The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) says that a large number of priests, who have had allegations made against them, and stood down from ministry all over Ireland, are left in limbo, when no complaint is made to the Gardaí or PSNI.
Fr Tony Flannery from ACP told ciNews that their organisation is hearing from such priests “on a daily basis.”
“We are talking about priests against whom allegations have been made. Typically, they go back thirty or forty years. The person may or may not have made a statement to the Gardaí. Often they haven’t and so the criminal law is not interested.”
In this situation, says Fr Flannery, the Church begins its own investigation, which goes on
“forever.”
“It goes to the Vatican and sits there for months. Meanwhile the priest is out of ministry, and often in difficulty about where to live and experiencing financial problems.” The ACP spokesman said there was no uniform practise dealing with allegations. “Some bishops are good and others are appallingly bad,” he commented.
“The guys [priests] are left in limbo and the assumption is that they are guilty.”
The survey of the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSCCC) of six dioceses revealed that allegations of child sexual abuse were made against 85 priests in the six dioceses (Raphoe, Tuam, Dromore, Ardagh & Clonmacnois, Kilmore and Derry), but only eight of these were convicted of having committed an offence against a child or young person.
While almost half of the priests against whom allegations were brought are now dead (44), a substantial number of priests are left, “against whom no inappropriate behaviour was criminally or civilly established.
But what we can say for certain is that each of these was immediately removed from ministry, most in a public way that brought shame and disgrace on them and on their families, and often caused great upset in their parish communities,” said Fr Brendan Hoban in a statement.
“Many of them have remained in a limbo situation for years, asserting their innocence but having no way of clearing their name,” he added.
The Association of Catholic Priests believes that many bishops, in their “great desire to implement the child protection guidelines, and to be seen by the media to be doing so,” have lost sight of the rights and entitlements of priests to their good name and reputation, and the organisation has now written to the bishops seeking to establish a meeting with them and its legal representatives to discuss the issue.
“The way they have been treated offends the very basic and fundamental principles of natural justice and fair procedures,” said Fr Hoban, quoting Robert Dore, who acted as solicitor to Fr Kevin Reynolds, the priest falsely accused in an RTÉ documentary of raping and fathering a child by an underage girl in Africa.
ACP has been providing legal assistance to priests who have had allegations brought against them.
“Very few priests have difficulty with the way the state handles the allegations (when a complaint is made to the Gardaí or HSE). They are happy to let it take its course. They have a lot more problems with the religious authorities and they are coming for advice from our legal team as to what their rights as human beings are,” Fr Flannery told ciNews.
The organisation welcomed the NBSCCC report on child protection practices in six dioceses.
"It is good to know that, while mistakes were made in the past, significant improvement has been made, and parishes are now deemed to be much safer places for children," it added.