THREE CANON law advisers were relied on by Cardinal Desmond Connell: former chancellors the late Msgr Gerard Sheehy and Msgr Alex Stenson, and the current chancellor Msgr John Dolan, the report notes.Msgr Sheehy – chancellor from 1965 to 1975 – interfered in the management of a number of cases of child sexual abuse, according to evidence presented to the commission.
“He interfered, and was allowed to interfere, in the management of a number of the cases, notably Fr Payne and Fr Cicero,” the report says.
He rejected the view that the archdiocese had any responsibility to report child sexual abuse to the State authorities, it finds.
He thought the church’s internal processes should be used but, in fact, he was totally opposed to use of the church penal process.
The commission says that, according to the evidence, Msgr Sheehy exercised a good deal of influence in relation to how cases should be handled “even though he had no specific role in handling them”.
Msgr Stenson, chancellor from 1981 until 1997, carried out the investigation of complaints “superbly” but was less successful in dealing with the complainants, the report found.
“It is clear that he did generally believe the complainants but, unfortunately, he did not tell them that.”
The commission says Msgr Dolan “made every attempt to render what he had to say comprehensible insofar as he could and did not shrink from painting a picture on occasion of chaos and confusion within the archdiocese and between the archdiocese and Rome”.
Both Msgr Stenson and Msgr Dolan told the commission the Dublin archdiocese’s response to victims had been inadequate.
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