FURTHER MEETINGS are expected to take place in Limerick over the coming days to discuss Bishop Donal Murray’s future position in the diocese.Earlier this week a statement was issued on behalf of a group of priests and parishioners in which they publicly defended the Bishop of Limerick saying it would be a “retrograde step” if he was to resign.
The group of 80 people met last Sunday to discuss the Dublin diocesan report, in which Bishop Murray was criticised for the way he handled a number of complaints and suspicions during his time as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin.
The meeting took place hours after Bishop Murray called for guidance from the people and priests of Limerick in a letter read out in Masses across the city.
Yesterday, one of the organisers of Sunday’s meeting, Fr Eamonn Fitzgibbon, confirmed that other meetings would take place and the consultation process will be “widened”.
“The meeting was called, as you can imagine, at very short notice and therefore it was those that we could contact very quickly,” Fr Fitzgibbon said.
“It was those who work for the diocese and those who are on various diocesan committees and the priests of the diocese but certainly, yes, our intention is that consultation will be widened out,” he said.
“We will shortly be calling for meetings at pastoral area level, and also for meetings at parish level with pastoral council.”
Others have called for the bishop to resign.
These included Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins who said it would be “in the interest of the church”.
A poll conducted in the online edition of the Limerick Leader on Monday also initially showed a large majority of people voting in favour of Bishop Murray’s resignation with under 30 per cent saying he should remain in office.
However within a number of hours the results of the poll changed dramatically on Monday night after several hundred votes were cast in a short period of time.
By yesterday afternoon before the poll was taken down, some 80 per cent of voters said they believed Bishop Murray should remain in office.
Editor of the Limerick Leader Alan English said he took the decision to remove the poll because he did not believe it as an “accurate indication” of public opinion locally.
“There was an enormous amount of votes cast in a short period on Monday evening, the vast majority of which were supportive of the bishop.
“We are examining the poll to see where these votes came from but basically we no longer believe that it’s an accurate indication of public opinion and as such we decided to take it down,” Mr English said.
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