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	Cloyne Report - Fr Caden RTE News July 13, 2011 http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0713/cloyne_caden.html Diocesan records relating to allegations against Fr Caden were of very poor quality and unclear, some were deliberately misleading and others do not record the full truth, the report found. It says the independent church appointed watchdog, Ian Elliot, asked the right questions but was not told the full truth. Allegations against Fr Caden were first made in December 2004 by another priest named as 'Patrick', who said he was abused by Fr Caden when he attended a vocations workshop when he was about 16 years old. After meeting Fr Caden in September 2005 to discuss the allegation, Bishop Magee compiled and signed two different accounts of the meeting. One described it as having occurred on 15 September, while the other said it took place on 22 September. The Commission said the accounts are very different and it is satisfied that only one meeting took place on 22 September. In his note dated 15 September, Bishop Magee said that when he put the allegations to Fr Caden, he admitted most of the details but denied one serious allegation, which was penetration, and offered to resign from diocesan ministry. In his note dated 22 September, the bishop said Fr Caden appeared most shocked and denied the allegations. The bishop told him he would have to remove him from ministry. Bishop Magee told the Commission of Inquiry that the note of 15 September was created for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, while the note of 22 September was created for diocesan records and the interdiocesan case management advisory committee. Bishop Magee said he felt in conscience he could share with Rome what had been said confidentially in the privilege of a bishop/priest relationship. The bishop said he had inquired from his diocesan child abuse delegate, Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan, and from his lawyer, Diarmuid O Cathain, in regard to correspondence with the Holy See. The bishop said he was assured that it was a privileged position and that documentation sent to Rome would not be discoverable and so he felt in conscience he had to tell in confidence. He now recognises that this was wrong and that all documentation was discoverable. He accepted that the two documents were clashing. However, Mr O Cathain told the Commission he has no recollection of John Magee consulting him on this issue and in particular about the correspondence with the Holy See. He did not give advice to Bishop Magee on documentation that should be sent to Rome and would not be discoverable. The Commission found, in the case of Fr Caden, that not only was reporting to the gardai delayed and lacking in basic information, but Bishop Magee and Monsignor O'Callaghan did not co-operate with investigating gardai in 2006. Bishop Magee considers he did cooperate subject to the privilege in law which he believed to exist. The interdiocesan case management advisory committee was not given the information it required in order to give informed advice. The report says it is clear that it was being used purely for the purpose to adhere to Church guidelines. Msgr O'Callaghan disputes this saying the advice of the committee was sought, received and acted upon. The report says there is no basis for John Magee and Msgr O'Callaghan coming to the opinion in 2005 that Fr Caden did not constitute any continuing threat to children. In 2009, a member of the public made a complaint to the gardai that John Magee had put children at risk by withholding information from the gardai. In December 2009, the diocese, through its solicitors, provided the gardai with all the diocesan documents. In December 2009, the DPP advised that there were no criminal offences disclosed against John Magee, noting that the offence of reckless endangerment was enacted after the events in question. Fr Caden was charged with three counts of gross indecency in November 2010. He pleaded guilty to one count and received an 18-month suspended sentence.
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