Irish bishop resigns over sex-abuse scandal
Clergymen allege he ignored reports of crimes by priests in his diocese
Bishop Donal Murray speaks in St John's Cathedral in Limerick, Ireland, on Thursday, after resigning as as bishop of Limerick. Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Murray, who was heavily criticized in an Irish investigation of clergy sex abuse of children and a church hierarchy cover-up, the Vatican said.
View related photos
AP
Europe video MORE VIDEO
John Paul II edges closer to sainthood
Dec. 19: The late pontiff’s successor, Pope Benedict, approved the "heroic virtues decree," one of the key steps in the procedure by which the church recognizes its saints. NBC’s Lester Holt reports.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trains stall in Chunnel, strand riders
U.S.-China climate progress?
NBC World Blog
NBC News correspondents and producers around the globe share their insight on news events.
Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day)
Click here to sign up or text NEWS to MSNBC (67622).
Find more alerts at alerts.msnbc.com
Your weather
Your forecast
Click to see the weather outlook for your destination
Most popular
• Most viewed • Top rated • Most e-mailed
Girl, 14, vanishes after solo sailing bid is nixed
East Coast digs out from big storm
Food stamps altering how retailers do business
‘Super Saturday’ snowed out on East Coast
Sleep like a baby — and wake up feeling younger
Most viewed on msnbc.com
Two-legged dog gives hope to disabled vets
DNA clears Fla. man after 35 years behind bars
First gene maps created for 2 deadly cancers
Brazil custody dad discouraged but determined
Recession hits Rust Belt’s steel towns hard
Most viewed on msnbc.com
Sleep like a baby — and wake up feeling younger
Food stamps altering how retailers do business
Author sees lost middle class in America
Girl, 14, vanishes after solo sailing bid is nixed
Evangelical church opens doors fully to gays
Most viewed on msnbc.com
updated 3:04 p.m. ET, Thurs., Dec . 17, 2009
VATICAN CITY - A Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland has resigned after an investigation into child sex abuse by clergymen accused him of ignoring reports of crimes by priests in his diocese, the Vatican said Thursday.
The one-line announcement that Bishop Donal Murray had resigned did not mention the scandal.
But a statement that Murray read to colleagues and curates in the western Irish city of Limerick left no doubt that he was going because of an Irish government investigation's damning findings about his time as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin from 1982 to 1996.
Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement
your ad here
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I know full well that my resignation cannot undo the pain that survivors of abuse have suffered in the past and continue to suffer each day," the 69-year-old Murray said. "I humbly apologize once again to all who were abused as little children."
Murray had been widely expected to resign following last month's report from a government-appointed commission. It ruled that Murray had handled reports of child-abusing priests "particularly badly" — and condemned his failure to crack down on one particular abuser, the Rev. Thomas Naughton, as "inexcusable."
Convicted twice of raping boys
Murray transferred Naughton to new parishes despite receiving reports that he was molesting children. Naughton since has been convicted twice of raping altar boys.
The investigation found that four other serving bishops and five retired bishops, including Cardinal Desmond Connell, played a role in a decade of cover-up.
The report said church leaders in the Dublin Archdiocese failed to inform authorities about sexual abuse by priests, while police failed to pursue allegations because they considered church figures to be above the law.
The leader of Ireland's four million Catholics, Cardinal Sean Brady, said he was praying for Murray and offered his own apology "to all who were abused as children by priests, who were betrayed and who feel outraged by the failure of church leadership in responding to their abuse."
One abuse survivor, former altar boy Andrew Madden, said Murray's resignation was not enough and other church leaders should quit too.
He called for the immediate resignation of four other serving bishops who were based in Dublin during the period investigated: Jim Moriarty, Martin Drennan, Eamonn Walsh and Ray Field.
"Their continued presence in office is an insult to every child sexually abused by a priest in the Dublin Archdiocese. They display a contemptible level of arrogance and a shocking lack of humility," Madden said.
But all four bishops have said they have no intention of tendering their resignations to the pope. Unlike Murray, the other four bishops were not found to have bungled any specific abuse reports.
‘Outrage, betrayal, and shame’
The Vatican has been harshly criticized in Ireland, a nation of staunch Catholic traditions, for failing to answer letters from the Dublin Archdiocese investigators.
Last week, the Vatican described Benedict as being "deeply disturbed" by the sex-abuse scandal and said he will write a letter to Catholics in Ireland with the Holy See's response. It said also the pope shares the "outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by many Irish faithful.
Benedict issued that statement after meeting at the Vatican with senior Irish clergy to discuss possible resignations of Murray and other Irish bishops criticized in the Dublin Archdiocese investigation.
The 720-page report found that dozens of church leaders in Ireland's most populous diocese kept secret the record of child abuse by more than 170 clerics since 1940.
Click for related content
Read more news from around the world
Police and social workers charged with stopping child abuse didn't start getting cooperation from the church until 1995. This opened the floodgates to thousands of abuse complaints expected to cost the Dublin Archdiocese 20 million euros ($30 million).
The leader of an American group campaigning against Catholic cover-ups of pedophile priests welcomed Murray's resignation but said it wasn't nearly enough.
"Wounded adults and vulnerable children need widespread reform, not sacrificial lambs," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment