VICTIMS of clerical sex abuse in Cloyne have said Bishop
John Magee and Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan should be stripped of their
titles by the Vatican.
The Murphy Commission report into clerical abuse in
the diocese of Cloyne found the diocesan heads failed to handle
allegations properly, took the side of the accused and lied to state
authorities about abuse allegations.
"Those two both abused their titles. Both loved to live the lives those titles entitled them to, yet through those titles they destroyed people’s lives. They should remember the words of the bible: ‘To whom much is given, much is expected’," one victim said.
The women said that Mgr O’Callaghan’s interviews to radio stations last week caused further hurt to victims who were reeling from the contents of the report.
"He was a disgrace. To call us ‘accusers’ as if we were telling lies about what happened to us? And to actually say ‘I’ll be back" when this ‘blows over’, as if he was Arnie Schwarzenegger, just shows he hasn’t a clue," one said.
"Not only did they let us down and the Church but they let down all the people of Cloyne. And for Bishop John Magee to run off like that and not stay around to face the people was just total cowardice."
One victim described Archbishop Dermot Clifford’s letter of apology, read in churches across the diocese yesterday, as "meaningless."
"Words mean nothing to me. It is too late. If Magee, Clifford and O’Callaghan had thought about victims, we wouldn’t be where were are," she said, referring to her request to the archbishop in 2007 to examine how Dr Magee was handling her complaint. The archbishop told her all proper channels were being explored.
"The least they could do is offer to surrender those titles themselves.
"We shouldn’t have to be demanding that they are stripped of those titles. I can see from the report and from our own experiences, they were forced into apologies. They don’t want to apologise," she said.
She also strongly criticised all the other priests in the diocese who failed, over the years, "to stand up for us".
"Where are all the good priests now? I don’t see them marching. More and more I am thinking that that organisation [the Church] is an asylum," she added.
"Those two both abused their titles. Both loved to live the lives those titles entitled them to, yet through those titles they destroyed people’s lives. They should remember the words of the bible: ‘To whom much is given, much is expected’," one victim said.
The women said that Mgr O’Callaghan’s interviews to radio stations last week caused further hurt to victims who were reeling from the contents of the report.
"He was a disgrace. To call us ‘accusers’ as if we were telling lies about what happened to us? And to actually say ‘I’ll be back" when this ‘blows over’, as if he was Arnie Schwarzenegger, just shows he hasn’t a clue," one said.
"Not only did they let us down and the Church but they let down all the people of Cloyne. And for Bishop John Magee to run off like that and not stay around to face the people was just total cowardice."
One victim described Archbishop Dermot Clifford’s letter of apology, read in churches across the diocese yesterday, as "meaningless."
"Words mean nothing to me. It is too late. If Magee, Clifford and O’Callaghan had thought about victims, we wouldn’t be where were are," she said, referring to her request to the archbishop in 2007 to examine how Dr Magee was handling her complaint. The archbishop told her all proper channels were being explored.
"The least they could do is offer to surrender those titles themselves.
"We shouldn’t have to be demanding that they are stripped of those titles. I can see from the report and from our own experiences, they were forced into apologies. They don’t want to apologise," she said.
She also strongly criticised all the other priests in the diocese who failed, over the years, "to stand up for us".
"Where are all the good priests now? I don’t see them marching. More and more I am thinking that that organisation [the Church] is an asylum," she added.