NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By Sarah Brett
29 August 2005
A priest in Londonderry is surveying his parish on how cash should be raised for a controversial fund which compensates victims of paedophile priests.
Father Michael Canny has asked a team of researchers from the University of Ulster to confidentially canvass those who worship in and financially support St Eugene's Cathedral on how the parish might "meet its obligation" to the Stewardship Trust Fund.
The move follows a double scandal in the diocese earlier this year when it emerged that Dungiven curate Fr Andy McCloskey was allowed to become a sex abuse counsellor despite facing two serious sexual allegations and paying a £19,000 out of court settlement to an alleged victim.
Within weeks it was also revealed that Bishop Of Derry Seamus Hegarty had on one occasion channelled money from parish contributions into the Stewardship Trust Fund without telling parishioners.