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	Magee Heavily Criticised in Cloyne Report TV3 July 13, 2011 http://www.tv3.ie/article.php?article_id=60725&locID=1.2&pagename=news The Cloyne Report has criticised former Bishop John Magee his handling of allegations of clerical abuse in the diocese between 1996 and 2009. The Minister for Justice Alan Shatter says he intends to make it a criminal offence for anyone not to pass information on to Gardai about the possible sexual abuse of a child. The report itself runs to 336 pages and has 27 chapters - each representing another damning indictment on the Catholic Church in Ireland - and is another report that seriously undermines the Church's credibility when it comes to protecting children. At the centre of the controversy is Bishop John Magee who up until his resignation in March of last year was one of the most senior Catholic figures in Ireland. According to the Cloyne report he failed to protect children and deliberately mislead authorities. The Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne focused on the period January 1996 to February 2009. It examined complaints against 19 priests and was made aware of 40 alleged victims. It's role was not to establish if the abuse took place but to assess how the complaints were dealt with. It praises the Church's own child protection guidelines but says they weren't followed. On that it says they were ' Not fully or consistently implemented' and that 'The primary responsibility for the failure lies with Bishop Magee' The report says it is ' Remarkable that Bishop Magee took little or no active interest until 2008' The Cloyne Report is also highly critical of Bishop Magee's child-protection delegate Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan: "He did not approve of the requirement to report to the civil authorities." The Cloyne report is also critical of how the Vatican viewed child protection procedures in Ireland, quoting the Vatican as saying, "The situation of mandatory reporting gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature." There was even a complaint made against Bishop Magee himself. A person named as Joseph in the report was 17 or 18 when Bishop Magee apparently told him that he loved him and dreamt about him. ' The Bishop embraced him tightly and at the same time inquired of him as to whether that ''felt good'' The embrace apparently went on for a minute and Bishop Magee Kissed Joseph on the forehead. At the time Joseph felt the encounter was paternal but later began to think the actions weren't so innocent. The Catholic Church's National Board for Safeguarding Children found that the incident was not child abuse and so it was not reported to civil authorities, however it was found to be inappropriate. In light of the Cloyne Report, the Minister for Justice plans to introduce new laws including making it a criminal offence for anyone not to pass information on to Gardai about the possible sexual abuse of a child.
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