Archbishop Dermot Clifford (pic left) of Cashel & Emly must already be regretting his expressing his gratification upon hearing that the Archdiocese and St Patrick’s College were not going to be indicted by the Californian courts last week in relation to now defrocked priest, Oliver O’Grady.The Archbishop and the College faced having to compensate the 23 victims of O’Grady - one was allegedly only nine months old for having ordained a person whose background was questionable even back before his ordination for the Diocese of Stockton, California in 1971, having never served in an Irish Diocese or parish.
The court in San Joaquin, Orange County ruled that there was no admissible evidence that the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, the then Archbishop, the late Thomas Morris or any of the staff of St. Patrick’s College in Thurles could know of the propensity of O’Grady to molest children. Indeed, the current incumbent in the Archdiocese, Dermot Clifford, stated that ‘if Oliver O’Grady’s paedophile tendencies had been known by either the authorities in St Patrick’s College, Thurles, or by the former Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Dr Thomas Morris, Oliver O’Grady would not have been ordained. I am gratified that the court in California has found that the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly and St Patrick’s College played no knowing role in these events in California.’
The Los Angeles attorney who has been party to the case - John Manly - has now pledged to pursue O’Grady, the Archdiocese and St Patrick’s College through the courts, all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary, stating that the verdict delivered last week was merely ‘a jurisdictional ruling’ by Judge Ronald Sabraw. ‘I respect this judge but he never allowed us to conduct discovery of what the archdiocese of Cashel knew about the circumstances leading to O’Grady’s ordination in Thurles.’
Manly continued, ’In 1997, when O’Grady was laicised under Church law, the canon lawyer for the prosecution - now Cardinal William Levada head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - acknowledged O’Grady’s “psychic infirmity” was well known to the then ordaining prelate, the late Dr Thomas Morris. On the very basis of that evidence, O’Grady’s ordination was decreed invalid and he was subsequently defrocked from the priesthood. Pope Benedict called on the Irish Bishops on their recent ad limina visit to Rome (in October 2006) to disclose the whole truth in relation to child sexual abuse, but the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly has thus far failed to do so.’
Mr Manly said that he would now appeal the case to the California Court of Appeals, ‘and to the Supreme Court if necessary.’ He also indicated that this particular case is far from over considering that a fresh allegation has been made by another Irish person against O’Grady allegedly stating that he was sexually abused by O’Grady before his ordination in 1971.
This will surely see testing times ahead for the Archdiocese and its probity in relation to this ex-cleric and how it will co-operate with this matter may yet prove to be a milestone in matters legal and in specific to child abuse perpetrated by Irish clerics abroad. The legal (and financial) responsibility of this test case will surely deny many a member of the Purple Parliament here in Ireland a sound sleep in time to come, and perhaps this is because they will be seen to be made far more accountable abroad than they have been thus far here at home. Archbishop Clifford may yet come to regret his moments of gratification in relation to this particular situation - utter in haste, repent at leisure Dermot!!!