THE CLOYNE REPORT ON THE BISHOP AND THE VATICAN:TOUGH NEW laws to force the disclosure of information on child sexual abuse are to be introduced in response to another damning report on the failure of the Catholic Church to protect child abuse victims.
The withholding of information about serious offences against a child will be made a criminal offence, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter announced yesterday following the publication of the report on the handling of sex abuse claims in the diocese of Cloyne.
Further measures, including a statutory child protection code, are to be announced by Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald tomorrow.
The report found that the Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, misled the minister for children by claiming the church’s guidelines for handling abuse cases were being fully complied with. It also found he falsely told the Health Service Executive (HSE) that allegations of abuse were being reported to gardaí.
In fact, two-thirds of complaints made between 1996 and 2008 were not reported to the Garda and no complaint was passed to the HSE during this period.
The report accuses the Vatican, through its opposition to the Irish bishops’ procedures for handling child sexual abuse, of giving comfort to dissenters within the church who did not want to implement them. In a secret letter to the bishops, Rome describes the 1996 rules as “merely a study document” and not official.
Senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi issued an emphatic “no comment” when asked about the Cloyne report. He did not rule out making a comment at a later date, by which time the Holy See would have had a chance to assess the report fully.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore said last night he would be calling the papal nuncio to a meeting over the findings.
Bishop Magee and the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady apologised for the church’s failures in relation to child protection in the diocese, while Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan apologised to the victims involved in three cases where the report was critical of the approach adopted his officers.
Mr Shatter expressed his “sorrow and profound apology”.
The “learning curve” used to excuse the poor handling of complaints in earlier reports does not apply in Cloyne, the report points out. All of the allegations were made after 1996, when new procedures were put in place to deal with complaints.
As Ms Fitzgerald pointed out: “This is not a catalogue of failure from a different era. This is not about an Ireland of 50 years ago. This is about Ireland now.”
Bishop Magee is described in the 341-page report as ineffective and faulted for taking little real interest in the implementation of the guidelines on child sexual abuse for 12 years. He assigned responsibility to Msgr Denis O’Callaghan, who was “uncommitted” to the guidelines, frustrated their implementation and acted in what he perceived were the best interests of the church.
“It is truly scandalous that people who presented a public face of concern continued to maintain a private agenda of concealment and evasion,” Mr Shatter commented.
President Mary McAleese said the report showed that many lessons still had to be learned in relation to the welfare and protection of children.
Bishop Magee repeated earlier apologies for his failure to ensure abuse victims were fully supported and responded to. While insisting he was fully supportive of the 1996 church guidelines on abuse cases, he admitted he should have taken a much firmer role in ensuring their implementation.
“I am sorry that this happened and I unreservedly apologise to all those who suffered additional hurt because of the flawed implementation of the church procedures, for which I take full responsibility,” he said in a statement. Bishop Magee was not in his home yesterday and his whereabouts were unknown.
Msgr O’Callaghan admitted that in some cases he became “emotionally and pastorally drawn to the plight of the accused priest, to the detriment of the pastoral response I intended to make to complainants”.
Cardinal Brady apologised and expressed his “shame and sorrow” at what happened in Cloyne.
He said he would not resign because he wanted to continue the work to safeguard children from abuse.
The report describes the handling of “allegations, complaints, suspicions and concerns” about 19 clerics. One of these, and the only person who is named, is Bishop Magee.
He is alleged to have embraced a 17-year-old youth and kissed him on the forehead, which was deemed to be inappropriate but not reportable behaviour.
