TESTIMONY: “MENTAL RESERVATION” was employed by
Bishop John Magee in his preparation of two accounts of one meeting with
an abuser priest – one for Rome and one for the interdiocesan case
management committee shared by Cloyne and Limerick dioceses.
Referring
to time differences recorded in the two reports, the Cloyne report
said: “It may be that the time difference was of some assistance in
performing the mental gymnastics of mental reservation in the manner of
recording the details of the meeting.”
Bishop Magee recorded a
meeting he had with “Fr Caden” on September 22nd, 2005, who was accused
of sex abuse by another Cloyne priest.
Fr Caden received an 18-month suspended sentence last November when he pleaded guilty to three charges of gross indecency.
In
one account, intended for the Vatican, Bishop Magee records Fr Caden as
admitting guilt and offered his resignation when confronted with the
younger priest’s allegations.
This account was dated September 15th, 2005 and the meeting was said to have begun at 4pm, ending at 5pm.
In
his second account, intended for the interdiocesan committee, Bishop
Magee records Fr Caden as “shocked” at the allegation, which he
“immediately denied”.
Bishop Magee continued that he asked the priest to
step down as parish priest and that he would have to remove him from
ministry in the diocese.
He dated this account of the meeting as having taken place on September 22nd. It began at 4pm and ended at 4.30pm.
The Murphy commission was “satisfied that there was only one meeting around this time and that it occurred on 22 September”.
Bishop
Magee said he had written the differing accounts as Fr Caden had asked
to speak to him “in a bishop/priest relationship of confidentiality
which was a privileged position that we had”.