Congregation claps bishop’s pulpit apology

EMBATTLED Bishop of Limerick Dr Donal Murray was applauded yesterday in his own diocese after he apologised for his handling of child sex allegations.

Speaking to worshippers at St Joseph’s Church in O’Connell Avenue, Limerick, Dr Murray said he would be guided on the issue of his own resignation by local people and priests.

“There have, as you know, been calls for me to resign,” he said.

“As far as I am concerned, the question of whether I should resign is a question of whether my presence here is a help or a hindrance to the diocese of Limerick.

“In that matter, I will be guided by the priests and people of the diocese.

“We have many bodies that represent groups and areas in the diocese: the priests’ council, the parish pastoral councils, the diocesan pastoral council, the pastoral areas of the diocese and the diocesan child protection committee.

“They guide me and advise me. And they will be guided and advised by you in your parishes.”

Dr Murray said that at no time did he receive an allegation of sexual abuse and fail to take it seriously and at no time did he engage in an attempt to cover anything up. He said: “As for me, if there are cases where the abuse of children might have been prevented had I acted differently, I offer to them my sincerest apology.

“I can honestly say that in the one such case that I can think of, my inability to get to the full truth was not the result of any lack of effort on my part, but a lack of skill and experience.

“It is no consolation to the children who were abused that I was lacking in experience and I will remain eternally sorry and apologetic to anyone whose suffering I might have prevented.

“I apologise also to you, that, because of me, the anger that this (Murphy) report rightly provokes has focused on our diocese, which had no part in the events the report describes.

“I want to assure you that in my time in Limerick every allegation of child sexual abuse has been passed on to the gardaí and HSE.

“I meet three to four times a year with these civil authorities to review all our files.

“We also work very closely with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.”

Statistics, he said, suggest that every community must have within it people who carry, too often in silence, the burden of childhood abuse, whether by members of the clergy or by others.

Dr Murray said: “We must ensure that they are at the centre of our prayers; we must try to ensure that they will feel that we are ready to listen to them, to deepen our understanding of what they have suffered and to respond as best we can.

“Although they may feel far from the Church, they may be much closer than they realise to Jesus, who prayed on the Cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

At a press conference in Limerick last Thursday after the publication of the Murphy report, Dr Murray said that when he was auxiliary bishop of Dublin he did not report sexual abuse allegations to gardaí, but to the archbishop.

At that time, he said, auxiliary bishops did not fully investigate allegations themselves.

Dr Murray has been under increasing pressure since the report was published to resign over what was termed his “inexcusable” failure to properly investigate and follow-up complaints.

Speaking on RTÉ television last night, Defence Minister Willie O’Dea, a personal friend of Dr Murray, took a stance that will be viewed by many as a failure to fully endorse his bishop.

“Bishop Murray, is a person who, I’m sure, will think deeply about these things and will make an appropriate decision,” on whether to resign or not, he said.

The Limerick East TD said he was “bitterly disappointed” to read the report’s finding in relation to Dr Murray.