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	Cloyne Report - Fr Calder RTE News July 13, 2011 http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0713/cloyne_calder.html The Murphy Report found that although Bishop John Magee was aware of concerns about the priest since 1997 and had a report about his unsuitability for ministry, it was not until 2009 that he reported the matter to Rome. The report also criticises two gardai for their handling of complaints about Father Calder. It finds it regrettable that a Garda Superintendent did not take a note of a meeting with a senior churchman. The Commission of Inquiry is also concerned that evidence given to it by a local garda differs from his earlier written reports years before. The Commission is also very concerned that only two years ago a parish priest burned notes that may have contained relevant information to the Commission. Fr Calder was born in the 1960s and ordained for Cloyne in the 1984. The Commission says the history of concerns and complaints about Fr Calder are very confusing. No formal complaint of child sexual abuse was made against Calder to the diocese or to the gardai. But it is clear that there were concerns about Calder's behaviour by his fellow priests, teachers, doctors, gardai and parishioners almost from the time of his ordination. During his time in Parish A, there were concerns about supplying alcoholic drinks to young adults which appeared to be spiked. In 1998, a young man told his doctor and solicitor that he had been sexually assaulted by Calder after being supplied with alcohol. The allegation became known to the gardai at the time, but the young man did not make a formal complaint. Two years later, in January 1998, this young man and five other men made statements to gardai alleging that Calder had given them drink when they were young adults. Three of the six also alleged that they had been sexually assaulted by Calder. Gardai took statements, but Calder denied sexually assaulting anyone, although he admitted giving them alcohol and said two had stayed in his house. A file was sent to the DPP, who declined to prosecute because of the delay in making the complaint. There were three concerns/complaints about Calder known to the Commission. Two are alleged to have occurred while Cadler was in Parish A and one in Parish B. None of these involved a direct complaint by the allegedly abused person to either the diocese or gardai. The Commission says all of them are third party expressions of concern or complaint. It is perhaps not surprising that there are different versions of each alleged incident. The Carnival Workers In the late 1980s, when Calder was in Parish A, there was a complaint that he had a confrontation with two young people who were working at a summer carnival. No formal complaint was made but the local garda 'John' became aware of the incident. In statements made in 1997 and 1998, Garda John said he attempted to talk to the two workers but they declined to make a statement. He said the owner of the carnival said 'neither of the two young fellows would ever set foot in a Church again' and said an eye should be kept on 'that priest because he is a wrong one'. When Calder was transferred to Parish C in 1997, a mother approached a local GP practice and reported that Calder, while he was in Parish A, had been found in bed with her son when he was 15/16 years old. The GP told the local school principal. However, the Commission said it is an example of the confusion surrounding the allegations because eight years earlier, the mother told Garda John that her son had been given alcohol by Calder but made no mention of any sexual assault at that time and made no formal complaint. In his statement to gardai in 1998, the son made no allegation of sexual assault by Calder. The Travelling Boys In October 1997, Monsignor O'Callaghan, the child abuse delegate for the diocese, was told by gardai they were aware of a complaint from Parish B. In January 1998, Garda Luke prepared a written report saying a local businessman had told him three years earlier - 1995 - about a conversation that the businessman had with the father of two boys who were members of the travelling community. The father told the businessman that they were driving through Parish B with a load of scrap when they ran out of petrol. One boy was 15, the other was older. The young boy called to Calder's house looking for the price of a gallon of petrol. According to the boy, Calder brought him to the rear kitchen and offered him a glass of whiskey, which he refused. It is then alleged that Calder sexually abused the boy who ran out the front door. His father was reported by the businessman as deciding not to make an official complaint as he felt the boy's word would not be believed over that of a priest. Calder told the Commission that at no stage did either of the boys set foot inside the house. Bishop Magee said the first time the concerns came to his attention was in 1997 on the appointment of Calder to Parish C. A formal complaint was made by the young adults in 1998, but the local Garda John was aware from the mid 1980s. The Commission says there are significant discrepancies in the three accounts Garda John provided about the carnival workers, which are both striking and worrying. Father James Father James was appointed to Parish A in 1989. He is now in his 80s. He gave evidence to the Commission he kept notes in his parishes. He told the commission he had recently transferred what he regarded as relevant from those notes into