Diocese will not say if priest to be reinstated

A DIOCESE which is the focus of a State inquiry into clerical sexual abuse has refused to say if a priest cleared by a garda and diocesan investigation will be reinstated.

Fr John Kinsella stepped down from ministry duties in the Ballagh, Co Wexford, last year following the resurfacing of sex abuse allegations. They were made by two brothers who served as altar boys in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, in the 1990s.

The priest, who is in his 50s, was cleared of any wrongdoing more than a month ago. Yet the diocese of Ferns has refused to discuss the issue, saying it does not comment on individualcases.

Now, a colleague of this priest, Fr Jim Curtis, who is a parish priest in Clongeen, Co Wexford, has taken the unprecedented step of asking the diocese to make a clear statement on the matter and clear this man’s name.

The curate was cleared of any wrongdoing by an inquiry set up by the former Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, when the allegations first surfaced several years ago.

When the allegations resurfaced last year, the now caretaker bishop of the diocese, Dr Eamonn Walsh, initiated another inquiry along with a separate garda investigation. Last month the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed with a criminal case against the priest.

Fr Curtis said that a Catholic Bishops’ Advisory Committee report on sexual abuse by priests and religious orders states that if civil authorities decide not to prosecute and the bishop is satisfied, after consideration of the facts, that the priest has been wrongly accused, appropriate steps should be taken to restore his good name.

“The most notorious criminal enjoys the privilege of being considered innocent until proven guilty whereas, it seems, a priest or religious (person) is regarded as guilty until proven innocent, especially regarding matters of a sexual nature,” he said.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Ferns declined to comment. “The diocese does not comment on individual cases, or any case prior to the outcome of the complaints procedure.”