IRELAND
Irish Independent
John Cooney
Religious Affairs Specialist
CHILD abuse campaigner Colm O'Gorman last night criticised calls for priests accused of sexual abuse to be allowed to continue in parish work.
At the Galway novena run by the Redemptorist Order, co-ordinator Fr Tony Flannery had questioned the new requirement in the Catholic Church of removing from pastoral duties every priest against whom an allegation of having abused children was made.
Fr Flannery, author of a number of best-selling books, contended the denial of a priest's legal right of being innocent before being proven guilty was at risk under the procedures.
He argued that if the charge proved to be unfounded, a priest's good name would nevertheless be severely damaged.