BISHOP JOHN Magee’s response to the findings of the Cloyne report has drawn fresh criticism from abuse victims, a priests’ group and a Government Minister.
One in Four said it appeared Bishop Magee did not fully understand the gravity of his failure to protect children and investigate complaints against suspected paedophile priests during his tenure as bishop of the Cork diocese.
“His response has insulted and outraged victims because, regardless of his intentions, it came across as being quite formulaic,” One in Four executive director Maeve Lewis said.
“A five-minute interview is insufficient, and victims deserve a much more thorough set of answers from Bishop Magee .”
“The danger now is that if journalists or victims groups demand answers Bishop Magee will become the victim in the story as he is an old man. We must not forget who the real victims are in this situation,” she added.
Bishop Magee released a statement on Monday, five weeks after the publication of the report, which said primary responsibility for the failure to implement the agreed child sexual abuse procedures in the diocese rested with him.
“I deeply, deeply regret not ensuring that the guidelines, which were my responsibility to implement, were not complied with . . . ,” he said, adding that he would be willing to meet victims of abuse personally. Dr Magee served as bishop of Cloyne between February 1987 and March 2010.
Ms Lewis said she understood some victims of abuse from the diocese would be willing to take up the invitation, but warned those considering it to be clear about what they are hoping for from such an encounter. “In our experience [such meetings] can be enormously helpful but only if the bishop understands the impact on the victim,” she said.
Abuse victim and campaigner Andrew Madden said Bishop Magee still had questions to answer over some of the assurances he offered to clerical abuse review teams, the Health Service Executive and the then government. “It is hard to imagine such empty words being of any comfort or assistance to anyone,” Mr Madden said. “The fact that Bishop Magee failed to account in any way for what was revealed in the Cloyne report does not come as any surprise.”
The US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Bishop Magee should hold an open news conference and answer all questions about findings on his behaviour in the Cloyne report.
“Out of respect for those he so severely and repeatedly betrayed, that’s the very least Magee should do,” said spokesman Peter Isely.
Fr Tony Flannery, of the Association of Catholic Priests, said he believed the language and manner Bishop Magee used to respond to the Cloyne report was inadequate, as it did not convey that he understood the serious nature of the problem.
“A five-minute doorstep interview after a month of silence is not at all adequate for the extent of the difficulties around the Cloyne report,” Fr Flannery said. “He needs to do more than that.”
Minister for Agriculture and Cork South Central TD Simon Coveney said Bishop Magee’s response had not been adequate. “Many people have been deeply hurt by what has happened and it is an awful reflection of what was happening in the church,” he said.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Mr Coveney said people living in the diocese and further afield had been “terribly let down by the failings of the church at the very highest level” in the diocese.
A spokesman for the Irish Catholic bishops welcomed Bishop Magee’s invitation to meet victims. “We welcome the fact that he spoke publicly, and especially his sentiment to meet the survivors of abuse,” he said.
But he would not be drawn on Bishop Magee’s comments that he had not been aware of the full extent of the failure to protect children until the Cloyne report was published. “He’s speaking in a personal capacity,” he added.