Monsignor
Alex Stenson -- who as chancellor in the Dublin Archdiocese met many
victims of clerical abuse -- yesterday said there was not "so much a
culture of secrecy but of very responsible confidentiality" within the
church.
The church in Dublin has come under fire after a
hard-hitting report said it had failed hundreds of children by allowing
"notorious child abuser" Tony Walsh to continue his attacks for nearly
two decades after they were first reported.
Msgr Stenson broke
his silence in the aftermath of the publication of the shocking section
of the Murphy Report divulging details of the pattern of depraved abuse
carried out by the jailed ex-cleric Walsh.
Msgr Stenson blamed an
oath to secrecy for not informing gardai when he was asked whether Walsh
had any past history of alleged abuse.
He pointed to the findings of the Murphy Report in relation to him as he told the Irish Independent that he would "absolutely" be staying on as parish priest of Killester in north Dublin.
A spokeswoman for the archdiocese indicated that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin did not plan to remove Msgr Stenson as parish priest in Killester.
She
said: "Msgr Stenson undertook a difficult role at a time when the
Archdiocese did not have in place a policy for child protection and the
Murphy Report chronicles in detail where responses were inadequate.
"The
overall assessment of the commission was, however, that Mgsr Stenson
'performed his task better than other office-holders in the
Archdiocese'."
Last night, abuse survivor Marie Collins said child
sexual abuse was always a criminal offence within civil law and "as a
member of society, Msgr Stenson had a duty to uphold civil law".
"It
is a disgrace that going to the civil authorities was not on the
agenda," Ms Collins said. "It is the height of arrogance to say it
wasn't on the agenda."
She added: "The whole thing Msgr Stenson seems to ignore completely is he did not protect children from abuse."
Another
abuse victim, Andrew Madden, said senior priests had "not done their
best" and there were plenty of examples of occasions where they had not
taken medical advice and recommendations for treatment.
Yesterday,
Msgr Stenson said he had an oath to secrecy in his role as chancellor
and believed the documentation was "deeply privileged".
The Murphy
Report earlier stated some priests about whom complaints were made
considered Msgr Stenson "was their scourge" and found he did try to
ensure the priest abided by any restrictions placed on him.
The
monsignor said he felt he had treated victims sympathetically but he
"had an oath" and was not in a position to tell them there may have been
other allegations.
False
Msgr Stenson said
the amount of information he had in relation to Walsh compared to what
was now in the public domain was "minor".
"I heard things on the
(RTE) 'Prime Time' programme I knew nothing about which horrified me and
were far worse than anything I had to deal with up to that point," he
said.
He added that he was not aware of all the cases being dealt with by the Archdiocese.
"The
impression is given that I knew about Tony Walsh's problems from two
days after his ordination in 1978. That is totally false," he said.
"The first I heard of Tony Walsh's problems was in 1984/85," he said.
Yesterday,
Msgr Stenson told the congregation in St Brigid's Church, Killester,
that he was not offering an "apology for my life" but an explanation.
He
later stated they followed the advice of psychiatric experts and "with
hindsight" it was clear their understanding of paedophilia and the
nature of reoffending had "grown" in the years since.
He said some priests were given "a green light" to return to ministry and others were not.
"On
that basis, the archbishop made decisions which we now know sadly were
wrong. We were following the best advice at the time. Now that is an
explanation not an excuse," he said.
SIC: II/IE