BishopAccountability.org
	Irish Cardinal Drops Court Appeal; Documents Released Catholic World News February 11, 2008 http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=56532 Cardinal Desmond Connell, the retired Archbishop of Dublin, has withdrawn a court appeal in which he had sought to stop the release of some documents relating to archdiocesan handling of sex-abuse cases. By dropping his appeal the cardinal averted a legal showdown with his successor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who had agreed to turn over the documents to an independent investigating commission. Appearing in court on February 11, a lawyer representing Cardinal Connell announced that he was withdrawing his appeal for the High Court to stop release of the documents. On January 31 the cardinal had won a temporary court order preventing the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, from examining the documents. Cardinal Connell had earlier told friends that he was prepared to go to jail if necessary in order to protect the confidentiality of some documents, explaining that he was defending the rights of both archdiocesan advisers and victims of sexual abuse. The cardinal's insistence on that point had put him on a collision course with Archbishop Martin, who had already agreed to hand over the documents to the commission, waiving confidentiality claims. Neither the cardinal (who retired in 2004 and was succeeded by Archbishop Martin) nor his lawyer offered an explanation for the decision to drop the case. But Church officials had been urging the two Irish prelates to resolve their differences without a major court battle. The 81-year-old Cardinal Connell is currently recovering from injuries he sustained in January when he fell down while in Rome.
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