'Poor Judgement' in Clerical Abuse Cases, UTV, November 30, 2011

'Poor Judgement' in Clerical Abuse Cases

UTV
November 30, 2011

http://www.u.tv/News/Poor-judgement-in-Raphoe-abuse-cases/97e816bf-6bbc-43b4-8649-cba66e031747

A report into the safeguarding of children in the Roman Catholic diocese of Raphoe has revealed 52 allegations of clerical abuse were reported to Gardaí between 1975 and 2010.

The document is one of six published on Wednesday, looking at how child protection measures have changed since 1975 and setting out what is currently being done to safeguard young people in the dioceses.

The allegations were made against 14 priests in Raphoe, eight of whom have since left the priesthood or are 'out of ministry'.

The document, published by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCC), stated "it was clear that the guidelines are not referenced on a regular basis when handling complaints".

It also said the designated person to deal with allegations is a priest who is "more ill at ease with the tasks associated with his role. This discomfort is related to the fact that those against whom allegations are made are generally well known to him and in some circumstances lifelong friends".

The current Bishop of Raphoe said in a statement that "During the past decades there have been very poor judgements and mistakes made.

There were horrific acts of abuse of children by individual priests that should never have happened, and if suspected should have been dealt with immediately in the appropriate manner.
Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe

"It gives scandal to the whole of society, and is rightly regarded as repulsive. I have spent endless hours and given much time and energy to eradicating this evil, repairing what was damaged as best I could, restoring structures and putting structures in place to prevent, as far as possible, this criminal sin from happening again."

The Catholic Church's watchdog report made 13 recommendations for the diocese concerning the reform of child safety, including having a qualified lay person as the deputy designated person who deals with abuse allegations.

The Bishop also stated that many priests did not enter into youth work due to a fear of accusations of sexual abuse.

In response, the report recommended that "all trainers are made aware of the anxiety experienced by a number of clergy through fear of the subject of child abuse, or of being the subject of a false allegation"

It is a matter of great regret to Bishop Boyce that his focus on victims' needs was not greater in the past, and he now acknowledges that he has a very different appreciation of his safeguarding responsibilities as to when he first came into office.
NBSCCC report into Raphoe Diocese

The audit singled out Bishop Boyce over a serious case of abuse in which he tried to protect the priest's family rather than have the cleric removed from ministry.

"Bishop Boyce in at least one serious case was keen to protect the family of the convicted priest from further trauma by not initiating laicisation," Ian Elliot, CEO of NBSCCC said.

"Although the case was referred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican, the further laicisation process has not yet been completed. This, whilst pastorally understandable, is inappropriate and should be reviewed."

The report into the Diocese of Dromore revealed 35 allegations involving priests were reported to either RUC or PSNI officers during the 35 year period. Three of those priests are now dead and seven are listed as 'out of ministry'. Of that seven, three still exercise "limited ministry, but never to children or young people".

The review team looked at those seven priests against whom allegations had been brought.

"From the records it appears that these allegations were initially brought to the attention of the former bishop. The reviewers note the seriousness of the allegations and are satisfied that all have been referred to the statutory authorities," stated the report.

Bishop McAreavey has been in post since 1999 in the diocese that covers Newry and parts of Armagh, and the audit said "most of the cases examined were managed under his leadership".

But it was critical of the handling of cases under his predecessor Bishop Francis Brooks who died last year.

We believe that in some instances the practice followed placed too much emphasis on maintaining the good name of the accused priest rather than ensuring the safety of children.
NBSCCC report into the Dromore diocese

The report made 12 recommendations on handling abuse allegations and dealing with victims.

Bishop McAreavey said he accepted all the recommendations and said that most were already in place, while the remaining points were to be implemented.

The report into the Diocese of Derry stated that "substantial improvements" had been made since a review in 2009, during which "reviewers were concerned about practice which, historically, had been quite weak and uncoordinated and where many decisions were made to protect the institution of the Church rather than its child members".

"These historical practices showed a real lack of awareness of the suffering caused to victims by abusers, as well as an ignorance of the habitual nature of child abusing."

Thirty-three allegations of abuse concerning priests were made to either police officers or Social Services between 1975 and 2010. Of the accused, 16 are now dead and none was convicted of an offence.

Priests about whom there were clear concerns were not robustly challenged or adequately managed and problems were often 'handled' by moving them to postings elsewhere. There is evidence that abusive behaviour continued to be exhibited by priests who were moved on in this manner.
NBSCCC report into the Derry diocese

The report also stated that, in some cases, a delay in referring allegations of abuse to statutory authorities could be contributed to insufficient emphasis being placed on prompt referral by those legally advising the bishop, and "resort to canonical disciplinary procedures was the exception rather than the rule".

It is also documented that where psychological and/or psychiatric assessments of priests were commissioned, "there is evidence that recommendations made in assessment reports were not acted on".

The report into processes in Raphoe, Derry, Dromore, Tuam, Kilmore, and Ardagh and Clonmacnois will not examine historical allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

"Our goal with these reviews is to assure lay faithful and clergy, and, particularly, parents and young people that the implementation of the Safeguarding Guidelines is effective and that where it is not, we will identify it and take action," stated John Morgan, Chairman, NBSCCC.

"With a total of 188 Church Authorities in ministry on the island of Ireland we still have substantial numbers of audits to carry out. However a number of these Authorities are tiny and their membership is skewed towards older people" said Elliott.

"To date, we have focused on the dioceses but in the immediate future we are going to also include a number of religious congregations or orders. We have already committed to four dioceses and they will be included in the next tranche but we will also add at least two religious congregations as well.

"Our intention is to complete the overall task in two further years and to encourage the participants to follow the example set by these six bishops and publish their completed Review reports together twice a year. The next six reports we would hope to have released in May/June of 2012."