A shocking new report will reveal how up to 20 paedophile priests
abused hundreds of children in one diocese over a 40-year period --
sparking a new cover-up scandal for the Catholic Church.
Clergy are severely criticised for the way victims and their families were treated in the diocese of Raphoe, Co Donegal.
The report is due out later this month.
It
will come in the wake of a series of damning reports which have rocked
the church with revelations about the scale of sex abuse in the
diocese of Cloyne, in the archdiocese of Dublin and by religious
orders.
The report, for the National Board for Safeguarding
Children in the Catholic Church, is expected to be published by the
Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, in the next two weeks.
It is understood the board received "total cooperation" from Dr Boyce.
The
contents of the report are said to be "horrific" and outline a
catalogue of allegations against priests who abused young children and
senior colleagues who failed their victims.
"There were hundreds and hundreds of victims," one source told the Irish Independent, "and they were abused again and again while the church actively prevented investigations by the civil authorities.
"The Raphoe diocese, like others, was only interested in protecting the church and not the victims"
In
one case the Irish Independent has learned about a priest who raped
young boys in one of Raphoe's 33 parishes and was "sent away" for less
than a month after the parents of a young boy made a complaint to the
church.
The incident, in 1977, left the family devastated when
they realised the priest was returning to the parish. The family were
assured that the church had "dealt with" the matter and that no more
incidents would take place.
The priest in question was moved
through several other parishes over a 30-year period as the diocese
failed again and again to deal with him. He continued to target young
boys and abuse them. Gardai were never informed of the allegations.
When
gardai did become involved in a number of investigations, the church
was uncooperative, obstructive and misled detectives.
Even
though the diocese had investigated allegations against some priests, no
files were ever handed over to gardai and no records were ever found.
In another incident, the parents of one victim claim they were asked by a senior cleric if they were "all right" financially.
One
victim, raped by a Catholic priest in the diocese, told the Irish
Independent: "I cannot begin to tell you how much I am looking forward
to seeing this audit being published. It will be like a dark cloud
lifting off me.
Truth
"The cover-up by the church in Rome and here in Ireland
is finally being exposed. I have no doubt Dr Boyce will apologise to
people like me, but what we want is the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth."
Another victim insisted the authorities
had to go much further than publishing the audit.
"In every walk of
life, someone who covers up a crime or who prevents a criminal from
being brought to justice is arrested and charged with helping an
offender or perverting the course of justice."
The audit of the
diocese was led by Ian Elliott chief executive of the National Board
for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.
The board was
founded in 2006 and has compiled audits on six of Ireland's 26 dioceses.
A
spokesman for Mr Elliott said his board 's report examined "the full
extent of all complaints or allegations, knowledge, suspicions or
concerns of child sexual abuse, made to the Raphoe diocese by
individuals or by the civil authorities in the period 1 January 1975
to the present day, against Catholic clergy."
The clergy included all members of religious congregations affiliated with Raphoe.
Raphoe
diocese press officer, Fr Paddy Dunne, told the Irish Independent he
believed the audit would be published within weeks.
"No exact date has
been set for its publication but I believe it will be before the end of
August," he said, "It is very important that we are open and honest about what is in it and that we deal with all the issues which are raised."
The
Raphoe diocese set up a child protection committee in June 2006.
Bishop
Boyce said last month that all abuse allegations are now reported to
gardai.
Each parish now has two or more child protection
representatives who train all church personnel who have contact with
children.