BELFAST (UNITED KINGDOM)
Belfast Telegraph [Belfast, Northern Ireland]
August 1, 2024
By Brett Campbell
The Bishop of Down and Connor has apologised for the “misjudged and unfair” manner in which it handled the case of a vulnerable young cleric who was abused by predator priest James Donaghy.
It comes almost six months after the diocese received the final report of a review led by Dr Tony McGleenan KC into how the late Bishop Patrick Walsh dealt with a complaint by Fr Paddy McCafferty.
Bishop Alan McGuckian said the protection of children and vulnerable adults “must always be a priority” for the Church, but he acknowledged its focus on child sex abuse had “eclipsed” the cleric’s report of being abused by the paedophile priest as “a vulnerable young adult”.
“Fr McCafferty came forward out of concern for others who could be at risk,” he said.
“He showed courage and leadership in the face of incredulity, disbelief and animosity on the part of many, including clergy of the diocese.
“At the time of the abuse Fr McCafferty was a vulnerable young adult.
“It is clear now that the report of his abuse was eclipsed by the diocese’s focus on child sexual abuse. This should not have occurred.
“What Fr McCafferty reported in extensive written detail, in 2003, was clearly criminal.”
The Bishop said that in contemporary Church law “the sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult victim is of no less magnitude than the abuse of a minor” which “was not recognised at that time in the case of a dominant adult abuser and a vulnerable young victim”.
The senior cleric also referred to a newspaper article published in 2012 after Donaghy had been convicted that printed assertions by the diocese that there was an “equal standing between an adult abuser and a vulnerable adult” and described the stance taken as “misjudged and unfair to Fr McCafferty who was not believed and supported by the diocese when he should have been”.
“On behalf of the diocese, I apologise to Fr McCafferty most sincerely and I readily acknowledge the toll all of this has taken on him over the years since his initial reporting in 2001,” Bishop McGuckian continued.
“An earlier statement made by the diocese in 2006, following the decision of the PPS ‘not to prosecute’ James Donaghy, supported the then alleged perpetrator at the expense of his victims.
“In the light of his subsequent conviction as an abuser, the statement was ill-judged.
“The 2006 diocesan statement also clearly compounded the hurt and pain for all the victims.”
Bishop McGuckian said that even when Donaghy was finally convicted there was “a lack of demonstrable regret in the apology from the diocese for the wrongs done to his victims”.
“I want to take this opportunity now to apologise sincerely to all the victims in that case and all cases,” he added.
“Courageous victims have led the way in uncovering abuse.
“Fr Paddy’s speaking out has encouraged others to come forward. I welcome this and in turn I encourage anyone who has suffered abuse to come forward. We, as a diocese, will ensure that our response is victim-centred, professional and just.
“The diocese encourages anyone who has concerns, suspicions or allegations of abuse to come forward and to report that abuse to the statutory authorities or to the appropriate safeguarding representatives.”
Donaghy was dismissed from the priesthood by Pope Francis in 2015 “for the good of the Church” while serving a 10 year jail sentence for abusing three victims following a trial in 2011.
The paedophile, who had already stepped down in 2004, was convicted again of indecently assaulting a boy and in 2013 was given two more years in jail to run concurrently.
Fr McCafferty helped jail Donaghy and has published a book about the silence of shame after suffering years of rapes and violent sexual assaults at the hands of Donaghy when he was a young student training for the priesthood.
On Thursday, he accepted the apology as “an important step towards further healing and recovery” on what has “a very long and painful road”.
“When I was being raped and abused as a young adult, by the then Fr Jim Donaghy, the way I coped was to dissociate and pretend it wasn’t happening,” said.
“I didn’t ‘feel’ anything even though I was being physically subjected to violent acts of depravity. I left my body and became an onlooker to what he was doing to me.
“For decades, I have suffered, since the abuse stopped, with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“Two and a half years ago, the enormity of what Donaghy inflicted hit me like a ton of bricks.
“This is because I was now strong enough to face the horror of what I suffered.
“I welcome today’s apology from Bishop Alan on behalf of the diocese of Down and Connor.”