By Mary Earls
Limerick Post [Ireland]
April 20, 2006
http://www.limerickpost.ie/dailynews.elive?id=7257&category=Daily-Thu
ANYONE who has suffered clerical abuse is being warned to stay away from Bishop Donal Murray or his diocese by the brother of deceased former alter-boy, Peter McCloskey.
Calling for the bishop to resign his post, Joseph McCloskey said that his brother's cry for help resulted in his death.
Mr McCloskey told the Limerick Post that the church's silence on the matter is also being "exacerbated by reports of another allegation of abuse in Limerick by the same priest, which wasn't brought into the public domain".
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37-year-old Caherdavin man, Peter McCloskey, was found dead on April 1, just two days after mediation talks with Catholic Church representatives about his allegations of clerical sexual abuse.
The mediation was set up to discuss allegations of sexual abuse which Mr McCloskey claimed he suffered in 1980 and 1981 from Fr Denis Daly when he was a 10-year-old altar boy in his local parish. The priest died in 1987.
Born in Clare, Fr Daly had been ordained in Australia but was working as a supply priest in Limerick from 1978 to 1987. He had left Australia after New South Wales police investigated him over a "moral lapse" in 1963.
According to Peter's brother, Joseph, Fr Daly was being investigated for a string of abuse allegations in Australia. And a settlement had even been agreed in one case, he says.
But it is understood that no-one looked into the offending priest's records before he began ministering in Limerick.
"Now I have to go and visit my brother lying in Kilcrona cemetery. He's there because he sought out the truth and he paid for it with his life. During his search, all the Church did was throw legal jargon, Canon Law, libel and threats of being sued for legal costs at him. And this was supposed to be a process of mediation?
"Anyone who has been abused in any way, I wouldn't advise you to take Bishop Donal Murray up on his offer of coming to talk to him. My brother did and he's dead. I would advise people to talk to the wonderful group, One in Four, who are extremely compassionate and understanding, your local health board or the gardai," he said.
Peter travelled to Australia in 2004 and was given access to the priest's file held by the Sydney diocese. The file revealed almost 30 years of correspondence between Church authorities in Australia and Ireland. However according, to Colm O'Gorman of One in Four, Bishop Murray denied he was withholding any information from Mr McCloskey in 2002 and more recently, even speculated whether there was a file as he was dead some 16 years.
"Donal Murray went on the record and said that he never withheld information. All Peter wanted was to be believed and to have his accusations validated by the church. They didn't do that."
According to the One in Four's Mr O'Gorman, Peter was "distressed, devastated and upset when he came out of the mediation".
"Usually when a priest comes to a new parish, they need to check his past history and this wasn't done. Apparently there is no record that the Bishop of Limerick at the time, Dr Jeremiah Newman, carried out a check with the Diocese of Sydney before allowing Fr Daly to work in Limerick. This is how these people are able to continue abusing," he alleged.
At a press conference earlier this week, Mr McCloskey's mother, Mary, said that Bishop Donal Murray "failed to show proper Christian love or even basic humanity" to her son.
"I believe if he examines his conscience with real honesty he will realise that he must step down from his position."
A spokesperson for the bishop said that Mr McCloskey's death was "deeply upsetting" and that he is still available to meet Peter's family.
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