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	Bishop Blames 'Flawed Decisions' by Hierarchy Leinster Express December 16, 2009 http://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/Bishop-blames-39flawed-decisions39-by.5913874.jp Ireland -- THE Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Jim Moriarty has blamed a "flawed decision making process" amongst his superiors in the Dublin diocese for the mishandling of clerical child abuse and does not believe there are grounds for his resignation. "Having replied to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and discussed matters with Cardinal Seán Brady I do not consider there are any grounds there upon which I should resign from office," he said in an extensive interview with the Leinster Express. Bishop Moriarty insists that he fulfilled his responsibilities by warning a priest to "desist" from the inappropriate behaviour and also bringing the matter to the archbishop's attention. "The Murphy Report makes it very clear that Archbishop Desmond Connell did not check if there were other complaints. This meant that the concerns were not taken as seriously as they should have been…. Sometimes some of the papers give the impression that it was I that didn't do it. But it specifically states in the report that it was Archbishop Connell who didn't check it in that way," he said. "There were certain things that were dealt with in a certain way. And the way these things were dealt with goes back to John Charles' (McQuaid) stage. And if you glance at the report it even mentions how things happened in Archbishop Ryan's time...I think we could say that the whole decision making process was quite flawed, in many different ways…It was solely down to the archbishop," he said. While not wishing to get into a head to head argument, Marie Collins, who was abused by "Fr Edmondus" told the Leinster Express that there is still a lack of accountability on the part of the auxiliary bishops. "Just because you interview somebody, that's not an actual investigation," she said. "The bishops are all saying, in my specific case, I didn't need to do anymore. The point is that they were all part of the management process of the diocese...There should be some sort of group accountability". Mrs Collins said if Bishop Moriarty feels he did all he could then there wasn't much more she could say. However, she felt that if the files were checked, the matter would have been investigated more thoroughly and this could have ruled out the possibility of other children being abused. In 1997, "Fr Edmondus" was convicted of indecent assault against two girls and served a term of nine months imprisonment.
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