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	‘That Man Was a Pervert and They Protected Him All the Way’ By Claire O’Sullivan Irish Examiner January 9, 2009 http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=81665-qqqx=1.asp SINEAD is a woman in her late forties. A professional person leading a normal life. Or so it seems. But every time she is out for a walk or driving around town and a certain model car in a particular colour whizzes past, she’s freezes — unable to lift an arm or breathe — and is rendered speechless. It doesn’t have to be his car. It doesn’t have to be him. All it takes is the possibility that it could be that car. Her alleged abuser is without a parish but this hasn’t stopped him pressing the Diocese of Cloyne for years to be re-instated. At one point, it is believed they considered taking him off restricted ministry and putting him back on a full one. Thankfully they didn’t. But he still has a good life. He is still a man about town who likes a round of golf, the thunder of the hoof on the racetrack and a night playing cards with friends. Sinead admits she has fared better than other victims — on the surface. But behind the respectability lies a woman who has wrestled with demons from when she wakes in the morning until she touches her pillow at night. “I have always lived a double life since the first time he did that to me. It was a life of torment, silence and secrecy. And, it was this fear and secrecy that allowed him to keep doing what he was doing and them to cover it up. I feel as if my life went off on a horrible tangent from the moment it started... I’ve learned to live with it but the anger will always be there.” Relationships have posed difficulties, trust a major issue. “For me the bond of trust was broken so young that it became practically impossible for me to trust anyone,” she says. She has spent years in counselling, outpouring the torrent of emotions that her tormentor has forced her to face all the days of her life. Her counsellor is a rock to her, gardai have been supportive while Ian Elliott (National Board for Safeguarding Children) won her over as “he was so committed to getting to the truth”. They are the people that listened to her, offering solace from her hidden hell. Other alleged victims have told her they can’t sleep unless every door in the house is locked. Sudden noises at night make others jump up in their beds. Another woman can’t be alone in a room with a man. These women had their lives savaged by a priest. The Bishop of Cloyne and his senior clerics caused unending heartache to victims in their attitude to complaints, never reporting or delaying reporting them to gardai. The HSE was never told. When Sinead told gardai herself, the Church stonewalled all the way in interaction with her and other authorities. As she told one senior cleric about what she endured as a teenager, she was told “there’s always the civil route”. On another occasion he patronisingly quipped: “My, my. How articulate we are.” “They are a disgusting disease, that diocese... That man was a functioning pervert and they protected him all the way,” she said. Child sex abuse affects adults in many different ways. A man who made a complaint last year about abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of a brother while in a north Cork school 50 years ago, admits to having spent a lifetime setting unachievable aims for himself — always trying to make perfect what he believed was imperfect. He also has difficulty with long-term relationships. He told a senior cleric, a close friend, about his abuse 20 years ago but the priest failed to pass it on to the bishop and actively urged him not to take the complaint any further. It is only in the past year that it has really hit home what a disservice this supposed friend did to him. Another breach of trust. The Diocese of Cloyne is a wide-ranging diocese made up of 46 parishes that take in most of north, north-west and east Cork where the holy trinity of the school, Church and GAA still rule supreme. The Celtic Tiger may have brought decking, 4x4s and a proliferation of outdoor trampolines but the mindset is largely rural, insular and parochial. Everyone likes to keep their business to themselves and nobody likes the national spotlight being on them, whether it’s in the interest of transparency or not. In general, younger generations especially are appalled at what has emerged from the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) and HSE reports but its unlikely they will ever take the American approach where an intransigent Cardinal Francis Law was finally ousted when his pocket was hit by empty collection baskets. Cobh is no Boston. Older Mass-goers appear to have that Irish difficulty of separating criticism of a bishop with criticism of their faith. Of course, gardai in the diocese have known about these cases for years. They too are reluctant to talk about them but have intimated they were more than surprised the DPP didn’t prosecute in at least one if not two cases. Gardai have said that child sex abuse cases are never easy to work on but those involving the Church brought another set of difficulties in a largely rural area. The DPP was given four files on two priests but no charges were brought. It is for this reason that three, and possibly a fourth, alleged victim are taking civil cases against the diocese. Gardai confirmed that full and thorough investigations were carried out into each of the allegations levelled against Fr A and Fr B, both priests in the Cloyne diocese. The DPP’s decisions were not made public. The first complaint against Fr A was made in December 2004 by another priest of the diocese. He identified his alleged abuser as Fr A in May 2005 and said he had been abused as a young boy by Fr A, a parish priest. Six months later, on November 19, 2005, Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan wrote to the then Garda Superintendent informing him a complaint had been received against a priest in the diocese. The letter named the victim but not the alleged abuser. It did state he was a priest in the diocese. A Garda investigation began. According to the NBSC report, the first complaint against Fr B was received by Bishop John Magee in 1995, when a woman and her father alleged he had sexually abused her. The matter was submitted to the Diocesan Child Protection Management Committee on July 4, 1995, but the victim did not want to report the matter to gardai. A further complaint was received by the diocese on September 4, 1996, when an adult woman expressed her concern about the relationship Fr B had with her 14-year-old son. Fr B was described as overly affectionate to the boy and would give him expensive gifts. He was once observed kissing him. The woman had herself been in a relationship with the priest, who had access to her son. Another complainant wrote to the bishop on December 9, 1997, alleging Fr B sexually abused her during a youth retreat at St Dominic’s in Ennismore. She said it took place during confession conducted in a bedroom. He had ordered her to lie on the bed for the confession and then abused her as she told of her “sins”. In January 2003, the adult woman and her son, who is now 21, complained about Fr B again. The matter was finally referred to the gardai for investigation. On November 17, 2005, a new complainant contacted the diocese with allegations of serious sexual abuse by Fr B from when she was 13, which involved full sexual intercourse, and claiming the abuse lasted five years. This was also reported to gardai. A single Garda file in relation to Fr A was forwarded to the DPP in November 2006 but the DPP directed in February 2007 that no prosecution should follow. Three substantial files relating to allegations against Fr B were forwarded to the DPP some time later and in each of the cases, the DPP directed that no prosecution should follow. One victim says it’s an irony not lost on her that if Priest A and B, had been prosecuted — none of the scandal would have come into the public domain. The NBSC report or HSE report (which referred to ongoing complaints against four priests) would not have been written. “If they had been prosecuted it would have been over, whether he was convicted or not. The bishop and his team would have got away with it,” she says. Despite the HSE recommending the file on the Cloyne diocese not be forwarded to the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation, Minister for Children Barry Andrews chose to take the contrary route. It is hoped by many in the diocese that Judge Yvonne Murphy, who heads the commission, will finally “get to the bottom of this can of worms”. The father of a woman who alleges she was sexually abused as a teenager by Fr B has said he is aware of at least 10 more victims of the same priest. His daughter, who was 14 when the abuse began, claims she was raped over a three-year period by the priest. Her father, who said his family had been through “horror”, is urging others to come forward. “Molesting a child, an innocent body, is to molest a mind that is affected forever more. I know about this firsthand.” He told RTE Radio he would not agree with the bishop resigning. “That is too easy. He should be made to account and then be kicked out.” There however seems to be little sign of Bishop Magee changing his mind. As of yet, the silence from Rome is deafening.
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