A SENIOR Catholic bishop is preparing to hold a secret ecclesiastical trial in his diocese to defrock a priest who filmed himself sexually abusing a school boy on his mobile phone. Bishop of Kilmore Leo O'Reilly has reported the case of Cavan-born convicted paedophile Fr Michael Molloy to the Vatican.
The moves to defrock the priest follow the establishment of a similar tribunal to investigate abuse complaints against a priest in the diocese of Cloyne by Archbishop Dermot Clifford, who was assigned by Pope Benedict XVI as apostolic administrator.
Archbishop Clifford was appointed as "trouble-shooter" after the Pope removed Bishop John Magee, a former secretary to three popes, from the role for failing to implement agreed child protection procedures.
The pattern of dismissing abuse offenders from the priesthood through trials based on canon or church law was set by former Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell.
Such trials, which have been conducted by the Catholic Church for centuries, became infrequent after the Second Vatican Council, 1962-65.
Bishop O'Reilly's decision to convene a Church inquiry into Fr Molloy's unlawful conduct was announced after the former hospital chaplain admitted on Monday to three charges of sexual abuse of a schoolboy and was sentenced at Cavan Criminal Circuit Court to five years' imprisonment.
Yesterday Bishop O'Reilly offered his profound sorrow and regret to the abuse victim and his family for the pain and trauma inflicted on them by Fr Molloy.
In a statement, Bishop O'Reilly unreservedly condemned Fr Molloy's abuse of the minor as a terrible betrayal of trust.
Congregation
"I have referred his case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome," said Bishop O'Reilly, "and I now intend to initiate a canonical process in relation to Fr Molloy."
A spokesman for Bishop O'Reilly confirmed that this tribunal would be the first to be conducted in the diocese in recent times.
Fr Molloy is the first Cavan priest to be imprisoned for child abuse since the late Fr Brendan Smyth, a Norbertine monk at Kilnacrott near Ballyjamesduff was convicted in courts in the Republic and the North.
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