Support groups call on Murphy report bishops to quit

GROUPS that provide support for those abused by Irish Catholic clerics last night called on all bishops named in the Murphy report to resign.

Executive director of One In Four Maeve Lewis said: “Ultimately, the resignations of all the auxiliary bishops named in the report are inevitable. It will be immeasurably damaging to both survivors and the Catholic Church if this process is dragged out indefinitely.”

Andrew Madden, author of Altar Boy, A Story of Life After Abuse, welcomed the resignation of Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin but said neither he nor Bishop Murray of Limerick had fully assumed responsibility for the cover up of sexual abuse of children by priests within the Archdiocese of Dublin. “I note that both Bishop Murray and Bishop Moriarty have resigned for the good of the Church and without accepting any responsibility for the cover up of child sexual abuse by priests. This is not surprising to me,” he said.