IRELAND
One in Four
PRIESTS cleared of child sex abuse allegations but who nevertheless have not been returned to ministry should consider suing their bishop in order to restore their good name, the head of theAbuse Tracker Conference of Priests of Ireland has said.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the NCPI yesterday, Fr John Littleton claimed that in some cases bishops were "over-reacting" to child abuse allegations in order to compensate for the fact that they had "under-reacted" in the past.
He said he was aware of cases where a priest had been cleared by both civil and religious authorities following receipt of a child abuse allegation against him, but the bishop had decided not to restore him to his ministry.