Diocese buys 234,000 euro retirement base for Comiskey

THE Diocese of Ferns has paid 234,000 euro for a retirement home for Bishop Brendan Comiskey.

As well as the bungalow in Curracloe in Co Wexford, the Bishop is to be given a pension.

Bishop Brendan Comiskey resigned on April 1 of this year.

His resignation followed a controversial BBC documentary about sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the late Fr Sean Fortune in the Diocese of Ferns.

Dr Comiskey is believed to have been residing in the Bishop's Palace until recently.

He is expected to live in the new house while the George Birmingham inquiry into clerical sex abuse continues.

Bishop Comiskey's temporary replacement, Dr Eamonn Walsh defended the decision to buy the house.

He said it made financial sense to buy a property rather than to lease one.

The new base would also give Dr Comiskey the year he requires to consider which path his life would take, Dr Walsh said.

Provisions for the welfare of a retired bishop are laid down in the Code of Canon Law.

The amount of the pension hasn't been disclosed but it is being jointly funded by the Diocesan Retirement Fund and the Bishops' Conference Pension Fund, a diocesan spokesman said.

The Diocese of Ferns faces a raft of compensation claims from victims of the late Fr Sean Fortune and Fr Jim Grennan, as well as similar costly claims from others who have been abused over the years.

However, in July the Diocese warned it would have to get its own house in order before any money was paid out.

Details of its central account, the one from which it pays its day-to-day expenses, shows it is in the red to the tune of 66,000.

Church envelope collections have increased by almost 6% over the past year and the debt on the account was reduced by almost 30% last year.

Envelope contributions in the diocese will have to jump by as much as 25% next year if the debt is to be paid off.

Otherwise, the diocese will be looking for a phenomenal increase in its education and investment income to put it back in the black.

The diocesan has tangible fixed assets with a book value of just 6,800 as well as current assets in the form of debtors and education investment of around 575,000.

But it also has liabilities of more than 580,000.

The central fund is beefed up by parish envelope contributions, which account for 70%, as well as education income and investment income at 12%.

Other sources account for the remaining 6%.