VICTIMS OF clerical abuse in the Dublin diocese will meet the
Archbishop of Boston in the coming months as part of the work of a
delegation sent to Ireland by Pope Benedict.
Archbishop of Dublin
Diarmuid Martin said Cardinal Seán OMalley had already visited Dublin at
the beginning of December and would be returning this month and next
month when he would mainly be meeting victims of clerical abuse in
Ireland.
Cardinal Seán Brady said the former archbishop of
Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OConnor, had visited the archdiocese
of Armagh before Christmas.
“He will return this month
accompanied by his team and we welcome it and we will co-operate,”
Cardinal Brady said yesterday.
Archbishop of Toronto Christopher Collins
and Archbishop of Ottowa Terrence Prendergast are also visiting the
archdioceses of Cashel and Tuam respectively.
The delegation is in
Ireland to explore how cases of sexual abuse of children by priests
were handled and to monitor the effectiveness of current procedures for
preventing abuse in the Catholic Church in Ireland.
However,
Cardinal Brady noted that the delegation formed just one part of the
programme of renewal described by the Pope in his pastoral letter to the
Catholics of Ireland last March.
The Holy See has indicated that
the delegation is to complete its work by May.
A spokesman for the
church in Ireland said it would be a matter for the Vatican whether
reports by the “apostolic visitors” would be made public thereafter.
SIC: IT/IE