THE CATHOLIC archbishop who took over the administration of Cloyne
two years ago says that he believes the diocese’s former delegate for
safeguarding children should have resigned from his role.
In a letter to the Irish Catholic
newspaper today, Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan says he feels he should
have resigned from that position once he realised how his commitment to
pastoral care came into conflict with church guidelines issued in 1996
on dealing with abuse complaints.
The “Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response” document outlines
recommended responses to abuse claims, including that priests contact
authorities outside the church “for the investigation and prosecution of
criminal offences”.
Responding to O’Callaghan’s letter, Archbishop Dermot Clifford said in a statement this evening:
I agree that he should have resigned at that time, once he came to the conclusion that he could not implement the 1996 Framework Document from the Catholic Bishops on safeguarding of children.
Clifford
said that O’Callaghan’s pastoral response “is not a sufficient response
to allegations of child sexual abuse” and does “not provide for a
proper investigation of the complaints whether by state or church
authorities”.
Clifford also called on O’Callaghan to “refrain from
any further public comment on this controversy as it will only cause
further distress and hurt to survivors of child sexual abuse and their
families”.
Last Tuesday, Bishop John Magee, who ran the diocese when allegations of child abuse were made but not acted upon, apologised to the victims of clerical abuse in Cloyne in his first interview since the publication of the Cloyne Report last month.
The
report, which covered a period from 1996 to early 2000, was highly
critical of how church authorities, particularly Magee, responded to the
allegations of child sexual abuse.
The Vatican recalled the
Pope’s representative to Ireland following the report’s publication for
consultation on its findings and has not yet issued an official
response.