THE house belonging to the parish of Mitchelstown, Co
Cork, where former bishop of Cloyne Dr John Magee was spotted last week,
was deserted yesterday, and his whereabouts are once again unknown.
Parishioners
using a short cut that passes by the front door of the house at the top
of Convent Hill in Mitchelstown expressed surprise to hear he had
returned.
"We didn’t hear anyone in the town mention it, but maybe people didn’t know," one woman said.
Dr Magee had been in hiding since July, when the Cloyne Report was published.
"We didn’t hear anyone in the town mention it, but maybe people didn’t know," one woman said.
Dr Magee had been in hiding since July, when the Cloyne Report was published.
The report, which examined the handling by Church and State
of allegations of clerical sex abuse, found Dr Magee responsible for his
diocese’s failure to tell the civil authorities about nine of 15
allegations of child sexual abuse against a number of his priests.
One woman who spoke to the Irish Examiner yesterday felt Dr Magee should have stayed and faced the music.
One woman who spoke to the Irish Examiner yesterday felt Dr Magee should have stayed and faced the music.
"He should have stayed, I suppose, and
faced up to it at the time. It’s worse now I think. It’s only right for
him to come back."
Dr Magee apologised to victims and accepted the Cloyne Report in its entirety in July.
Dr Magee apologised to victims and accepted the Cloyne Report in its entirety in July.
This was re-iterated
in a statement to a Sunday newspaper at the weekend after a reporter
tracked him down to Mitchelstown.
According to the report, Dr Magee’s
older brother, who was with him, said he would be making a statement
shortly.
Dr Magee denied having been in Rome or America in the period
since the report was published.
Yesterday Carnmeen — the two-storey house put at Dr Magee’s disposal after he vacated the Episcopal seat in Cobh in 2008 — was empty.
Yesterday Carnmeen — the two-storey house put at Dr Magee’s disposal after he vacated the Episcopal seat in Cobh in 2008 — was empty.
In a different league to the
spectacular Bishop’s Palace, the house is nonetheless impressive and
has an air of faded grandeur.
While the exterior, with its three bay
windows overlooking Mitchelstown, is in need of a makeover, the interior
tells a different story.
A downstairs room fitted out as a bedroom in
one of the bays was fresh and spruce-looking with pristine white duvet
on a single bed, a couple of armchairs, modern carpet and floor to
ceiling bookcases bearing many religious titles.
The room was hung with a
number of religious pictures and statues of various saints stood atop
the bookcases.