Murphy report fallout - Bishop’s resignation necessary

Nobody should take any satisfaction at this time of year from Dr James Moriarty’s decision to resign as Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. It is a personal setback, but it had unfortunately become necessary. He had unwittingly become implicated in child abuse, even though he was accurate in saying that he did nothing wrong.

The problem was that — like many other church authorities — Dr Moriarty essentially did nothing other than pass the buck when he learned the priest identified as Fr Edmondus in the Murphy report was sexually abusing children in the Dublin diocese. As an auxiliary bishop of Dublin he was informed in 1993 there was a complaint that Fr Edmondus was having inappropriate contact with children.

Such contacts included having young girls in his car and changing in his house before going swimming. Dr Moriarty discussed the problem with local priests and informed Archbishop Desmond Connell, who warned Fr Edmondus about his behaviour.