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	Archbishop Clifford to Take on Cloyne Duties Sunday Business Post March 8, 2009 http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=40144-qqqx=1.asp The Vatican has appointed Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dermot Clifford as apostolic administrator to the diocese of Cloyne. Archbishop Clifford will take over all the powers and duties of Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, who is to retain his title. Bishop Magee had faced down criticism and pressure to resign earlier this year, after an independent report found his diocese had put children at risk of harm through an inability to respond appropriately to abuse allegations. In a statement from Cloyne Diocesan centre, Magee said that he requested the Holy See on February 4 last ‘‘to appoint an apostolic administrator who would carry out the ordinary governance of the diocese of Cloyne’’. ‘‘This appointment will enable Bishop Magee to devote the necessary time and energy to cooperating fully with the government Commission of Inquiry into child protection practices and procedures in the Diocese of Cloyne, as he has already committed himself to do,” the statement said. The independent abuse report, which implicated Magee, was conducted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSC), a body set up by, but independent of the Catholic Church. It found he had taken minimal action in relation to five credible child protection complaints, and that any action taken by him had been delayed. Cardinal Sean Brady said Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to grant the request for an apostolic administrator ‘‘is an indication of the importance which the Church gives to safeguarding children and caring for the needs of victims’’. Archbishop Clifford said he would give ‘‘every possible cooperation to the Commission of Inquiry into the diocese of Cloyne’’ and that he intends to meet with the college of consultors, the council of priests, and the diocesan child protection delegate ‘‘as soon as possible’’.
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