Sunday, July 17, 2011

In what way did I fail victims, asks cleric

THE cleric condemned for his failure to implement child protection guidelines in the beleaguered Diocese of Cloyne queried how he had failed the victims when asked if he accepted he had let them down.

Quizzed during an interview on RTÉ radio on how he felt about failing the victims, Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan responded with "In what way?"

The former child protection delegate in the Cloyne Diocese was reacting to damning criticism of his performance contained in the report into the diocese.

The report, published on Wednesday, follows an inquiry which began in 2009 into the manner in which the Church and state authorities dealt with complaints of abuse by clerics.

During the interview, Mgr O’Callaghan claimed that when he reported allegations to the HSE, they were not interested "in historic cases".

"They had ongoing situations, so I suppose that was their biggest concern," he said.

The report found Mgr O’Callaghan was uncommitted to the church’s own child protection guidelines and acted at all times in the best interest of the Church.

Speaking from his holiday home in Waterville, Co Kerry, Thursday, Mgr O’Callaghan said he was "terribly sorry" that "anything I have done or not done" added to the distress of the complainants.

When asked why he had not reported all of the allegations to the gardaí, he said that he had, but perhaps not "immediately".

"There was always a reason for that," he said, such as "a man being in hospital over Christmas... you didn’t want to bring it up before Christmas ... there is a certain amount of sensitivity in all of these matters, that’s how I saw my position."

Mgr O’Callaghan, appointed delegate by then Bishop of Cloyne John Magee — who was also roundly criticised in the Cloyne report — said the bishop was "a good friend of mine and always has been a good friend of mine".

"I’m very concerned and sorry about him, I really am." When asked where Dr Magee is currently — his whereabouts are unknown — he said he didn’t want to know, and that the bishop was "entitled to his privacy".

In relation to his concern for victims of abuse, Mgr O’Callaghan said: "My main concern with the people coming who were accusers — let’s call them the survivors or call them the victims or whatever you like to call them — my main concern was to do whatever I could for them with counselling and every help I could give."

Asked if he accepted he had failed the victims, Mgr O’Callaghan said: "Well in hindsight if I’d gone back to the very beginning and above all the confusion... not the confusion but the problems it ended up causing... I’d have done everything by the book, I’ve no doubt about that.... the accusers... were my first concern, absolutely my first concern and they were my first concern always ... there may be times when I may look back and say ‘I should have done something better there’, but that’s human nature."

Mgr O’Callaghan said he felt guilty about the stress his actions, or lack of action, caused for people, including "my own bishop" .

"That’s certainly something that you do have regrets about and if I hadn’t regrets I wouldn’t be honest and human."