By Evelyn Ring
Irish Examiner
December 27, 2008
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=80841-qqqx=1.asp
THE Bishop of Cloyne John Magee must resign over his mishandling of child abuse allegations, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) insisted yesterday.
DRCC chief executive Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop said while it is important the bishop apologises, he must do more than that — he must go.
“The way in which he handled complaints of child sex abuse was absolutely unforgivable. We are surprised that he has not resigned,” she said. “Our culture has changed. We now have national guidelines for the protection and welfare of children, Children First, but he definitely did not put children first.
“Anybody can make a mistake, but you are talking about somebody who holds a very responsible position,” said Ms O’Malley-Dunlop. “The Catholic Church has very clear guidelines and an audit of cases handled by the bishop found that he did not deal with them appropriately. One would imagine that the next step would be that he resigns.”
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Bishop Magee has declined to discuss the Cloyne sex abuse scandal, but stated he would not be resigning.
Just before he celebrated midnight Mass at Cobh Cathedral on Christmas Day, he apologised to all victims of clerical abuse. The bishop also told the congregation he would update them on all work undertaken in relation to child protection in the diocese.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children report showed that Bishop Magee and his child protection team had put children at risk by failing to report alleged abuse to gardai and failing to remove accused priests from their duties.
The diocese is dealing with six separate complaints relating to three priests and a member of a teaching order. It also emerged at the weekend that the diocese is continuing to contest a number of civil legal actions taken by victims.
It is believed that the diocese had made no attempt to settle at least three High Court actions involving two diocesan priests.
Ms O’Malley-Dunlop said the Cloyne abuse scandal would also trigger the memories of other people sexually abused as children.
“That is why we were particularly anxious to have our national helpline number (1800 77 88 88) widely published this Christmas,” she said. “The helpline is not just for people recently raped. Half of the people we see are victims of childhood sexual abuse.”
Among those who have asked Bishop Magee to take stock of his position is the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. The archbishop said he should do “what is best for child protection”.
The bishop has also been asked to reflect on his position by the Minister for Children Barry Andrews.
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