BISHOP OF Limerick Donal Murray has said the issue of whether he resigns over his handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations “is basically a question of whether my presence here is a help or a hindrance to the diocese of Limerick”.During his homily at 10am Mass at St Joseph’s church in Limerick city yesterday, Dr Murray said he would be guided by the priests and people of the parish, through its various representative groups and in particular the diocesan child protection committee.
Some 200 people, predominantly of an older age group, attended the Mass and applauded the bishop after his homily.
In his homily, Bishop Murray said if there were cases where abuse might have been prevented had he acted differently, he would remain “eternally sorry and apologetic”, but in one case he could think of, his inability to get the full truth was not because of a lack of effort but “a lack of skill, of experience”.
Speaking before the ceremony, Bishop Murray said he had no objection to the remit of the commission of investigation being extended to all other dioceses.
“I think it would take an awful long time, at the pace the Dublin commission works. But yes, I’d have no objection to it anyway.”
Arriving at the church, he spoke to The Irish Times. Asked about the calls for his resignation, he said: “I think I’ve learnt lessons. Certainly there were mistakes made, but I never ignored an allegation and I never tried to cover up an allegation.”
Asked how Limerick’s priests and people would decide whether he should remain as bishop, he replied, “I don’t know”, but then added, “We have parish councils, we have pastoral areas, we have pastoral councils and all those bodies”.
Later during Mass, he said: “I’ll be guided by the priests and people of the diocese, through the various relevant groups that we have that represent individuals and groups in parishes in the diocese – the priests’ council, the parish pastoral councils, the diocesan pastoral council, the pastoral areas of the diocese and in particular perhaps the diocesan child protection committee. They guide me and advise me and I’ll be listening to them and through them I’ll be listening to you.”
The commission of investigation into the Dublin archdiocese said in its report that Bishop Murray, as auxiliary bishop of Dublin, did not deal properly with the suspicions he was alerted to in relation to Fr Tom Naughton in the early 1980s. Evidence of Fr Naughton’s behaviour later emerged in another parish, and the report described as “inexcusable” Bishop Murray’s failure then to reinvestigate.
The bishop told Mass-goers yesterday: “If there were cases where the abuse of children might have been prevented had I acted differently, I offer those people my sincerest apology. I can honestly say that in one such case that I can think of, my inability to get the full truth was not the result of any lack of effort on my part but perhaps of a lack of skill, of experience.
“That’s no consolation to the children who were abused – that I was lacking in experience – and I’ll remain eternally sorry and apologetic to anyone whose suffering I might possibly have prevented.”
He stressed, however, “that at no time did I receive an allegation of sexual abuse and fail to take it seriously, and at no time did I engage in an attempt to cover it up. I do want to assure you that in my time in Limerick, every allegation of child sexual abuse has been taken seriously and has been passed on to the gardaí and the HSE .”
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