Bishop steps down from children's charity

A retired bishop who mishandled clerical child sex abuse cases tonight resigned as head of a charity.

Bishop Dermot O’Mahony quit as patron of The Irish Pilgrimage Trust as a second senior cleric, Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, was expected to offer his resignation in the Vatican.

They are the first churchmen to stand down after a state inquiry uncovered a sickening catalogue of paedophilia among priests in the Dublin Archdiocese and cover-ups by the Catholic hierarchy.

In a letter to the charity, which takes groups including young disabled pilgrims to Lourdes, Bishop O’Mahony said he had been considering his position for several months.

“In view of the unfavourable criticisms of me... and the continuing public controversy in its regard, I have decided to step down from this position and I hereby submit my resignation, to take immediate effect,” Bishop O’Mahony wrote.

Pope Benedict has asked Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin to meet him in Rome on Friday to discuss the findings of the inquiry, known as the Murphy report.

The Pontiff has not commented publicly on the harrowing paedophilia or the subsequent devastating cover-ups by more senior clergymen.

Children’s Minister Barry Andrews said he was not surprised pressure was being placed on Bishop Murray to resign and also expressed dismay at the lack of public response from Rome.

“The Catholic Church is the main focus of this report and the Catholic Church is led from Rome.

“Naturally we would expect there to be some reflections from Rome about what it means in terms of the delivery of safe practices for children in this country, in terms of the Catholic Church and how they are as patrons of our national schools, and how they’re going to provide us with the reassurance that they have and will comply with best practice in child protection in the future.”

Bishop O’Mahony was an auxiliary bishop of Dublin from 1975 to 1996.

He was aware of 13 abusive priests from the sample examined by the inquiry and a number of others and was criticised along with several other auxiliaries for mishandling abuse allegations.

He failed to tell Archbishop Dermot Ryan about a number of complaints including about a priest who was abusing a teenage girl.

Bishop O’Mahony gave this priest a reference to the diocese of Sacramento in California without explaining the incident. He also shredded documents relating to the matter in 2001.

The inquiry said he dealt with complaints particularly badly and that he was focused on avoiding scandal.

Meanwhile, it is understood Bishop Murray arranged to tender his resignation in the Vatican after pressure mounted from within the hierarchy, including calls from Cardinal Brady for him to do the right thing.

His mishandling of child abuse cases in Dublin was in one case inexcusable, the inquiry found.

The timing, more than 10 days after the Murphy report was published, was also linked to a planned meeting of the Irish Bishops’ Conference on Wednesday.

It is expected the resignation will be accepted and he will leave his post but retain his title.

In a letter read out at weekend Masses across Limerick, Bishop Murray asked for people to pray for him over the coming days.

“Bishop Murray is acutely aware of the pain and anguish that has been experienced and expressed in the last week,” the letter said.

“He is reflecting on the decision that he now has to make.”

Other senior Irish clergy to have suffered a similar fate include Bishop Eamon Casey, who had an affair with an American woman, Annie Murphy, and was the father of her son, and Bishop Brendan Comiskey, who resigned after child sex abuse scandals were uncovered in the Ferns Diocese.

Under Catholic Church law, Pope Benedict will decide whether to accept Bishop Murray’s resignation.

The Irish Bishops’ Conference would be obliged, also under canon law, to ensure the upkeep of a bishop who has resigned.