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	Even a Bishop Must Answer to the People The Times January 3, 2009 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5439644.ece Bishop John Magee should listen to his own church leaders and resign over his diocese’s failure to act on child abuse allegations Hounding someone from office is never a dignified procedure. Indeed, the sight of the public, the media and lobby groups in full pursuit of a resignation can be so unseemly as to induce sympathy for their quarry. So it is possible to feel a certain compassion for Bishop John Magee of Cloyne, who is facing demands that he step down from his diocese. The combination of state and secular pressure on the bishop is almost unprecedented in recent Irish history, but so far he has resisted making himself a sacrificial lamb. Is he right to ignore the pressure? To put it baldly, Magee has been found to have failed in his duty to protect his flock, particularly children, from sexual abuse by priests in his charge. The National Board for Safeguarding Children was set up by Irish bishops three years ago as an autonomous watchdog to monitor child-protection safeguards. It concluded in a recent report that such safeguards in Cloyne were “inadequate and in some respects dangerous”. The authorities in Cloyne broke the church’s own rules on reporting allegations of abuse by priests. The claims, including those made by a schoolgirl, should have been referred to the gardai. This lapse is all the more damning given that Magee is a hugely experienced figure, a former secretary to three popes. It appears his colleagues in the hierarchy do not regard his failings as a momentary lapse, and either have deeper concerns about his conduct or harbour doubt about his commitment to new standards of child protection. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Dublin has already expressed his concern that lapses in Cloyne threaten the “one church” policy supposedly being pursued by the 26 dioceses. He suggested he would lead Dublin onto higher ground if doubts persist about the church’s bona fides. Now Cardinal Sean Brady has given his colleague another nudge. The Catholic leader of Ireland has said the negative findings about Cloyne “brought into question the efforts of thousands of volunteers and trained personnel who are fully committed to implementing statutory guidelines and agreed church policies on safeguarding children”. When he says “many people now feel let down, angry and bewildered”, he appears to be talking as much about priests and bishops as the laity. As a way of publicly admonishing Magee, the primate has asked the national board to seek a written commitment from every bishop that he will implement the guidelines on child protection. It seems a pointed way of getting Magee to state a commitment, in public, to doing the right thing. Each bishop is independent, and senior colleagues in Ireland cannot force Magee to resign. But he must be cloth-eared if he cannot hear the disapproval, in some cases verging on distress, in their comments. The episode recalls last year’s behaviour by Cardinal Desmond Connell in taking a High Court action to prevent a government-appointed inquiry examining files on abuse. After the public and church colleagues made their displeasure known, he dropped his case. The bishop of Cloyne could take a leaf from his book. There has long been a cultural resistance in Ireland to resignation: this is now eroding, and over the past year; leaders in politics, business and public life have walked the plank. Bishops may regard themselves as answerable only to a divine authority, but they do have a duty to their church and the people. When they fail in that duty, their response should be no different from anyone else’s.
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