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PDF versionIrish bishops called to Vatican about abuse report
One bishop may be resigning
Dec. 08, 2009VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has asked the president of the Irish bishops' conference and the archbishop of Dublin to come to the Vatican to discuss "the painful situation of the church in Ireland" following a report detailing the church's failures in addressing clerical sexual abuse.
Irish press reports said Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick was expected to resign in the wake of the Dublin report's criticism of his "inexcusable" handling of an investigation of a pedophile priest.
Bishop Murray the only still-active bishop listed in the Murphy Report, was said by several sources to be already in Rome to meet with Vatican officials.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope's meeting with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish bishops' conference, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin would take place Dec. 11.
The spokesman said the meeting would include the nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and the heads of several Vatican offices dealing with sex abuse and related issues.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, has a special section that deals with priests accused of sexual abuse. The promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Msgr. Charles Scicluna, handles the cases brought against allegedly abusive priests. Officials of the congregations for Bishops and for Clergy also were expected to participate.
Father Lombardi said the pope wanted to discuss and have Vatican officials evaluate the findings of the so-called Murphy Report, which was released Nov. 26.
The report by the independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, looked specifically at the handling of some 325 abuse claims in the Archdiocese of Dublin during the period from January 1975 to May 2004.
"The Dublin Archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets," said the report. "All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state."
The report said church officials and police colluded in covering up instances of child sexual abuse by clergy.
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The release of the report resulted in calls for the resignations of bishops who were serving during the period covered by the report and for further investigations and prosecution.
On Dec. 8, Archbishop Leanza met with Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin and described the 45-minute meeting as serious and meaningful.
RTE News reported that Martin requested the meeting in the wake of the Murphy Report. Speaking after the meeting, Martin said he expected a "substantive response" from the church as inquiries into the abuse continue.
Archbishop Leanza acknowledged that mistakes were made, but said the church has condemned clerical child abuse and the Vatican had already apologized to victims and their families.
The nuncio said he expected a response from the Vatican following Pope Benedict's upcoming meeting with Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin.
In a related action, Bishop Dermot O'Mahony, a retired auxiliary bishop of Dublin, resigned as president of the Irish Pilgrimage Trust -- which takes sick children to Lourdes, France, and runs a respite care center in Galway, Ireland -- as a result of findings in the Murphy Report.
The report found that the bishop "dealt particularly badly with complaints" while serving as an auxiliary between 1975 and 1996 and that he failed to properly alert Archbishop Dermot Ryan, now deceased, and then-Archbishop Desmond Connell as well as other church authorities.
In a case involving a priest given the pseudonym "Father Vidal," Bishop O'Mahony provided the priest with a reference in 1985 for a post in the Diocese of Sacramento, Calif., without alerting the bishop there that the priest had previously had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl, the report said. In 2001, Bishop O'Mahony destroyed documents relating to accusations against the priest, according to the report.
It said Bishop O'Mahony knew of abuse complaints or suspicions against 13 priests, but reported none of them to civil authorities. In the case of Father Ivan Payne, he allowed Archbishops Ryan and Connell to be misled by a psychiatric report based on information that the auxiliary knew to be false, the report said.
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Contributing to this story was Cian Molloy in Dublin, Ireland.
God Bless the work of Pope
God Bless the work of Pope Benedict XVI. Let us all pray for an end to the issues in Ireland.
These events are the result
These events are the result of a hierarchy that lives in a different world. They have no clue of what normal people think and do; they live in a culture that is closed off from normal reality, and they simply write, talk and otherwise communicate to themselves totally devoid of any experiences in the real world. In the real world, they would be institutionalized; and yes, that is what they have done to the church of Jesus Christ: they have institutionalized it. May Jesus, the Christ, forgive them and continue to help his people with the Spirit to guide them!
I agree with Julius. The sex
I agree with Julius.
The sex abuse problem is in the past and we can move forward.
The abuse of power, whether to "protect" the church from scandal or any other excuse continues to be unforgivable. They seem to have an odd understanding of their role as servants of God.
It's their land.
It's their builds.
It's their rules.
It's their dogma.
It's their whatever.
If I speak out that I don't believe just one of their black/white duality and want to discuss it then I am subject to excommunication. I would like to point out that there is no COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT at any level. I would not be surprised to find that that it is forbidden in some official but secret writing.
Like the other RELIGIOUS LIES that I was taught as a child they claim that I am cut off from GOD and in the state of mortal sin and will go to hell. That sounds kind of final, doesn't it. I am supposedly cut off from the Eucharist and the other sacraments. Let me point out that there is also no process to RESIGN as a member from their roles of their group. I just become a member in BAD standing (as opposed to GOOD standing).
Well, unlike before the 1500's I now have a choice and I have voted with my feet.
Spirituality is MY private relationship with God.
Religion is MY public relationship with God and an expression on MY SPIRITUALITY.
Church is MY choice of joining a public group that more or less shares MY RELIGION.
In my childhood, my Church dictated my Religion and I was encouraged to have a private relationship directly with my Church and only indirectly with my God. As a child I seemed to have learned that a relationship with THEIR CHURCH was the only way to have a relationship with God. Today I put aside childish things. It is my adult responsibility to have a direct relationship with God. I must ask, pray, discuss, discern, educate, decide and review. (That list DID NOT come from the church of ROME.)
I am not an egomaniac; but I am a child of God who love me and wants good things for me. Good things is not a shiny new red bicycle or it's adult equivalent. Among the good things He wants for me is the "Peace of Christ which surpasses all human understanding" and the knowledge of his will with the poser to carry it out. He wants me to know that he is my personal cheerleader (rather than judge as I struggle in this "vineyard". You get the idea, if you know God also.
Dominus Vobiscum,
RJ
I agree completely with
I agree completely with Julius and partially agree with RJ. I disagree with your paragraph 6 about the Church misguiding and feeding you with lies about human relationship with God from your childhood and I quote you "... RELIGIOUS LIES that I was taught as a child they claim that I am cut off from GOD and in the state of mortal sin and will go to hell. That sounds kind of final, doesn't it. I am supposedly cut off from the Eucharist and the other sacraments. Let me point out that there is also no process to RESIGN as a member from their roles of their group. I just become a member in BAD standing (as opposed to GOOD standing)".
The Scrolls or the Holy Bible is repleted with God's law guiding our relationship with Our Heavenly Father and Rome does not preach or interpret them in any other way other than the way we would best understand them as lay faithfuls.
Its sad that you choose not to seek understanding and digest properly the teachings of the Catholic church. However, it seems from your writings that you come from a line of devoted catholic faithfuls and I will suggest that you please read and digest the canon law to understand what the church teaches and if its different from what the Bible teach.
Regards
SR
Remember this date" January,
Remember this date" January, 8th, 2009. for the report from all diocesan bishops of Ireland regarding sexual abuse in their dioceses. What we will have,is a more complete picture of what has been going on in Ireland for the past 30 or 40 years that also has been kept secret from the parishioers..We know what has been going on in this country.. Just maybe, a few more bishops in Ireland will be joining the retirement scene. Hopefully, bishops in the U.S. will take note and do the right thing (for them.) They might salvage their titles, pensions, and other perks, which in by opinion, they should have to forfit everything, for all the damage they have cost the Catholic Church. This could be the year of Church cleansing. God,I hope I'm right.
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