BISHOP PHILIP Boyce of Raphoe has said he will publish the findings
of a report into the church’s handling of allegations of clerical child
sex abuse in the diocese when he receives it next month.
He also
rejected a media report yesterday which said “hundreds and hundreds of
victims” in the diocese were abused “again and again”, while the church
“actively prevented” investigations by the civil authorities.
The
review of the Raphoe diocese by the National Board for Safeguarding
Children in the Catholic Church is almost complete and is expected to be
ready for publication in September.
The board has investigated all
complaints or allegations of clerical child sex abuse made to the
diocese from 1975 up to this year.
The Raphoe diocese was
previously accused of covering up abuse perpetrated by convicted
paedophile Fr Eugene Greene, who served as a priest in Raphoe in the
1980s and early 1990s.
However, Dr Boyce said in a statement that
all allegations made known to the diocese of
Raphoe are reported to the
Garda and the Health Service Executive.
“I invited Ian Elliott and
his team from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the
Catholic Church to conduct a review of the diocesan files relating to
child abuse allegations. I gave them my full co-operation and they
examined the files,” he said.
Dr Boyce, who has seen draft copies of the board’s report, described an article in yesterday’s
Irish Independent as “alarmist” and “not in the public interest”.
“I intend to formally complain about the matter,” he said in the statement.
The
national board was set up in 2006 by the Catholic Church to monitor its
child protection policies in the almost 200 dioceses, missionary unions
and congregations in Ireland. So far it has either completed or almost
completed six reviews of church dioceses.
Its report on the
diocese of Cloyne uncovered dangerous child protection practices when
Bishop John Magee was in charge.
This eventually sparked a separate
judicial inquiry, which resulted in the publication of the Cloyne report
last month.
This report found the church’s own child protection
policies were not implemented in the Cloyne diocese and the Vatican was
“entirely unhelpful” to bishops who sought to implement the official
policies.
A spokesman for the board said last night he could not
comment on the contents of its review of the Raphoe diocese until it was
published by the bishop.
Responding yesterday, Tom McGrath,
director of counselling with the HSE national counselling service in the
northwest, said it was already preparing to bring in extra resources in
the coming weeks to deal with an expected increase in calls.
In a
separate development, Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin called on
former bishop of Cloyne John Magee to return to his diocese to answer
questions about the Cloyne report.
Dr Magee has not been seen in public since the report’s publication.
Asked
about the whereabouts of Dr Magee, Dr Jones said: “I genuinely don’t
know where he is but I genuinely would like to see him back in his
diocese and answering questions as pastor of his flock.”
Asked if
that meant he would like him back as bishop he said: “No, I would like
see him back to answer the questions on the Cloyne report.”