Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty has been called on to make himself accountable for his handling of notorious abuser Fr Eugene Greene. Fr Patrick McCafferty, a priest with the Diocese of Down and Connor, who is himself a victim of clerical abuse, said Dr Hegarty ''has many unanswered questions from his handling of Eugene Greene''.
Public domain
These questions, Fr McCafferty said, are in the public domain since as far back as 2002 when the Spotlight programme in Northern Ireland first investigated Eugene Greene's activities in parishes in Donegal.
The priest raped or sexually assaulted some 26 boys from the 1960s.
The programme also sought answers from Dr Hegarty then as to his part in handling the priest during his tenure in Raphoe.
''He has brazened it out,'' Fr McCafferty told The Irish Catholic.
''He turned his back on people and can't be allowed to walk away from the destruction wrought by Greene that cost human lives. He has much more reason to resign than any Dublin bishop.''
Not hopeful
Pointing to the fact that bishops held a highly publicised meeting with Ryan Report survivors before travelling to Rome, he pointed to the lack of a similar meeting with Murphy survivors.
''There is a walling out of the victims in Murphy because it affects them [bishops] in their dioceses,'' he asserted.
Calling for a halt to the culture of secrecy that has marked the Irish Church's handling of abuse, Fr McCafferty said: ''This has to finally stop. It's exhausting at this stage.
''I have met parishioners, very committed Catholics, and they are so hurt, even now, two months after Murphy. They want action, not letters. They say 'enough is enough, do something!''
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