UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Steven Morris
Friday 22 May 2015
The former Archbishop of Westminster has admitted he was wrong not to insist Catholic schools run by abbots adopt the recommendations of a report on child abuse in the church.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said he did not ensure that Benedictine schools accepted the measures set out in the report because bishops do not have authority over abbots.
Some of the most famous Catholic schools in the country, including Downside in Somerset and St Benedict’s in west London, have been embroiled in abuse scandals in recent years.
The Nolan report, commissioned by Murphy-O’Connor and published in 2001, made more than 70 recommendations and is credited with changing the nature of how the Catholic church in the UK deals with abuse.
Speaking at the Hay festival in Wales, Murphy-O’Connor said he should have made sure the report’s recommendations were adopted by monastic schools and regretted they were not. “I must have thought abbots could manage themselves,” he said.
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