Fortune victims ask for answers, not resignations

Three victims of clerical abuse by Fr Sean Fortune today repeated their regret at Bishop Brendan Comiskey’s resignation as Bishop of the Diocese of Ferns over his handling of clerical sex abuse cases in his diocese.

Mr Donnacha Mac Gloinn said: "We’re not looking for resignations, we’re looking for courage... We just want them [the Catholic church] to come forward and accept responsibility."

Mr Pat Jackman also said he regretted that Bishop Comiskey resigned, saying that "His resignation does not service our needs".

Asked about the Vatican so far not accepting Bishop Comiskey’s resignation, Mr Colm O’Gorman said that "it would be refreshing if they didn’t [accept his resignation]".

He said the Vatican should make Bishop Comiskey stay on and deal with the issue. "We do not seek confrontation, we do not seek resignations," said Mr O’Gorman.

On the effect the resignation is having on other priests, Mr Jackman said that it has "polarised the community even further".

Mr O’Gorman said: "The church should somehow respond to the needs of its own clergy," about the issue. Speaking on the silence of the church hierarchy on child abuse, he said: "They’re doing a very good job of tearing apart our church. I want my church back...

"I would encourage them to reach out with some level of compassion and respect [for victims]," he added.

Mr O’Gorman said they had questions for Cardinal Connell of Dublin, Archbishop Brady of Armagh and Pope John Paul II. These are:

• 1. What was known by the Diocese of Ferns, the Irish Church Hierarchy and the Vatican from 1975 onwards about Sean Fortune's sexual abuse of children?

• 2. How many complaints has the Irish Catholic Church in all its separate and distinct forms received about the rape and abuse of children by diocesan priests?

• 3. How many of those complaints and contacts has the Church passed fully and completely to civil authorities? and

• 4. Will the Catholic Church in Ireland and The Vatican undertake to guarantee full and frank cooperation with an independent State enquiry should one be instituted and make all files it holds on actual and alleged abuses of children by diocesan priests available to that enquiry?

Tomorrow, victims of Fr Sean Fortune are meeting the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, in Kilkenny. "We hope that the Minister will recognise that he must now institute the inquiry that Irish society needs in order to move through and beyond this crisis," said Mr O’Gorman.

The three men, along with Jim and Josie Gahan, the parents of a girl who suffered abuse by another priest in Wexford, today launched a website ( www.oneinfour.org) that will give victims of abuse access to further information and support.