BBC News
December 23, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8428289.stm
Ireland -- Speculation is mounting in Ireland that a second bishop will resign after a damning report which found that Catholic leaders concealed child abuse.
Broadcaster RTE has reported that the Bishop of Kildare Dr James Moriarty, will quit on Wednesday afternoon.
Last week he said that if it was for the good of the Catholic Church he would step down.
The report subjected him to implied criticism for not doing enough to find out all detail about an alleged abuser.
Dr Moriarty worked in the Dublin archdiocese from 1991 to 2002.
In 1993 he received a report about the activities of a priest, Fr Edmondus, who was behaving in a suspicious way around children.
Criticism
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| The Catholic church in Ireland has been rocked by the abuse scandal |
The Murphy report into abuse in Dublin noted that Dr Moriarty warned Fr Edmondus about his behaviour and discussed the matter with his Archbishop.
The report also found that no attempt was made by the archdiocesan authorities to check the archives or other files relating to Fr Edmondus when the complaints were received
Bishop Moriarty told the abuse inquiry that while he did not have access to the archives where Fr Edmondus' records would have been held, he could have asked his Archbishop to conduct a search of those records. He did not do this.
The Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, resigned earlier this month following criticism of him in the report.
It found that during Dr Murray's time as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin from 1982 to 1996, he was dismissive of complaints about a priest who went on to abuse again.
The report said Bishop Murray did not deal properly with the suspicions and concerns that were expressed to him in relation to one priest, Fr Tom Naughton, in 1983.
A short time later, factual evidence of Naughton's abusing emerged in another parish.
The Murphy report found Bishop Murray's failure to reinvestigate the earlier suspicions was "inexcusable".
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