MSGR DENIS O'CALLAGHAN: THE SENIOR cleric criticised
by the Commission of Investigation into Clerical Sexual Abuse in Cloyne
for his handling of complaints of clerical sexual abuse defended his
approach to the problem in a memoir published four years ago.
Judge
Yvonne Murphy’s report said the greatest failing by the diocese was its
failure to report all complaints to the Garda authorities.
The
report also highlighted how child protection delegate Msgr Denis
O’Callaghan didn’t believe in the church’s own reporting guidelines.
The
commission said Msgr O’Callaghan “always had reservations about
reporting to the civil authorities” and had “stymied” the implementation
of the church’s own framework document, which advocates reporting of
abuse to the civil authorities.
Yesterday Msgr O’Callaghan told
RTÉ he regretted he had not implemented the church guidelines in
relation to reporting abuse allegations to the civil authorities and
also regretted any hurt that he may have caused to the “accusers” by his
actions.
But in his memoir,
Putting a Hand to the Plough , published in 2007, Msgr
O’Callaghan, a former professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s
College, Maynooth, sought to justify what he described as “the pastoral
care” approach to dealing with complainants, which he felt was superior
to the rule-bound approach advocated by the church.
“Why should we
put that experience aside and simply sign up to a list of civil
procedures? . . . What emerged then as a result was a direct personal
involvement with people rather than a cold professional client-based
policy,” wrote Msgr O’Callaghan.
Adopting what he described as
“the model of the Good Samaritan”, Msgr O’Callaghan wrote that his
approach went beyond satisfying oneself whether the diocese was or was
not liable for the actions of an abuser.