Priests accused of child sex abuse should never be stood down at
parish Masses and should not be asked to vacate their places of
residence unless particular circumstances demand it.
These were
among proposals put to the Catholic Church child protection watchdog,
its National Board for Safeguarding Children, at a recent meeting with
the Association of Catholic Priests.
The association’s team of Fr
Séan McDonagh, Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Brendan Hoban met board chief
executive Ian Elliott last Friday as part of a review of church
guidelines in the area of child protection.
The association team
also said that an accused priest should be entitled to know the name of
his accuser and to have the accusation in writing.