BishopAccountability.org
	Bishop Surprised over O'Keeffe Speech By Patsy McGarry The Irish Times March 8, 2010 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0308/breaking68.html The chairman of the Catholic bishops commission on education has expressed surprise at a speech by the Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe last Friday in which he said that his department “will shortly be providing an initial list of about 10 urban areas that can be used to test the concept of reducing the number of Catholic schools”. Speaking in Maynooth this afternoon, as the Irish Bishops’ Conference began its three-day Spring meeting, Bishop Leo O’Reilly said that last November, at a meeting of the bishops, the Minister and his officials in Dublin it had been agreed the Department would undertake research on areas where the concept of reducing the number of Catholic schools could be tested out and that they would then get back to the bishops. “They didn’t do so,” he said, even though Fr Michael Drumm, executive chairman of the Catholic Schools Partnership, had been appointed as mediator by the Church on the matter. “It was a bit of a surprise, in that sense,” he said. Minister O’ Keeffe was speaking in Dublin to the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association in Dublin Queried on the Minister’s mention in the same address “of an eventual reduction of Catholic provision in demographically stable urban areas to 60 per cent”, Bishop O’Reilly said “I don’t know where that came from.” He felt such figures “would vary greatly between the city and the country” in particular (the latter) where “those figures would not stack up.” He was unsure whether the Minister was referring to 60 per cent of schools or 60 per cent of parents around the country. Meanwhile the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said the Church would be “happy to proceed with such changes as long as consultation takes place.” Attendance at the Bishops’ meeting this week includes the Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin Jim Moriarty as well as Dublin Auxiliary Bishops Eamonn Walsh and Ray Field, all of whom tendered their resignations to Rome last December after being named in the Murphy report. Also in attendance was the Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan, who had been an Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin for seven years of the period investigated by the Murphy Commission. Absent was the former Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray, also named in the report and whose resignation was accepted by Rome on December 17 th last. Speaking to reporters today Archbishop Martin expressed doubt about reports that the Pope’s letter to the Irish faithful would now be delayed because of clerical child sex abuse revelations in Germany and Holland .The letter is expected before the end of this month and it is on the agenda for this week’s meeting of the bishops. It was announced following a visit to Rome last December by the Catholic primate Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Martin on foot of publication of the Murphy report. The Bishop of Ferns Dennis Brennan defended his address to the diocesan finance committee agm in Enniscorthy last Monday night where he said, on paying costs arising from clerical child sex abuse, it would be “necessary to invite the parishes to become part of the process financially. Funding sought is not about sharing the blame, it is about asking for help to fulfill a God given responsibility. `That I did not cause the problem’ is not the response of the Christian,..” He said today that “care of the victims is the top priority in Ferns.” This was “ongoing and has to be funded for the future.” It was “a matter for decision by the priests, people, and religious of Ferns.” There was never a good time to make such an appeal, he said, but “it was a bridge we needed to cross.” He also emphasised that the sale of assets was also “on the table.” People were coming forward with offers of financial help and “we want to put a shape, a structure on that. We want to be as transparent as we can and sometimes that can be upsetting.” The Bishops’ meeting continues tomorrow when it will be addressed by Ian Elliott, chief executive of Church’s own child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland . This is the body which, in 2008, uncovered “inadequate, even dangerous” child protection policies in Cloyne diocese. It led to the Murphy Commission’s remit being extended to include an inquiry into that diocese. Its report on Cloyne is expected later this year.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.