IRELAND
The Mayo News
Liamy MacNally on the matters of fact and the facts of the matter
liamymacnally@mayonews.ie
SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD
Saying sorry can be very difficult. It issues because a wrong was perpetrated. From a Catholic perspective, restitution is also an issue when a wrong has been done. It is called making good. An apology was issued by the Bishops last week to Rev Gerry Mc Ginnity, a former Dean of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He is a parish priest from the Archdiocese of Armagh and the Spiritual Director of Christina Gallagher from the House of Prayer in Achill. Over twenty years ago he informed some Bishops about concerns raised by a group of seminarians over a senior staff member, Rev Míceál Ledwith, the Vice-President in Maynooth seminary. The seminarians also met various Bishops about concerns over the formation of student priests in the national seminary. Other concerns related to Rev Ledwith’s lifestyle. Rev Ledwith was appointed President subsequently while Rev Mc Ginnity was given a sabbatical and refused permission to return to Maynooth. He was then given a junior appointment back in Armagh. Fr Ledwith, or Monsignor, as he was then, left the college unexpectedly in 1994. Three years ago the Bishops confirmed that he had made confidential settlements with two former seminarians following allegations of sexual abuse (which Fr Ledwith denied.) The Bishops then employed Mr Denis McCullough, SC, to investigate newspaper complaints in 2002 of "alleged sexual harassment of seminarians at Maynooth College in the early 1980s and that those complaints did not receive a proper response." This followed press reports in 2002 that a group of seminarians had met Bishops in 1983/4 expressing concern over Fr Ledwith.
Last Thursday morning at approximately 8.30am, Fr Mc Ginnity was presented with a copy of the Mc Cullough Report. It was released to the press about a half an hour later. The seminarians in question were unaware of what was taking place. In an attached press release the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Seán Brady and the Bishop Trustees of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth apologised to Fr Mc Ginnity and the former seminarians for failing to properly investigate the complaints about Fr Ledwith. This ‘paper apology’ was not presented to the men in a verbal or written form and the former seminarians were only alerted when asked for a comment by a journalist. Basic good manners dictate that those affected would be contacted. Christian principles demand more. Neither approach has been adopted. The coldness of their so-called apology is pitiful. There has been no attempt to make personal contact with all the people involved. One wonders to which gallery they are playing.