BBC News
December 24, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8429630.stm
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| Bishop Hegarty said resignations may not help the healing process |
The Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, has said he is unsure whether it would be helpful for more bishops to resign over the Murphy Report.
It is the first time the bishop has spoken since the report into clerical sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese was published a month ago.
Two bishops, James Moriarty and Donal Murray, have already resigned.
Bishop Hegarty said he was "not sure" if more resignations would "contribute in any great way towards healing".
"In recent times I have been talking to victims who had been involved in court proceedings.
"They would say their experience in court was much more traumatic for them that the original sexual abuse," he said.
Bishop Hegarty also said he would mention the resignations in his Christmas message.
In November he called on anyone who had been abused by a member of the clergy to go to the civil authorities.
The Murphy Report condemned the Catholic church for covering up decades of abuse of children.
The report also criticised the civil authorities for failing to investigate many of the crimes.
The Catholic church in Ireland has apologised.
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