BishopAccountability.org
	Cloyne Abuse Scandal - Archbishop Sends a Clear Message Irish Examiner January 7, 2009 http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=opinion- qqqm=opinion-qqqa=general-qqqid=81311-qqqx=1.asp YESTERDAY, as Fr Michael Mernagh ended his "pilgrimage of atonement" at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral, where he was embraced by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, we got an indication of the great pressure put on the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) chief executive Ian Elliott. We also got a glimpse of the deepening divisions in the Catholic Church, divisions which have never been made so public before. Mr Elliott wrote a highly critical report on two child protection cases in Cloyne. Completed in June the report concluded that practices were "inadequate and in some respects dangerous". Mr Elliott must have realised he would be challenged and before he sent the report to the Minister for Children, Barry Andrews, on August 18 he sought "an unconditional indemnity" from the state were it to publish the report before the HSE got it. Such an assurance was not given. The report was published by the Diocese of Cloyne just before Christmas but not before it was made available by Bishop John Magee to his Case Management Advisory Committee, which advised him on child protection issues. On July 9, that committee wrote to the NBSC claiming that "your report makes assertions and assumptions that are false and it makes attributions that are defamatory of the members of Interdiocesan (Cloyne and Limerick) Case Management Advisory Committee (CMAC). It also makes very serious omissions which further distort the truth". The CMAC's assertions were strident and clear. It dismissed Mr Elliott's report as "seriously flawed", "false" and "defamatory" of its members. The diocese report said the findings of an independent board — the NBSC — "seriously wrongs the Diocese of Cloyne and our committee" and, that if issued, remedy would be sought in "either ecclesiastical or secular courts or both". Despite this shot across his bows Mr Elliott persisted and passed his report to Mr Andrews. To this day, and to his great credit, Mr Elliott stands over his report. He, and the NBSC, could have been under no illusion as to what Cloyne thought but they did not capitulate. It was the diocese that capitulated and published the report so dismissed by one of its advisory groups. What degree of intervention, and from whom, was involved we can only speculate. It is irrelevant as the report would have been made public one way or another. What is clear is that Bishop Magee sacrificed the credibility of his Case Management Advisory Committee by publishing it — just as he has sacrificed whatever legitimacy he had to continue as bishop of Cloyne. The welcome afforded to Fr Mernagh by Archbishop Martin is unprecedented and sends a clear message to Bishop Magee. It is difficult if not impossible to recall an occasion when an archbishop so publicly supported a priest who has openly challenged a bishop. At this juncture it is more than difficult to understand what sustains Dr Magee's belief that he should continue as Bishop of Cloyne. However, it is impossible to imagine that he can for much longer now that Archbishop Martin has so directly supported those who wish him gone.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.