Cloyne abuse scandal - Resign or be fired are the only options

WHETHER the four senior Catholic churchmen who yesterday publicly supported the embattled Bishop of Cloyne would have done so if they had been aware of allegations made public just last evening is questionable.

In reality, it is hard to understand how — even before last night’s revelations — they could support a man who epitomises a church in denial, a church aloof, a church that puts its own interests and survival before everything else. A church too silent and a church deaf to the wishes of those it purports to love and serve.

Those four men — Archbishop Dermot Clifford of Cashel, Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam, Bishop of Achonry Brendan Kelly and Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby — could not have anticipated new allegations that a Cloyne priest “under supervision” and “removed from ministry” made inappropriate advances to a young woman in recent weeks — weeks, not months or years. This despite “protection measures being in place”.

Neither could those churchmen have been aware that a parishioner who says his daughter was abused by that same priest 13 years ago and that he reported the matter to Bishop John Magee then, believes that there is “little or no change in the pattern of this priest’s life”. This, despite assurances from Bishop Magee’s diocese that he is being supervised.

The senior churchmen, however, cannot be surprised to learn that this priest is a central character in both Ian Elliott’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) report and the Health Services Executive (HSE) report into child protection procedures in the diocese.

Though the Catholic Church has been the focus of outrage, the HSE have serious questions to answer too. How could they accept a refusal by bishops to answer questions during their nationwide audit of child protection practices? The HSE represented the state in this exercise yet it accepted the bishops’ refusal to comply. This is unacceptable and the HSE must explain why it tolerated the refusal.

The seriousness of this neglect was underlined yesterday when the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, announced she is to investigate the possibility of “maladministration” in relation to the audit by the HSE and/or the Department of Health.

Though we had more than enough investigations, it seems that neither the Catholic Church or all state agencies have reached a point where they can be trusted in these matters. It is an appalling indictment of our society that 15 years after the Fr Brendan Smyth scandal a state agency must be investigated over its role in these matters.

The four churchmen may be praised for their loyalty to a colleague but their judgment must be questioned.

As last night’s new allegations showed again, every day that Bishop Magee remains in office is an affront to all the victims of his diocese; an affront to the ideas of faith, hope and charity and a daily affront to everyone who still has regard for the Catholic Church.