By Barry Roche
Irish Times
July 18, 2011
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0718/1224300883856.html
[Archbishop Clifford letter]
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| Archbishop Dermot Clifford at St John's Cathedral, Limerick, during an ordination yesterday |
BISHOP JOHN MAGEE: ARCHBISHOP Dermot Clifford, who took over the running of the diocese of Cloyne after Bishop John Magee stepped down, said yesterday he is hopeful his predecessor will speak publicly about the Cloyne report.
Speaking after an ordination ceremony at St John's Cathedral in Limerick, the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Cloyne said a small number of people had done "immense damage" to the Catholic Church.
When asked about former Bishop John Magee who was singled out for failing to follow church rules on reporting clerical sex abuse in Cloyne, Archbishop Clifford said he hoped he would speak publicly on the report when things quietened down.
"He will probably I hope come forward. This is a very excitable time. Maybe there is a time when things are quieter for him to come and meet a media group representative, which would not only tell people here, but people who know him across the world. We hope that will happen."
The archbishop said the Cloyne report is the latest in a series of reports to damage the church. "There was Ferns, then there was Dublin and now there is Cloyne.
"It has done huge damage. A very small number of people have done immense damage.
"In Cloyne, it wasn't handled, guidelines, which we all agreed including Bishop Magee . . . they ignored them because Msgr O'Callaghan didn't believe in them, he had a better way he thought himself.
"He omitted to do the reporting which would prevent the priests from getting access to other children. That was the big omission in allowing people to stay on, they had opportunities to abuse other children," he said.
Archbishop Clifford admitted an "awful lot will have to be done to make sure it doesn't happen again" but insisted this was being tackled.
"It is not words we need now, it is actions and proof that genuine things are being done. The media never put in the things that are being done because a huge effort has gone into the diocese of Cloyne. Eight hundred lay people are working loyally in the parishes," he said.
Despite the difficulties facing the church following the report, he said it was crucial for priests to be with their communities.
"It is important at the present time that priests would be with the people because people love their local priests and scandals won't put them off their love for their local priest even though what happened is a scandal and very regrettable," he said.
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