ONE of the bishops strongly criticised for failing to deal with clerical child sex abuse in Dublin resigned from his position as president of the Irish Pilgrimage Trust yesterday.Bishop Dermot O’Mahony said he had been considering his position at the trust, which organises trips to Lourdes, among other activities, for a number of months.
He came in for especially strong criticism in the Murphy Report, which named him as one of the auxiliary bishops in Dublin "who dealt particularly badly with complaints" of child sex abuse in the archdiocese.
In a brief open letter Bishop O’Mahony said yesterday: "In view of the unfavourable criticisms of me by the Report of the Commission on the Sexual Abuse of Children by Priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, which has now been published, and the continuing public controversy in its regard, I have decided to step down from this position and I hereby submit my resignation, to take immediate effect."
He added that he would be leaving the trust with "delightful memories which will sustain me for a lifetime and the assurance of my prayers for the future development of the trust which I greatly admire and love".
The Murphy Report documents how Bishop O’Mahony served as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin from 1975 to 1996 and that he was aware of 13 priests from within the representative sample, and others, against whom there were allegations or suspicions of carrying out abuse.
He also served as a chancellor, during which time he dealt with one complaint and did not inform the archbishop of it, and after ceasing his role as chancellor he failed to tell Archbishop Dermot Ryan of a number of complaints, including one related to Fr Vidal, on whose behalf he gave a reference to the Sacramento Diocese in California.
Fr Vidal had had a physical relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
He also failed to tell the National Rehabilitation Hospital or gardaí that the hospital chaplain Fr Noel Reynolds might have a problem with child sex abuse.
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