Katanning, where he was warden in the 1970s and 80s.
Retired farmer Bruce Carmichael said he raised concerns with the hostel after he heard reports from his children of McKenna's behaviour towards boys. Mr Carmichael said he was reassured "everything is lovely", but later withdrew his children from the hostel. "Our (children) came home and told us of things that were supposedly going on," he said. "There were stories about what was happening with boys in Dennis' room late at night."
Mr Carmichael said that he was told the concerns would be examined. "Then (the hostel) came back to me to say 'everything in the garden was lovely' and there wasn't a ripple in the water," he said. Lawyer John Hammond, who is seeking ex gratia payments for 10 of McKenna's victims, wants an inquiry into the abuse at the government-run hostel. Mr Hammond said the state Government should have known about the abuse. "People must have turned a blind eye to what can only be called suspicious circumstances … and because the children were in fear," he said. Mr Hammond said that if anyone did complain, they were removed from the hostel. "One of the questions that has to be put forward to the inquirer is why was this allowed to go on for two decades, possibly three, without anything happening," he said.
Victim Darryl Stephens told The West Australian last month that McKenna's abuse had destroyed his victims' childhoods. "It has just snowballed through the rest of our lives," he said. Mr Hammond said his clients had been offered "paltry" sums through Redress and he was now seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Christian Porter said the Government would consider all ex gratia applications on their merits "if and when" they were received.
The Irish Times, July 03, 2010
It is unfair to expect priests and volunteers to handle highly complex abuse claims, writes BREDA O'BRIEN
IN A recent Diocese of Cloyne case, a woman alleging abuse complained that notes of her case had been handed over to the priest against whom the allegations were made. She described this as being like another violation. Fr Bill Bermingham, the priest with responsibility for child protection, initially defended his actions before resigning.
It is dreadful that an abuse victim should find the experience of reporting so distressing. As he correctly said, given that in spite of his best intentions, Fr Bermingham's actions had undermined victims' confidence in the process of investigation, he had no choice but to resign.
However, there are a number of deeper issues highlighted by this case. For example, the woman declared the church's position on child protection to be "an absolute farce", because "someone can go and alert an accused person before they can be interviewed by the gardaí". To view Fr Bermingham's actions as though he were somehow tipping off the priest in question is an understandable but unfair interpretation.
Dublin priest convicted of 30-year-old sex assaults [1979-83 Unnamed ex-priest* (54). National school. Convicted on 14. Boy (7-11).]
Breaking News, ~ Nov 01, 2010
A Dublin priest has been convicted of b*g*ering and sexually abusing a boy almost 30 years ago. The jury of seven men and five women returned verdicts of guilty on nine counts of indecent assault and five counts of b*g*ery on the boy between June 1, 1979 and June 30, 1983. They had been deliberating for one hour and 34 minutes on day four of the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The victim was aged between seven and 11 years old at the time of the offences.
Church loses fortune in bank share slump
Irish Independent, By Siobhan Creaton, Saturday November 06 2010
CATHOLIC dioceses headed up by Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin are nursing multimillion-euro losses following the collapse of the Bank of Ireland share price, an Irish Independent investigation reveals. They are among a number of dioceses -- and several leading political figures and charities -- that lost a fortune on their Bank of Ireland (BoI) shares. At their highest value in February 2007, the shares traded at €18.70, but yesterday they were trading at their lowest point this year -- at just 43c.
Rights commission calls for Magdalene laundries inquiry
IRELAND Breaking News
The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has today called on the Government to hold an immediate statutory inquiry into the treatment of women and children in the Magdalene laundries.
The State has always said it has no responsibility for the women involved when it comes to redress as the Laundries were privately run by religious orders. However, a report by the IHRC says the State regularly used the institutions to detain women and children.
Church silent to insurers on abuse suspects
The Irish Times, PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, Jan 04, 2011
The Tony Walsh chapter of the Murphy report casts light on how the church secured insurance cover ahead of child abuse claims, writes PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent. THE CATHOLIC Church in Dublin did not inform insurers it had 20 priests suspected of child sex abuse in its ranks when it successfully sought cover in 1987 against possible abuse claims.
In February 1995, the same month former priest Tony Walsh was first convicted in the courts on child abuse charges, the insurance company entered robust correspondence with the church seeking to renegotiate terms. Chapter 19 of the Murphy report, published last month, disclosed that at the time of Walsh's February 1995 conviction, the Dublin archdiocese was aware of complaints against him going back 17 years, to 1978.
Police under scrutiny in abuse inquiry for Irish diocese
Catholic Culture, January 03, 2011
An official inquiry into the handling of sex-abuse complaints in the Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland, has focused on the conduct of the Gardai (police), the Sunday Business Post reports. The newspaper reports that a commission headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy - who previously led an investigation of the Dublin archdiocese - found that the Gardai had failed to inform child-care authorities about an abuse complaint. Bishop John Magee reportedly believed that he had done his duty by informing the Gardai of the complaint. The bishop, who was harshly criticised for failing to disclose sex-abuse complaints, submitted his resignation in March 2010. The Vatican has not yet named his successor.
