Widespread Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Priests in Dublin Was Covered up for Decades by Senior Clerics, a Damning Report Will Say.
Telegraph (United Kingdom)
November 26, 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6659011/Sexual-abuse-by-Catholic-
priests-in-Ireland-was-covered-up-for-decades-report-says.html
Four Archbishops, including Cardinal Desmond Connell, will be named over their mishandling of hundreds of allegations, including not reporting crimes to the police.
The senior clerics' motive was to protect the church above defenceless children, the report will find.
The Dublin Archdiocese Commission is the third inquiry in the last four years to rock the Catholic Church in Ireland following independent investigations into abusive priests.
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Photo by AP |
The pattern of senior clerics moving abusers from parish to parish rather than dealing with the problem will also be addressed.
The 700-page report includes 45 potted histories of a sample of priests from 1975 to 2004 who were investigated by the Commission.
It is understood only ten priests will be named, as they are either dead or in jail, with the rest given aliases.
It will detail horrific abuse stories the Commission was told by victims, the response of Bishops and Archbishops and how gardai and health authorities reacted.
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern will publish the report at Government Buildings.
The role of four Archbishops, John Charles McQuaid who died in 1973, Dermot Ryan who died in 1984, Kevin McNamara who died in 1987, and the retired Cardinal, were examined.
The Commission looked at the Cardinal's role in the late 1980s and 1990s and the use of an insurance scheme, which he inherited, to pay off victims.
Cardinal Connell, who took part in the Conclave to elect Pope Benedict four years ago, ordered a trawl through the diocesan secret archives in 1995 to determine how many clerics had been accused of child abuse.
Only 17 names were given to the police.
His successor Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who has continually pushed for full disclosure of clerical child abuse, later found that since 1940 more than 400 children had claimed to have been abused by at least 152 priests in the Dublin area.
A High Court judge last week paved the way for the release of the report after two applications by the State to have its contents examined over fears it could prejudice criminal proceedings.
Any reference to two priests, and one of the cleric's brothers, has been removed for publication.
Survivors of clerical abuse demanded the harrowing report be published as soon as possible to vindicate victims who for years told the truth.
Maeve Lewis, of support group One in Four, said it would also disclose collusion that took place between the Catholic Church, gardai and health chiefs at the time.
Up to 450 people have made abuse allegations against former priests in what is one of Europe's largest dioceses, since 1940.
However, the long-running Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin Archdiocese has examined allegations against only a sample 46 priests.
Headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, the Dublin inquiry has also been examining high-profile allegations in the Cloyne diocese in Cork.
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