Bishop seeks ‘canonical’ advice as Vatican overturns decision

THE Bishop of Cork and Ross is taking expert “canonical” advice on the Vatican’s decision to overturn his removal of an active priest from ministry, and will then decide whether to appeal its decision.

His diocese has also indicated it does not intend to pay Father James Davern any of the money which the Vatican has ordered it to.

Bishop Buckley gave a detailed account on Wednesday of why he removed Father Davern from ministry on alleged psychological grounds in 2003.

He made the statement following the Vatican’s Congregation of Clergy decision that his action contravened canon law.

It said the bishop made no attempt to summarise the reasons behind his decree and it was “invalid” and without any “juridic effects, as from a null act there are no consequences.”

The Congregation of Clergy also ordered that the diocese restore Fr Davern’s income and backdate it to 1998.

That is because in that year the bishop ordered him to move from ministry at the Glenville/Watergrasshill parish to accommodation elsewhere.

However, contrary to media reports, that accommodation is not for priests out of active ministry but is a parish presbytery where priests are in active ministry.

The payout ordered by the Vatican was estimated to be in excess of €150,000.

To date, the priest has not been returned to ministry and has not received any payout from the diocese.

“The bishop is taking expert canonical advice on Church Law to fully digest what the text of the message from Rome says,” a church spokesman said.

“It runs to several pages and part, almost half of it, is in Latin. It needs to be closely analysed. However, he would not have issued the decree in the first place if he did not believe in conscience that it was the right thing to do.”

The spokesman said the bishop will respect any final decision by the Vatican but that it “had not reached that stage yet.”

On the subject of Fr Davern being repaid for his time out of ministry the spokesman said: “Priests do not get an income from the Cork diocese but from donations from the parishioners of the diocese. It is my understanding that the Congregation of Clergy were under the impression that he was getting it from the diocese as this does happen in some countries.”

The spokesman also referred to the fact that Fr Davern is not an employee of the diocese in Irish law and never has been.