BishopAccountability.org
	Senior Clerics Covered up Sex Abuse, Ireland Told By Conor Humphries The Scotman July 13, 2011 http://news.scotsman.com/world/Senior-clerics-covered-up-sex.6801049.jp THE hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Ireland continued to conceal the sexual abuse of children by priests even after it introduced rules in the mid-1990s to protect minors, a new government report has found. Revelations of rape and beatings by members of religious orders and the priesthood have shattered the dominant role of the Catholic Church in Ireland. But the latest report into the handling of sex-abuse claims in the diocese of Cloyne, County Cork, shows senior clergy were still trying to cover up abuse allegations until recently. Minister for children Frances Fitzgerald said: "This is not a catalogue of failure from a different era. This is not about an Ireland of 50 years ago. This is about Ireland now." The report, which focuses on 19 priests who allegedly abused children from January 1996 to February 2009, lists how the diocese failed to report any sexual abuse complaints to police and did not report any complaints to the health authorities. Former bishop John Magee falsely told the authorities he reported all allegations. He resigned in March last year after a church investigation said his handling of the allegations had put children at risk. He apologised this week for his failures, saying he hoped the report would provide "a new beginning". The Irish government is proposing a law to make it a crime punishable by five years' jail for anyone to fail to report abuse. The Vatican was also criticised in the report as "entirely unhelpful" in describing guidelines on how to deal with abuse as "merely a study document". One alleged priest abuser was even allowed to officiate at the wedding of one of his victims, revealing a failure by the church to apply any sanctions once abusers were suspected.
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