Press TV
December 25, 2009
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114634§ionid=3510212
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| Bishop Donal Murray speaks in St. John's Cathedral in Limerick, Ireland on December 17, after resigning as Bishop of Limerick. |
Two Irish bishops have offered their resignation amid a child abuse scandal which had spanned for three decades in Ireland.
Auxiliary Bishops of Dublin Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field released a statement on Christmas Eve Thursday, saying that they had informed Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin that they intend to resign.
"It is our hope that our action may help to bring the peace and reconciliation of Jesus Christ to the victims/survivors of child sexual abuse. We again apologize to them," said Walsh and Field in their statement.
Four priests have already resigned over child abuse cases. Earlier this month, two other bishops named Donal Murray of Limerick and Jim Moriarty of Kildare quit. Their resignation followed a three-day investigation by the Dublin archdiocese last month.
It was reported that more than 300 children were sexually abused by priests between 1975 and 2004. However, church leaders did not report the cased to the police in order to avoid tarnishing the church's reputation and assets.
Ireland's top Catholic clergyman, Cardinal Sean Brady, apologized to abuse survivors and their families during a Christmas Eve vigil mass in Northern Ireland.
"I declare my abhorrence at the breach of trust and the crimes that have been committed," he said. Brady added that church leaders had "put the reputation of the church before the safety of little children."
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, a veteran Vatican diplomat put in charge of Dublin in 2004 with a brief to confront the abuse scandal, had called for his two auxiliary bishops to step down, but both had initially refused.
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