Pedophile priest Tony Walsh face is slashed in jail
Irish Central By CATHY HAYES, Published Tuesday, January 4, 2011, Pedophile and former priest Tony Murphy had his face slashed by a fellow inmate in the Midland's Prison. According to the Irish Daily Star Walsh was attacked by the inmate when he was on his way back to his cell having attended Mass on Sunday morning. The reports claim that he was cut from his ear to his cheek. He was rushed to hospital from the Portlaoise prison and received 12 stitches. It is believed that he was unable to indentify his attacker. The former priest dubbed "Fr Filth" was the focus of the recently released Chapter 19 of the Murphy Report, which focused on the clerical abuse in Dublin. This chapter of the report was only cleared for publication in December when Walsh was convicted of 17 counts of sexual abuse.
Vaccine trial victims in court bid to lift veil on experiments
[Orphanage children used as "guinea pigs" to text vaccine]
Irish Independent, By Patricia McDonagh, Tuesday January 04 2011
VICTIMS of controversial vaccine trials are taking a High Court case to get confidential records on the medical experiments carried out on them as children in the care of the State. A Dublin-based solicitor is preparing the action on behalf of Mari Steed (50), now living in the US city of Philadelphia, and Christopher Kirwan (50), from Cork, the Irish Independent has learned. Vincent Shannon, of Shannons Solicitors, is planning to apply to the High Court for an order of discovery this month to acquire all the victims' documents from four organisations at the centre of the scandal.
Some Church stories to watch in 2011
The Irish Catholic Michael Kelly.
IRELAND - Here are some stories that will be important for the Church in Ireland over the next 12 months. They are listed in no particular order of importance:
1. Cloyne Report:
The Catholic Church in Ireland has been reeling for more than 15 years now amid revelations of Church mishandling of abuse by priests and religious. 2011 will see more fallout from the crisis. Firstly, there will be the report of the Murphy Commission into the handling of allegations of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne. A previous inquiry by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) led to the resignation of Bishop John Magee after that report revealed Dr Magee has presided over inadequate child protection measures that the board labelled "dangerous".
The report is likely to detail some Church mishandling of allegations in Cloyne. It may also prove embarrassing for the former Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray (who resigned following the Murphy Report into the Dublin Diocese) as Limerick and Cloyne shared a child protection committee.
Sex abuse lawyer to sue Diocese of Clogher
The Irish Times, PADDY AGNEW in Rome,
THE DIOCESE of Clogher is to be sued in the US by clerical sex abuse specialist, lawyer Jeff Anderson, in connection with allegations of child sexual abuse in the early 1980s by a former Clogher priest. Announcing the formation of a new London-based law firm, set up in partnership with solicitor Ann Olivarus, Mr Anderson said yesterday that the firm's first joint case would be taken in Minnesota against a retired priest from the Diocese of Clogher.
The priest, now in his 80s, is alleged to have been a serial abuser who molested children in Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s and then in the US from the 1980s. In the case in question, taken in the US because the "John Doe plaintiff" is an American citizen, Mr Anderson is likely to argue the Diocese of Clogher is guilty of fraud because it sent the priest to a US diocese, despite knowing of his extensive history of child molestation in Ireland.
Hostel kids abused 'for decades'.
Hostel kids abused ‘for decades’
The West Australian, By GEORGIA LONEY, p 11, Friday, September 16, 2011
A parent raised the alarm 30 years ago that children were being sexually abused at a Great Southern hostel but was reassured "everything is lovely", it emerged yesterday. Convicted paedophile Dennis McKenna, 65, pleaded guilty last month to sexually abusing several boys at St Andrew's Boarding Hostel in Katanning, where he was warden in the 1970s and 80s.
Retired farmer Bruce Carmichael said he raised concerns with the hostel after he heard reports from his children of McKenna's behaviour towards boys. Mr Carmichael said he was reassured "everything is lovely", but later withdrew his children from the hostel. "Our (children) came home and told us of things that were supposedly going on," he said. "There were stories about what was happening with boys in Dennis' room late at night."
Mr Carmichael said that he was told the concerns would be examined. "Then (the hostel) came back to me to say 'everything in the garden was lovely' and there wasn't a ripple in the water," he said. Lawyer John Hammond, who is seeking ex gratia payments for 10 of McKenna's victims, wants an inquiry into the abuse at the government-run hostel. Mr Hammond said the state Government should have known about the abuse. "People must have turned a blind eye to what can only be called suspicious circumstances … and because the children were in fear," he said. Mr Hammond said that if anyone did complain, they were removed from the hostel. "One of the questions that has to be put forward to the inquirer is why was this allowed to go on for two decades, possibly three, without anything happening," he said.
Victim Darryl Stephens told The West Australian last month that McKenna's abuse had destroyed his victims' childhoods. "It has just snowballed through the rest of our lives," he said. Mr Hammond said his clients had been offered "paltry" sums through Redress and he was now seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Christian Porter said the Government would consider all ex gratia applications on their merits "if and when" they were received.
