Diocese of Achonry: Priest 'Allowed' to Remain in Ministry Despite Allegation

The Irish Independent
December 10, 2013

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/diocese-of-achonry-priest-allowed-to-remain-in-ministry-despite-allegation-29825979.html

[Achonry]

CONCERNS about a priest who was recently convicted of abusing 18 boys in five counties over two decades were not passed onto the civil authorities when it became known in the early 1980s.

A review of the Diocese of Achonry highlighted three cases of “problematic” management of priests and religious from outside the diocese.

In 1981 a priest arrived in the diocese to provide cover for a colleague, unbeknown to the bishop. Priest P spent five months in the diocese and returned the following year when he sexually abused a boy.

The review found evidence that information about Fr P's abuse of this young boy was made available to a priest of the diocese “at an early stage”, but had not been passed on by the diocese to the civil authorities.

Although there was further strong circumstantial evidence available to the diocese from 1997, the case was not passed to gardai until 2002, when a list of other victims was available.

The priest has recently been convicted of child abuse charges and is currently serving a ten year prison sentence for abusing eighteen boys in five counties between the 1960’s and the 1980’s.

Reviewers noted that this priest had been out of ministry since 1986 because of the levels of concern about his abuse of children and the reporting of the Achonry allegation was

undertaken by his own Society. Bishop Kelly published an apology for the manner in which the diocese managed the Fr P case in January 2012.

The review stated that there have been no further allegations from within Achonry relating to this man since the apology.

Concerns were also raised about the handling of two cases where priests had retired to the diocese from abroad.

Bishop Kelly wrote to check their credentials with the bishops of the respective dioceses and was

advised that neither priest was in good standing and that there were outstanding allegations against them, which had not yet been investigated. The bishop alerted garda of the presence of these men.

“While Bishop Kelly has no authority over other bishops, the reviewers recommend that he should contact the bishops of the two retired priests advising that they put in place precepts which include: no public ministry; no unsupervised contact with children and no priest’s clothing and ask them to forward a copy of the precept to the priests and Bishop Kelly for his records,” the report added.

Reviewers were assured that there have been no other allegations against living priests in the diocese.

Substantial delays in alerting gardai to child abuse allegations were discovered during a review of the Diocese of Achonry.