a 2009 diary and had then burned his notes. The Commission is concerned he burned the notes in 2009 when the Commission had been established and the notes may have included relevant information. Father Mark Calder was succeeded as curate in Parish A by Father Mark in 1997. Mark told the Commission that the house that he took over stank of drink and other substances and had to be cleaned out. Within a week of arriving in Parish A, Mark stated that he was told by Fr James, the PP, that Calder drugged men and got them into bed. Father James denied he said this. Fr Mark gave evidence that he was told by a parishioner that people did not let their children near Fr Calder. Fr Mark stated that he received telephone calls in the house late at night from young men requesting to be picked up from other towns. Father Mark did not report these conversations to any authorities. He explained to the Commission that he found it a futile exercise to report anything to the church authorities. Parish C Calder was later appointed to Parish C adjoining Parish A. A campaign was mounted, particularly by some members of the local community, including Garda John, seeking revocation of his appointment. Garda John, in his statement of 1998, said he told Fr James that returning Calder to a Parish Close to areas where he had been subject of so many complaints was unwise. Garda John stated that Fr James told him he had approached a higher authority, but was told the appointment was confirmed. Commission's Assessment The Commission accepts that no direct complaint of child sex abuse was made to either the diocese or the statutory authorities regarding Calder. The diocese should have paid more attention to the assessment of Calder as a student. When the diocese received a report from the Grenada Institute recommending that Calder not return to ministry, the diocese should have been far more vigilant than it was in allowing Calder to operate as a priest. He should have been prevented from wearing clerical dress and monitored more closely. A year after the initial report, the Granada Institute said it was appropriate for Calder to minister to older people. When concerns became known to the diocese in 1997, the diocese failed to implement the procedures outlined in the Framework Document. The concerns were also known to gardai at the time. Neither the diocese nor gardai reported the concerns to the Health Board. The concerns of local people about the appointment of Calder to Parish C were not initially taken seriously by the diocese. The Commission believes that no steps would have been taken to investigate the matter further if the local doctor and school principal had not complained and made it clear that they would not let the matter drop until their concerns were dealt with. An advisory committee should have been convened to discuss the case in 1997. This case should have been referred to the inter-diocesan case management advisory committee when it was established in 2005. The Commission said it is most unsatisfactory that there was no formal report on file of a canonical investigation into the concerns. To learn that the document ordering the investigation was probably misdated raised doubts in the minds of the Commission as to its authenticity. It was 'worrying' that Bishop Magee failed to issue a formal precept in relation to Calder despite receiving the Granada Report in 1999, which deemed him unsuitable for pastoral ministry. The system of supervision in the nursing home where Calder lived following the Granada report was seriously deficient. The superior of the home was not made aware of the extent of the concerns about Calder and her successor was told nothing. It appears that over the years, Calder said Mass for the general public in the home and officiated on occasions outside. The Bishop was told about this by Fr Calder's support person in 2001 but he did nothing about it. The Commission said the fact that the only response to the complaints from the nurses about his use of his computer and his seeing young men in his room was to move him to a house in the grounds where there was even less prospect of supervision was 'again surprising.' Gardai Gardai were hampered in their investigations by the failure of anyone to make a formal complaint until 1998, and even then the complaints related to adults not children. The fact that the evidence of Garda John, who was the garda most closely connected to these events, differed considerably from his written reports made many years earlier about the age of particular complainants is a cause of concern to the Commission. The Commission is also concerned about the failure of Supt Murray to keep records of his conversations with Monsignor O'Callaghan. The information concerning the Traveller Boys and the hearsay from a third party was not acted on. The businessman who mentioned the matter to Garda Luke stated that the boy's father thought the boy would not be believed. The information was sufficiently serious and detailed to justify an approach by gardai to the boy's father. Church When interviewed by Msgr O'Callaghan in August 1997, Fr Calder denied having done anything improper or having slept with young people. O'Callaghan felt he was able to reassure the Bishop there was nothing that would give rise for concern. When the Bishop set up a preliminary inquiry under Canon Law on 21 August 1997, authorising Msnr O'Callaghan to investigate allegations of child sex abuse by Calder, he said it must be in the strictest confidence. He said the information obtained must