By Christine Allen
Cork Independent
December 20, 2011
http://corkindependent.com/stories/item/6610/2011-51/More-Cloyne-revelations-published
 |
| St Coleman |
 |
| Former Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee. |
The newly published ninth chapter of the Cloyne report has outlined how the Diocese of Cloyne handled 11 complaints against a priest who continued in office, and threatened legal action against complainants and the Bishop of Cloyne.
Published yesterday afternoon, the report centres around complaints made against a 'Fr Ronat', who retired in 2005. The Commission reported that it was aware of 11 complaints against the priest and the chapter outlines the difficulty that the diocese experienced in trying to manage the complaints.
It details the actions of Bishop John Magee and Mallow based Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan, among others, in handling the complaints.
The 42-page chapter is the longest in the Cloyne Report, which was published in July of this year. It dealt with the handling by church and State authorities of child sex abuse allegations in the diocese of Cloyne between January 1, 1996 and February 1, 2009.
Parts of chapter nine had been held back pending court proceedings against 'Fr Ronat', a pseudonym for the priest concerned against whom complaints are dealt with in the chapter.
It was thought that a full publication of the chapter could be deemed prejudicial to the outcome of the proceedings, which are now completed.
However, High Court President Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns cleared those parts for publication this week at a High Court hearing on Friday.
The delay in publication, according to the Department of Justice, was to allow counselling services prepare to assist callers who may be upset by its findings.
Victim support services have criticised the timing of the chapter's publication.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.