An abusive priest known as Fr Edmondus was not investigated by gardaí despite the opportunity for photographic evidence after attacks on sick children in hospital.

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern has agreed to give victims of clerical sexual abuse advance details of the Dublin Archdiocese report as helplines prepare for an avalanche of calls from survivors.

TOM COOPER (Letters, February 14) refers to the the intolerance that has poisoned relations between Christians on this island for generations and polluted the good name of Protestantism.

I DISAGREE with most of what your columnist Diarmaid Ferriter had to say about Cardinal Connell (February 14).

A HIGH COURT challenge by Cardinal Desmond Connell over the right of access to documents by a commission of investigation into child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese was dramatically withdrawn yesterday.

A LAST attempt by an ecclesiastical dinosaur to block full accountability by the Catholic Church on sex abuse cases was abandoned yesterday, but it would be premature to think that a new era is beginning.

“I welcome the outcome of this morning’s court hearing and the decision by Cardinal Connell to withdraw the proceedings initiated some days ago.

THERE is a terrible irony and sadness in the fact that on the very day that one of the traditional authority figures in our society — a cardinal of the Catholic Church — finally accepts that a person, an office, entrusted with such authority, can no longer seek refuge in secrecy, obfuscation or legal point scoring, that our Taoiseach turns to the High Court to stymie the Mahon Tribunal’s investigations into his finances.

A potentially bitter court battle involving two of Ireland’s most senior clerics in a dispute over the release of secret church files was withdrawn today.

Cardinal Desmond Connell is prepared to go to prison rather than hand over certain documents relating to child abuse, according to the Irish Catholic newspaper.

THE legal battle over documents between Cardinal Desmond Connell and the commission investigating his handling of child abuse complaints is expected to be the subject of a full High Court hearing next month.

THE Church does not always have to penalise paedophile priests because they may be acting on urges and impulses “beyond their control”, a commentary on Canon law advises.

IT would seem that in our secular society the last acceptable prejudice is to scoff at Catholic beliefs.

IT would seem that in our secular society the last acceptable prejudice is to scoff at Catholic beliefs.

THOUSANDS of people gathered in churches last night to pray for Pope John Paul II as his health began to deteriorate rapidly.

SENIOR clerics such as Cardinal Desmond Connell could be questioned in public about their responses to abuse complaints against priests in their charge under plans to be brought to Cabinet within a month.

The Church must “start from scratch” to earn back the trust of victims of clerical child abuse, it was claimed today.

I REFER to Rónán Mullen’s column entitled ‘Dana should forget the Britney Spears approach and go local’ (Irish Examiner, September 15).

THE woman who received a public apology from Cardinal Desmond Connell said she felt no joy upon hearing of his resignation as Archbishop of Dublin.

TO say controversy overshadowed the tenure of Cardinal Desmond Connell as Archbishop of Dublin would be an understatement.

Martin has yet to be truly tested, writes Caroline O’Doherty.

THE Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, has again asked for the forgiveness of those who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests.

NORMALLY, it’s the other way around. You see the words ‘archbishop’, ‘hurt’ and ‘remark’ and you can join the dots. Archbishop Connell must have spoken his mind again. Perhaps he’s made a comment on inter-communion or marriage, or some other touchy subject. The Irish Times is offended. Liberal theologians are lamenting. Outraged callers are ringing Liveline.

A FRAMED picture of St Brendan the Navigator was among the gifts included in the offertory procession at his funeral Mass.

THE funeral Mass of Archbishop Michael Courtney, the murdered papal nuncio to the central African state of Burundi, takes place in his home town of Nenagh, Co Tipperary, today.

THE Archbishop of Dublin yesterday made an eleventh-hour appeal to the Government to rescind a decision and vote against EU plans to fund embryonic stem cell research.

RYLE DWYER appears to be rather angry at the Government because they had a meeting with Cardinal Desmond Connell (Irish Examiner, Nov 1).

THE mother of two sisters allegedly abused as children by a Catholic priest spoke yesterday of her horror at the refusal of the Archdiocese of Dublin to take any responsibility for the man’s actions.

Churchgoers gathered in the Dublin rain today to greet the man who will take on one of the most high-profile jobs in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

LAST week’s Sunday Tribune featured a not-very-revealing article about the contenders to succeed Desmond Connell as Archbishop of Dublin, and installed the Bishop of Derry, Dr Séamus Hegarty, as the favourite.

GARDAÍ are looking to retrieve a unique chain, worth in the region of 20,000, which was stolen from a famous Dublin college last Sunday.

The Vatican has sparked fresh speculation about the resignation of Cardinal Desmond Connell after blocking him from selling certain church lands.

Cardinal Desmond Connell has announced plans to establish a support network for the victims of clerical child sex abuse in the Dublin diocese.

REPRESENTATIVES of those abused by the clergy have accused the Church of gross dishonesty and deception after it emerged that bishops negotiated insurance deals to cover compensation payments years before it acknowledged the scale of the problem.

MERVYN Rundle has now spoken publicly about his 18-year ordeal (Irish Examiner, Jan 29).

CARDINAL Desmond Connell yesterday rejected reports in a Sunday newspaper that he is due to resign in the next few weeks.

Archbishop of Dublin Desmond Connell today dismissed reports he was to step down.

Cardinal Desmond Connell is expected to tender his resignation as Archbishop of Dublin within the next few weeks.

IRISH survivors of child abuse by clerics have renewed their call on Cardinal Desmond Connell to resign in the wake of yesterday’s landmark settlement in the High Court.

I REFER to Ronán Mullen’s column of January 8 which, I felt, was very slanted.

CARDINAL Desmond Connell is under pressure from parents at the centre of the organ retention scandal over his failure to respond to their request to meet them.

I hope Irish Examiner readers noted the worthy letters of Gerard O’Mahony (‘Cardinal under attack as media bids to subvert the church’) and Sean O’Farrell (Kind, gentle and devoted to duty’) in your New Year’s Day issue. These letters gave me great joy.

“To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war,” Winston Churchill once said, and last week’s meeting between victims of child sexual abuse and Cardinal Desmond Connell proved the point yet again.

THE Archdiocese of Dublin claims it has no jurisdiction over an Irish priest who fled the US last July just days before a warrant was issued for his arrest on child sexual abuse charges.