CANADA: A SECOND priest accused by Mark Vincent
Healy of abusing him between 1969 and 1973, when he was a boy at St
Mary’s College, Rathmines, was Fr Arthur Carragher.
The priest,
who died in Canada on January 10th, 2011, was ordained in 1952 and
served in Nigeria for 17 years before joining the teaching staff at St
Marys in 1969.
In 1971 he transferred to Toronto to the congregation’s Trans Canada province.
That
move was described to The Irish Times in June 2011 by then Holy Ghost
Irish provincial Fr Brian Starken as “a little bit strange”.
In
2001 two Dublin brothers made allegations of abuse against Carragher and
attempts were made to have the priest extradited to Ireland to face
charges.
These were frustrated as there is no extradition treaty
between Ireland and Canada and a medical report stated Carragher was too
ill to travel.
Carragher admitted the abuse of the brothers when
they initiated a civil action against him in Canada. It is understood
that they also received compensation.
Altogether Carragher was accused by four men, including Mark Vincent Healy, of abusing them when he was in Dublin.
According
to a local Spiritans magazine, Carragher, despite his admission of
abusing two Dublin brothers in 2002, and their receiving compensation,
was still in ministry at Hamilton, Ontario, in 2004.
Contacted
about Carragher, and his years in Nigeria, a spokesman for the
Spiritan/Holy Ghost Fathers said that “whilst we share a concern that
something may have happened during Carraghers years in Nigeria, no such
information has yet come to light”.