THE Bishop of Elphin has called on Bishop John Magee to return to Cloyne to answer his parishioners' questions.
Bishop Christopher Jones,
a member of the Bishops' Liaison Committee for Child Protection, said
he had no idea where the controversial retired Bishop of Cloyne was.
But he said that as "pastor to his flock", Bishop Magee should return to answer questions raised in the damning Cloyne Report.
Bishop
Magee has not been seen since the report on his handling of child sex
abuse allegations was published last month.
It is believed he left his
home in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, and travelled to the US.
The report
revealed a widespread cover-up of abuse within the Cloyne diocese, with
the bishop taking little interest in child-abuse allegations.
Abuse
Only six of 15 cases of alleged child abuse were reported to gardai between 1996 and 2005.
Bishop
Magee, who was himself the subject of an allegation of inappropriate
behaviour in the report, is accused of taking "little or no" active
interest in managing such cases until 2008.
Bishop Jones is the
third bishop in a matter of weeks who has called on Bishop Magee to
return and acknowledge his mistakes in person.
Previously, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh Gerard Clifford called for his return.
Bishop
Jones was speaking at a press conference yesterday on behalf of the
Catholic Church's marriage counselling service ACCORD, which reported
record numbers of couples turning to them for help.
The service experienced an 8pc increase in couples seeking counselling last year.