A Catholic Bishop has dismissed claims an internal report on clerical
child abuse will document hundreds of victims of paedophile priests in
Donegal.
Dr Philip Boyce, who has opened diocesan files for an
audit of allegations against priests, also denied the hierarchy actively
thwarted investigations by gardai and health experts.
The review
of the Raphoe Diocese by Ian Elliot, chief executive of the National
Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC),
is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
But Dr Boyce has
rejected reports that the audit has uncovered some of the most shocking
levels of abuse and cover-ups by the Catholic Church in Ireland.
“I
wish to assure the people of the Diocese of Raphoe that this assertion
is simply not true,” Dr Boyce said in a statement today.
“Furthermore,
it is seriously damaging to the good work of the many trained volunteers
who are actively committed to safeguarding children in all of the
parishes of the diocese.”
Dr Boyce, head of the diocese since
1995, said he has given full co-operation to Mr Elliot‘s review team and
all church files have been examined. He is making a formal complaint
about the leak from the unpublished audit.
Mr Elliot is currently
auditing every diocese in the country.
His examination of Cloyne
uncovered dangerous child protection practices by former bishop John
Magee and led to a subsequent damning report which detailed his shocking
failures to bring abusive priests to book.
Mr Elliot has
completed reviews of the handling of abuse allegations in six of the 26
Catholic dioceses in Ireland, including Raphoe.
The diocese has previously been accused of being involved in a cover-up over the abuse perpetrated by the convicted paedophile Fr Eugene Greene. who served as a priest in Raphoe in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Mr Elliot said in May he had experienced obstruction while investigating Fr Greene.
The diocese has previously been accused of being involved in a cover-up over the abuse perpetrated by the convicted paedophile Fr Eugene Greene. who served as a priest in Raphoe in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Mr Elliot said in May he had experienced obstruction while investigating Fr Greene.
The
NBSCCC will also audit the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, after
concerns were raised in the Seanad, and the remaining 20 dioceses before
going on to review files from 161 other missionary unions and
congregations.