Cardinal apologises for Magee remarks

CARDINAL Sean Brady has apologised for causing widespread offence in publicly backing beleaguered Bishop John Magee.

“I was very sorry that I offended people by what I said,” the Cardinal said yesterday.

However, the Catholic Primate of All Ireland has again signalled that he does not want the Bishop of Cloyne to resign but to remain on and accept responsibility for the Church’s response to the clerical paedophilia claims in Co Cork.

“I said what I said because I believe [Bishop Magee] said he’s accepting responsibility and it’s important that he be there to accept that responsibility,” said the cardinal.

The cardinal said he was surprised people were offended over his backing of the bishop who has been found to have mishandled child sex abuse allegations.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland was speaking outside a special summit of bishops called to deal with the latest child sex abuse controversy to rock the Church.

The hierarchy from both sides of the border were summoned to the meeting at Maynooth, Co Kildare.

The Diocese of Cloyne was at the centre of separate investigations by the Health Service Executive and the Church’s own watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children.

Last month, a damning report by the board found Bishop Magee had failed to apply proper procedures and had thus put vulnerable children in danger.

Cardinal Brady caused an outcry earlier this month from some groups and individuals when he said Bishop Magee should not stand down.

“I said the [NBSC] board’s report raised some very important issues which must be addressed and that is still the case.

“They must be addressed for the sake of victims.”

Both the board and the HSE have heavily criticised the handling of child sex abuse allegations in Co Cork, branding it inadequate and dangerous.

Bishop Magee has faced down repeated calls to quit over his mishandling of the affair.

The fall-out focuses on allegations by a priest in 2004 who claimed he had been abused as a young boy by an unnamed cleric in the Diocese of Cloyne, referred to as Father A. There were also complaints made against a second priest, Father B, accused of molesting two teenage girls, abusing a 14-year-old boy and of having a sexual relationship with the boy’s mother.

Children’s Minister Barry Andrews ordered the Dublin Commission of Investigation, into clerical sex abuse allegations in the capital, to begin investigating the Diocese of Cloyne after the claims were uncovered.