UP TO a quarter of priests in the Diocese of Cloyne have backed Bishop John Magee and believe he should remain in his position despite the public outcry at his handling of child sex abuse complaints.A further 20% refused to either back or call for Dr Magee to stand down — while just 3% of those contacted said they believed their boss should stand down.
Many of those called were emphatic in their support for their superior saying, “Absolutely. He must stay on”. Others said he is “a fine man” and an “excellent bishop”.
A large number fully accepted his apology and said he was “the best man to see improved child protection systems put in place”.
About half of the priests listed on the diocesan website did not reply to messages left on their phone, could not be contacted or were out of the country.
Telephone calls were made by this newspaper to about 115 priests in the diocese in recent days.
The priests were asked if they believed the bishop should resign. They were all told that confidentiality would be ensured.
There have been repeated calls since mid-December for the bishop’s resignation after a report by the Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children found the Co Cork diocese was “significantly deficient” in dealing with alleged child abuse cases and “failed to focus on the needs of the vulnerable child”.
Bishop Magee apologised to the alleged victims but remained steadfast in his belief that he should remain in place to ensure best practice child protection systems are implemented.
About 10 days ago, the head of the Catholic Church said Bishop Magee should not resign, saying he “should stay in place and be held accountable”.
In contrast, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin was on the steps of the Pro-Cathedral to meet Dublin-based priest Fr Miachael Mernagh, who walked from Cobh to Dublin saying he wanted to atone for the sins of the Church in handling child sex abuse.
Dr Martin refused to call for the bishop to resign but said he should do “what is best for child protection in the diocese”.
The lay movement Voice of the Faithful has said there is a leadership crisis in the Church over the child protection scandal in Cloyne.
A report from the National Board for Safeguarding Children, an independent body established by the Catholic Church, said Cloyne had no understanding of the effects of paedophilia, or of the high level of re-offending. The report’s author, Ian Elliott, said after a victim approached the bishop and his child protection team with a complaint, actions taken were “minimal and were delayed”.
Mr Elliott noted the complaints made to the bishop were credible and that more children were put at risk because of this failure to react appropriately. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: IE)