Abuse spotlight 'must turn to NI'

14 July 2011 Last updated at 16:15 GMT The report said there were 40 people who may have been affected by clerical abuse in the diocese A Dublin-based priest, originally from Belfast, has said the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland needs to be examined following the Cloyne Report.

Released on Wednesday, it investigated how allegations against 19 priests were dealt with between 1996 and 2009.

The report found that Bishop John Magee falsely told the Irish government he was reporting all abuse allegations to authorities.

Father Pat McCafferty said the issue was not confined to the Republic.

"The spotlight needs to swing north," he said.

"It has been on Cloyne, on Ferns, on Dublin, the exact same problems that have been reported in those reports are in the north.

"The Diocese of Down and Connor, Armagh, Dromore, Derry and Clogher now need to be scrutinised for the same problems.

"This cancer has to be exercised from the church."

Continue reading the main story

We cannot north of the border view ourselves as being in the clear from all that happened in the south ”

End Quote Martin McGuinness NI deputy first minister His views were echoed by Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

"I absolutely believe there should be the same thorough investigations in the northern dioceses as there have been in previous dioceses in the south," Mr McGuinness said.

"We cannot north of the border view ourselves as being in the clear from all that happened in the south whenever I think many of us now know instinctively that that's not the case.

"What is this all about? This is about the protection of innocent children and there is a duty and a responsibility on all of us who are in important positions."

Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he intended to introduce a new criminal offence with up to five years in prison for anyone who does not declare information about the abuse of a child.

He said in future, priests would not be excused for withholding information about alleged child abuse even if it was given to them during confession.

A woman who said she was abused by a priest in the County Cork diocese told the BBC she hoped action would be taken following the report.

"I've been so disillusioned and so upset with the way my case has been handled by the church," she said.

"I felt 'will it go far enough', far enough into shocking people into the horror and ugly reality of what is the Catholic Church here."

The woman said she when she first came forward about the abuse the Catholic Church wasn't "interested at all".

"It hasn't been an easy journey, it's a horrible decision to make when you decide you can't keep this secret anymore," she said.

"You keep thinking it's only you. That's how they get away with it for so long. But then I realised I was only one of many victims of this particular priest.

"And to think the church knew all the time. They had known for years about this particular priest and just covered it up, moved him around."

The Catholic Church and Bishop Magee have apologised for the abuse uncovered by the Cloyne Report.

View the original article here

Church 'failed to report abuse'

13 July 2011 Last updated at 15:58 GMT The Cloyne report was critical of Bishop John Magee A report published on Wednesday has criticised a Catholic diocese in County Cork for a failure to report all complaints of abuse to police.

The Commission of Investigation into the Diocese of Cloyne investigated how allegations against 19 priests were dealt with between 1996 and 2009.

The report said Bishop of Cloyne John Magee could not avoid "responsibility by blaming subordinates".

The Catholic Church has apologised following the report.

The leader of Ireland's Catholics, Cardinal Sean Brady, said it was another "dark day in the history of the response of church leaders to the cry of children abused by church personnel".

"The findings of this report confirm that grave errors of judgement were made and serious failures of leadership occurred," he said

"This is deplorable and totally unacceptable."

Bishop Magee was one of the priests identified by the commission.

The Cloyne report, which runs to 400 pages, said there were concerns about Bishop Magee's interaction with a 17-year-old boy.

"The commission regrets that it has not been possible to report the case involving concerns about Bishop Magee without identifying him," the report said.

"Concerns were expressed about his interaction with a 17-year-old boy."

It said the teenager, who had been contemplating joining the priesthood, was concerned that "the behaviour of the bishop towards him, which had not perturbed him at the time, was, on reflection, disquieting".

However, the report said it was satisfied that this case had been dealt with appropriately.

The Newry-born Bishop Magee stepped aside in 2009 after an earlier report criticised his handling of abuse allegations.

The Cloyne report, which was published by Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald, said the response of the diocese to allegations of child sexual abuse for the period of 1996 to 2008 was "inadequate and inappropriate".

It said it was a "remarkable fact" that Bishop Magee had taken "little or no active interest" in the management of clerical sexual abuse cases until 2008. This was 12 years after the rules on how to deal with such matters were implemented by the church.

It added that Bishop Magee had to "a certain extent, detached himself from the day to day management of child sexual abuse cases".

"Bishop Magee was head of the diocese and cannot avoid his responsibility by blaming subordinates whom he wholly failed to supervise," the report said.

Complaints

The commission said it was aware of some 40 people who may have been affected by clerical abuse in the diocese.

All but two complaints came from people who were adults at the time the complaint was made.

The report said between 1995 and 2005 there were 15 complaints against clergy in the diocese which should have been reported.

The most serious lapse was the failure to report the two cases in which the alleged victims were minors at the time the complaint was made.

It also said there was no communication with a neighbouring diocese when a priest who had retired because of complaints went to live there.

However, there was no case in which the diocese moved priests against whom allegations had been made.

A number of priests whom allegations were made against were "retired".

The inquiry was set up by the Irish government in January 2009 following a report published the previous month.

It was conducted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) - a body set up by the Catholic Church to oversee child protection policies.

It found child protection practices in the diocese were "inadequate and in some respects dangerous".

View the original article here