be retained only in the Secret Archive of this Curia in accordance with canon 1719. Regarding the document apparently signed by Bishop Magee and dated 21 August 1997, the Commission found that this is yet another example of a crucial document that may be wrongly dated and accordingly doubts must arise as to when a decision to have a preliminary investigation was made. O'Callaghan said the Bishop normally went on holidays in August and Bishop Magee said he could not be certain if he was on holidays in August 1997. Despite local opposition, Calder took up the appointment in Parish C in September 1997 and was appointed chairman of the local national school. The principal of the local boys' national school told the Commission that a local GP told her it had been reported to the GP practice that Calder had been found in bed with a 15/16 year old boy in a previous parish. The school principal was concerned about the safety of children in her school. She was unable to bring the matter to the attention of the Board, as Calder was the chairman and convenor of meetings. She told the Commission she refused Calder's request to allow boys to take time off school for private confessions and other church duties, but he reminded her who was paying her wages. Calder denies this but the Commission says it has no reason to doubt her account. Church Investigation O'Callaghan continued his investigation by telephoning the school principal on 21 October 1997 and meeting the local GP, Garda and Calder the following day. The school principal said to O'Callaghan she consulted a solicitor who advised her not to leave children unsupervised. She had expressed her concern that Calder had not been asked to step aside during the investigation. She said O'Callaghan said Calder might be gay and he accused her of being anti-homosexual. O'Callaghan told the Commission he was then very concerned about the situation. On 22 October 1997, O'Callaghan met the local GP, who told him the town was awash with rumour. These concerned the two young boys in Parish A, the two traveller boys in Parish B, and an incident involving 'an adult who got some potion and woke up in bed undressed'. On the same day, O'Callaghan spoke to Garda Superintendent Michael Murray. O'Callaghan said the Supt had a two-page file on Calder in Parish A, but the existence of a file did not mean an investigation was under way. The Supt said there were unproved allegations and he had no actual complaints. The Supt told the Commission he was aware of widespread concern. The Commission considers it regrettable that the Supt did not take a note of the meeting with O'Callaghan. Granada Institute Fr Calder was assessed on ten occasions between November 1997 and December 1998. O'Callaghan says Calder was dismissive of the process. Calder denied the allegations. The Institute said he displayed a constellation of emotional and personal characteristics, which had been found in people who seek to satisfy their unacceptable sexual needs in surreptitious ways. The Institute said it was unlikely that he would respond positively to psychotherapeutic treatment and could not recommend that he be returned to pastoral duties. Calders Living Accommodation Calder began living in a nursing home in 1998, and Granada said it would support Calder's ministry with older people. He was not the chaplain and had no specific role. The Superior told the Commission she was aware of allegations relating to altar boys, but the Commission says there were no such allegations. Msnr O'Callaghan told the Commission she should have been given more specific information. Bishop Magee understood Calder was only to say Mass for the nuns. O'Callaghan said he could anoint dying patients. However, there was evidence he was saying Mass for staff, residents and visitors despite the restrictions. He was also wearing clerical dress at the home, despite being prohibited. The Superior told Msgr O'Callaghan by phone in mid-2003 that there was disquiet among nurses because Calder was using the internet to access pornographic jokes and seeing young men in his rooms late at night. Ostensibly he was teaching them to use the computer. Staff were also talking about Calder babysitting for a family. Calder denied the allegation about pornographic jokes. In Jan 2004, Msgr O'Callaghan was told by Dr Kevin McCoy, the expert retained to examine the diocesan policies on child sexual abuse, that one of the nurses at the home had concerns about Fr Calder's contacts with families of young children. In a memorandum written in reply to queries in 2008 from Ian Elliot, the church's independent abuse watchdog, Msgr O'Callaghan stated that the nurses had become 'hypersensitive' to Calder's presence and he was moved to a house in the grounds. Magee wrote to Calder in 2009 stating his entire future was now under review. Rome Bishop Magee told the Commission he did not report Calder to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome before Jan 2009 because no complaint had come forward, and the obligation to report child sex abuse to the Congregation did not arise till 2002. In Jan 2009, when two other cases were being referred, he referred Calder as well. Magee told the Congregation it would be in Calder's own best interests, as well as the best interests of the Church, if he were to seek a dispensation from the obligations of Holy Orders. No decision has been made when this report was being finalised in August 2010. The HSE was not informed about Calder until mid 2008.
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