October 27, 2005

How the church dealt with the allegations in Ferns

IRELAND
One in Four

Extracts from the report published yesterday

The nature of the church response evolved over a 40-year period and may be summarised as follows:

1 The response of Bishop Donal Herlihy (Bishop of Ferns 1964-1983) to an allegation of child sex abuse by a member of the diocesan clergy which was brought to his attention in 1966 was to remove the priest immediately from his post and send him to the diocese of Westminster. Two years later the bishop returned the priest to his position as a teacher in St Peter's college in the diocese of Ferns. The priest was not treated or assessed.

Posted by kshaw at October 27, 2005 03:30 PM