BISHOP PHILIP Boyce of Raphoe has said he will publish the findings of a report into the church’s handling of allegations of clerical child sex abuse in the diocese when he receives it next month.
He also rejected a media report yesterday which said “hundreds and hundreds of victims” in the diocese were abused “again and again”, while the church “actively prevented” investigations by the civil authorities.
The review of the Raphoe diocese by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church is almost complete and is expected to be ready for publication in September. The board has investigated all complaints or allegations of clerical child sex abuse made to the diocese from 1975 up to this year.
The Raphoe diocese was previously accused of covering up abuse perpetrated by convicted paedophile Fr Eugene Greene, who served as a priest in Raphoe in the 1980s and early 1990s.
However, Dr Boyce said in a statement that all allegations made known to the diocese of Raphoe are reported to the Garda and the Health Service Executive.
“I invited Ian Elliott and his team from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church to conduct a review of the diocesan files relating to child abuse allegations. I gave them my full co-operation and they examined the files,” he said.
Dr Boyce, who has seen draft copies of the board's report, described an article in yesterday's Irish Independentas "alarmist" and "not in the public interest".
“I intend to formally complain about the matter,” he said in the statement.
The national board was set up in 2006 by the Catholic Church to monitor its child protection policies in the almost 200 dioceses, missionary unions and congregations in Ireland. So far it has either completed or almost completed six reviews of church dioceses.
Its report on the diocese of Cloyne uncovered dangerous child protection practices when Bishop John Magee was in charge. This eventually sparked a separate judicial inquiry, which resulted in the publication of the Cloyne report last month.
This report found the church’s own child protection policies were not implemented in the Cloyne diocese and the Vatican was “entirely unhelpful” to bishops who sought to implement the official policies.
A spokesman for the board said last night he could not comment on the contents of its review of the Raphoe diocese until it was published by the bishop.
Responding yesterday, Tom McGrath, director of counselling with the HSE national counselling service in the northwest, said it was already preparing to bring in extra resources in the coming weeks to deal with an expected increase in calls.
In a separate development, Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin called on former bishop of Cloyne John Magee to return to his diocese to answer questions about the Cloyne report.
Dr Magee has not been seen in public since the report’s publication.
Asked about the whereabouts of Dr Magee, Dr Jones said: “I genuinely don’t know where he is but I genuinely would like to see him back in his diocese and answering questions as pastor of his flock.”
Asked if that meant he would like him back as bishop he said: “No, I would like see him back to answer the questions on the Cloyne report.”