THE US-based cardinal appointed to investigate paedophile priests in the Dublin archdiocese "silences" any controversy over child abuse in the dioceses he joins, it has been claimed.Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who serves in Boston, has been described as a veteran troubleshooter in clerical child sex abuse scandals.
However BishopAccountability.org, the US-based website which publishes cases of child-sex abuse worldwide believes he is the wrong man to carry out any investigation in Dublin.
The website is quoted in the Boston Globe as saying: "O’Malley’s career ascent has been fuelled by his ability to walk into dioceses wracked by horrible revelations of child molestation and enshroud them again in silence."
A number of US survivor groups have also been critical of the Pope’s choice not just of Cardinal O’Malley but of all four other members, of the "apostolic visitation group".
They are Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York; Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottowa; Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, retired Archbishop of Westminster; and Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto.
Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the two US archbishops had "troubling" track records.
"Just a few years ago Boston’s O’Malley was found in violation of the US bishops’ sex abuse policy, for refusing to make sure all parishes were offering abuse training," she said.
She said priests should not be carrying out the investigations. "No institution can police itself, especially not an ancient, rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy with a horrific history of protecting predators and endangering kids," she said.