Cardinal Supports Cloyne Bishop, Herald, January 14, 2009

Cardinal Supports Cloyne Bishop

Herald
January 14, 2009

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/cardinal-supports-cloyne-bishop-1600758.html

Catholic Primate Cardinal Sean Brady last night said under-fire Bishop of Cloyne John Magee should not resign.

Bishop Magee, a former Vatican aide, has faced down repeated calls to quit over his mishandling of child sex abuse allegations, branded inadequate and dangerous by the church's own watchdog.

Bishop of Cloyne John Magee.

But Cardinal Brady said he believes the embattled Bishop, who served as Private Secretary to three pontiffs, has learnt painful lessons from the Cloyne controversy.

However, One in the Four, the sex abuse support group which sparked the landmark inquiry into paedophile priests in Co Wexford four years ago, said the cardinal was demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the dynamics of sexual abuse.

The group repeated its call for Bishop Magee to resign.

Ahead of an address to clergy in Killarney, Co Kerry, the Cardinal said: "I think he should stay to make sure that this child safeguarding is kept as a total priority in that Diocese."

It is the first time the Cardinal has spoken publicly about Bishop Magee after he was heavily criticised in a report by the Catholic Church's watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) one week before Christmas.

It found the senior cleric took minimal action over a series of child abuse allegations against two of his priests and what little action he took, was inappropriately delayed.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) was called in to investigate on foot of the recommendations of the 2005 Ferns Report, which highlighted 100 allegations of child sex abuse made against 21 priests in Co Wexford between 1962 and 2002. Its investigation corroborated the NBSC finding that Cloyne did not adhere to either church or state child protection guidelines as health chiefs were never notified of the complaints.