O’Grady ‘not linked’ with Irish Archdiocese

A US court has ruled that no admissible evidence could be produced to link Oliver O’Grady, the Limerick born priest convicted of child rape, and the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly.

O’Grady was convicted by a US court in 1993 on four counts of lewd and lascivious acts on minors.

The child rapist is now a free man after serving seven years in prison. He was deported to his native Ireland in 2001 after his release and was said to be living in the midwest. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Last June, shock waves were felt from California to Ireland when O’Grady featured in a chilling documentary which was premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

In the film O’Grady was filmed walking around Dublin and speaking to camera about how he preyed on children, how the Diocese of Stockton, California, knew about the abuse, and how O’Grady claims church officials allowed him to abuse children for two decades by moving him from parish to parish instead of removing him from ministry.

Over the last six months attempts were made to sue the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly in a California court because of O’Grady’s horrific crimes.

On December 27 last the court found that, “there is no admissible evidence that Cashel and Emly knew that O’Grady had a propensity to molest children.”

O’Grady enrolled in St Patrick’s College in Thurles in 1964 to study for the priesthood and was sponsored in his studies by the Diocese of Stockton, California. When he completed his studies at St Patrick’s College in 1971 he was ordained as a priest for the service of Stockton California and moved to California to begin his ministry.

He was never a priest of any diocese in Ireland.

“During the last six months many inflammatory accusations have been made concerning the knowledge and the conduct of church officials in Ireland concerning Oliver O’Grady. These accusations have been reported in many newspapers and on the radio. The source of most of these accusations is Patrick Wall, a former Benedictine monk, who is now employed by the lawyer who has pursued these claims against the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly,” a spokesperson for the Catholic church in Ireland said yesterday.

The most inflammatory accusation made in this matter was that the late Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, the Most Reverend Thomas Morris, knew Oliver O’Grady was a potential abuser of children when he completed his seminary studies and was ordained before he moved to California.

“This accusation has been conclusively refuted by the court in California which has stated in its order dismissing the case that: ‘There is no admissible evidence that Cashel and Emly knew that O’Grady had a propensity to molest children and that the ordination of O’Grady would therefore give him a position of authority that would permit him to cause harm,’” the spokesperson said.