The pain and scandal of false abuse claims

FORGIVE me if I have failed to find any coverage in your newspaper of the recent apology given unreservedly by RTÉ to Galway priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds, for the false allegation of sexual abuse made against him on PrimeTime last May.

The apology from RTÉ is the most detailed and lengthy such apology we have seen for a very long time. The allegation was broadcast despite that priest’s protestation of innocence and an offer to the journalist in question to take a paternity test to prove that he was not the father of a child in Africa as a woman there had alleged.

Whilst the media has done a good job in bringing into the open the scandal of clerical child sexual abuse, this case raises huge issues surrounding allegations of sexual abuse that are false. Had Fr Reynolds not been able to clear his name medically, he would be scandalised and condemned for life.