Bishop Denies Raphoe Abuse Claims, Irish Times, August 11, 2011

Bishop Denies Raphoe Abuse Claims

Irish Times
August 11, 2011

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0811/breaking36.html

Bishop Philip Boyce: denied the Raphoe diocese hierarchy actively thwarted investigations by gardai and health experts. Photograph: David Sleator/The Irish Times

A Catholic Bishop has dismissed claims an internal report on clerical child abuse will document hundreds of victims of paedophile priests in Donegal.

Dr Philip Boyce, who has opened diocesan files for an audit of allegations against priests, also denied the hierarchy actively thwarted investigations by gardai and health experts.

The review of the Raphoe Diocese by Ian Elliot, chief executive of the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC), is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

But Dr Boyce has rejected reports that the audit has uncovered some of the most shocking levels of abuse and cover-ups by the Catholic Church in Ireland.

“I wish to assure the people of the Diocese of Raphoe that this assertion is simply not true,” Dr Boyce said in a statement today. “Furthermore, it is seriously damaging to the good work of the many trained volunteers who are actively committed to safeguarding children in all of the parishes of the diocese.”

Dr Boyce, head of the diocese since 1995, said he has given full co-operation to Mr Elliot‘s review team and all church files have been examined. He is making a formal complaint about the leak from the unpublished audit.

Mr Elliot is currently auditing every diocese in the country. His examination of Cloyne uncovered dangerous child protection practices by former bishop John Magee and led to a subsequent damning report which detailed his shocking failures to bring abusive priests to book.

Mr Elliot has completed reviews of the handling of abuse allegations in six of the 26 Catholic dioceses in Ireland, including Raphoe.

The diocese has previously been accused of being involved in a cover-up over the abuse perpetrated by the convicted paedophile Fr Eugene Greene. who served as a priest in Raphoe in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Mr Elliot said in May he had experienced obstruction while investigating Fr Greene.

The NBSCCC will also audit the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, after concerns were raised in the Seanad, and the remaining 20 dioceses before going on to review files from 161 other missionary unions and congregations