BishopAccountability.org
	Nigeria: Catholic Archbishop Resigns over Sex Scandal By Isaac Aimurie allAfrica May 31, 2010 http://allafrica.com/stories/201006010106.html Richard Burke, the Archbishop of Benin City, has resigned his appointment with the Catholic Church following allegations of sex abuse levelled against him by Dolores Atwood, who said he sexually abused her when she was a teenager in Warri, Delta State. Burke, who admitted to a relationship, however denied that she was a minor when their relationship began. "The reason for my resignation is that I have been unfaithful to my oath of celibacy," he said in a statement in the Irish Catholic newspaper. The archbishop stepped down after the allegation was made last year. Atwood alleged she was sexually abused by Burke when he was a priest in Warri, Delta State. But the archbishop said the relationship began in 1989 when she was 21 and he was 40. "I responded immediately that I have never, ever, in my life - in any way - sexually abused a child. This is still my position. It is the truth," he said in his statement. Burke also apologised to Atwood and asked forgiveness from his missions in Warri and Benin. The Vatican said it has accepted his resignation as it also named a panel to look into the issue of child abuse in Ireland by Roman Catholic clerics. The Vatican also said it would launch a promised probe in the autumn into the paedophile priest scandal that has rocked the Irish Catholic Church. The team will include four "apostolic visitors (who) will set out to explore more deeply questions concerning the handling of cases of abuse and the assistance owed to the victims," the Vatican said in a statement. The probe, which Pope Benedict XVI announced in March in a landmark letter to Irish Catholics, is intended to help the Irish Church "respond adequately to the situation caused by the tragic cases of abuse perpetrated by priests and religious upon minors," the statement said. It will begin with the archdioceses of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Emly and Tuam, and then be extended to other dioceses, the Vatican said. A parallel investigation of Irish seminaries will "accompany the process of renewal of houses of formation for the future priests of the Church in Ireland," it said. The "apostolic visitors" named by the pope are Westminster Archbishop Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Boston Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, and the archbishops of Toronto and Ottawa, Thomas Christopher Collins and Terrence Thomas Prendergast, the statement said. The Irish Bishops' Conference welcomed news of the investigation, saying it was "one more important step on the path to healing, reparation and renewal in the Church in Ireland" and promising to cooperate fully. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said it was an "important element" in the process of addressing "the truth of a dark moment" in the history of the Irish Catholic Church. Two ground-breaking inquiries last year into the once powerful Church shocked the mainly Catholic country. They found that abuse by Catholic clergy and members of religious orders had been widespread for decades and that there was a culture of secrecy and cover-up designed to protect the reputation and assets of the Church. Pledging a new "season of spiritual rebirth for religious life" in Ireland, the statement said the investigators would "seek possible improvements to the current procedures for preventing abuse."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.