Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick is to address churchgoers at Mass at St John's Cathedral in Limerick this morning, amid reports that his resignation is to be announced.The Irish Catholic , quoting Vatican sources, reported the imminent resignation last night.
Calls have been made for a criminal investigation into how Bishop Murray handled abuse allegations against Fr Thomas Naughton, conviction for child sex abuse yesterday.
Bishop Murray is one of a number of auxiliary bishops criticised in the Murphy commission report into the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004.
Naughton, who featured strongly in the Murphy report, was yesterday to three years in prison, with one year suspended, for abusing a boy at least 70 times in Valleymount, Co Wicklow, between 1982 and 1984.
Parents who complained to Bishop Murray about the priest when he was an auxiliary bishop in Dublin in 1983 said they were dismissed by him.
Mervyn Rundle, who was abused by Naughton when the priest was moved from Valleymount to Donnycarney parish in 1984, yesterday asked “when are the guards going to act against these guys ?”
In 1998, Naughton was sentenced to three years in jail for abusing Mervyn Rundle and other boys in Donnycarney. The sentence was reduced by six months, on appeal.
Retired Garda sergeant John Brennan, who sought to have Naughton removed from Valleymount in 1984 following complaints by parents, said “as justice was done today, I think that it should now be taken a step further. Fr Naughton, I’ve always maintained, is a human being with a problem.”
He continued: “It was his superiors who, aware of this weakness, sent him around to other places, and I think they shouldn’t be allowed at this stage to resign or retire. They should be the subject of a criminal investigation. If there is neglect and evidence of a cover-up, it shouldn’t be a question of somebody resigning. They should be the subject of a criminal charge.”
A 78-year-old St Patrick’s Missionary Society priest, Naughton had pleaded guilty to five sample counts of indecent assault and yesterday received five three-year sentences, to run concurrently, with the final year suspended in each case.
Handing down the sentences at Wicklow Circuit Court in Bray, Judge Michael O’Shea said the abuse was “appalling, shocking and horrifying”.
The court heard that it started in 1982, when the victim was six years old. After he had made his First Communion he became an altar server in Valleymount parish, where Naughton was curate.
Judge O’Shea added that the abuse had an “absolutely catastrophic” impact on the victim’s life.
Last night, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said: “Tom Naughton was an abuser who damaged the lives of many innocent young people. I hope those involved in today’s proceedings will find some solace and justice in his having to serve a jail sentence for his crimes.”
Andrew Madden, who was abused by Fr Ivan Payne, said Donal Murray was Bishop in the archdiocese of Dublin during a time when the Murphy commission found that the sexual abuse of children by priests was covered up by the diocese and other church authorities.
"The structures and rules of the Catholic Church were found to have facilitated that cover-up," he said. The report tells us that some auxiliary bishops were made aware of complaints of child sexual abuse by priests in their geographical areas.
"It goes on to say other bishops found out about such priests through the regular monthly meetings involving the archbishop and the auxiliary bishops.
It is not believable to me that bishops attending those meetings were unaware that child sexual abuse was covered up by the archdiocese.
"They were bishops working in a diocese where children were sexually abused by priests that the diocese knew to be dangerous.
They were bishops that were part of a structure and culture that facilitated the sexual abuse of children.
They joined with other Bishops to issue a statement on 10th December 2009 to say they are shamed by the extent to which child sexual abuse was covered up in the Archdiocese of Dublin, yet individually they claim to have done nothing wrong.
"Their continued presence in office is an insult to every child sexually abused by a priest in the Dublin archdiocese, they display a contemptible level of arrogance and an inappropriate lack of humility.
"The Catholic church in Ireland has totally failed to respond at all appropriately to the findings of the Murphy report."
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