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	Cloyne Report - Fr Ronat RTE News July 13, 2011 http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0713/cloyne_ronat.html Detailing a complaint made against Fr Ronat, the report states that an allegation of abuse was made in 1989, but the Commission states there are no written records of a meeting between the complainant and her mother and a curate in the parish. The report states that there is 'no evidence that the parish priest did anything about the complaint'. The complainant in this case met Bishop Magee in 1995. The report states that notes on the matter by a man named in the report as Archdeacon Chris Twohig indicate there was no evidence of 'a genuine investigation'. The report states that the Archdeacon's report is 'not an impartial recording of the facts', adding that it 'diverges from the record made by Bishop Magee'. The report states that a Diocesan Advisory Committee, set-up in July 1995 to deal with the complaint, 'was more concerned about causing scandal than about protecting children'. The Diocesan Advisory Committee recommended that the priest in question, Fr Ronat, take a sabbatical and change his ministry to what it referred to as 'some neutral area of pastoral care'. The Commission's report states that in this case the committee 'do not show concern for the protection of children'. The report states that Fr Ronat was a 'reluctant participant' in a psychological assessment which he underwent. Bishop Magee told the Commission that the priest in question had threatened to sue him for defamation. The bishop said he was put under a lot of pressure by Fr Ronat and as a result was offered a promotion as a parish priest because the diocese said it 'knew he would refuse'. Bishop Magee told the inquiry that the Diocesan Advisory Committee recommended putting the priest on 'restrictive ministry', but the Commission states that there was no evidence of an advisory committee functioning at that time. The report notes that two surviving members of the committee were not asked to attend any meetings. Fr Ronat was not stood down from ministry until 2005, but was not asked to stop wearing clerical attire until 2008. No public announcement of the development was made - Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan told the investigation he 'disapproved of the policy of making public announcements'. The report states that this allowed the priest to 'present himself to the general public as a priest in good standing'. The report states that when a Garda investigation into the complaints in 2006 got under way, Monsigner O'Callaghan transmitted advice to the people concerned, he took advice from a solicitor and a retired Garda who was a member of the inter-diocesan case management advisory committee. The Monsignor advised 'each should make himself available for interview and on request sign a statement which should be minimal'. A handwritten note on the correspondence added, 'minimal in the key in any statement'. The Commission states that 'Fr Ronat was not being monitored in any meaningful way during 2006'. In 2007, the bishop discovered he had moved into a vacant parish house 'against the Bishop's express wishes'. The report concludes that there were no proper church investigations of the complaints and it finds that the canonical process ordered in 1995 was effectively stalled for 14 years and has not been completed.
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