Still Infallible in the Aftermath of the Murphy Commission

Tag: ireland

According to a three-page letter from Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to his priests,Pope Benedict XVI, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority and in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, solemnly rejected the resignations of two Dublin auxiliary bishops which had been tendered on Christmas Eve 2009 following the reports of the investigations by the Murphy Commission into clerical child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin over 29 years.

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After coming under intense pressure because they had served as bishops during part of this period, Pope Benedict XVI has willed that Bishop Raymond Field and Bishop Eamonn Walsh should be shepherds in His Church, even to the consummation of the world, available to administer Confirmation in any part of the diocese in the coming year.

The Irish Times on December 8, 2009 had reported that Vatican sources reported the direct intervention from the Holy See, with Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin invited on December 8, 2009 to a meeting on December 11th in Rome to discuss “the painful situation” in the Catholic Church in Ireland following the release of the report of the Murphy Commission.

In a November 2009 report by an independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, looked at the handling in the years 1975-2004 of 325 sex abuse claims in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The Murphy Commission was released in the aftermath of The Ryan Commission report in May 2009 which had cited 800 known abusers in over 200 Catholic institutions, over 35 years. The pope would be urging Irish church leaders to find a definitive exit from the crisis, feeling the Irish clerical sex-abuse crisis has gone on far too long.

The conclusion of the report was that during those years, rather than being concerned about the victims, Catholic leaders were more interested in “the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets.” With his own infallibility, Pope Benedict had called the leading two bishops to Rome, feeling the Irish clerical sex-abuse crisis has gone on far too long.

The Murphy Commission investigated the 325 sex abuse claims in the Archdiocese of Dublin in the years 1975-2004. The bishops named in the Murphy report include the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, the Bishop of Galway, two Dublin auxiliary bishops, and Bishop of Limerick. Monsignor Dolan, the vice chancellor in Dublin from 1980 to 1997, is also named; he became chancellor in 1997.

The Lenten Letter of March 17, 2010 to the Irish people, the first papal document devoted exclusively to pedophilia, following the Murphy report, was the first clue as to how the pope viewed all the goings on. _THE LETTER __. Pope Benedict XVI hoped the letter would “help in the process of repentance, healing and renewal.”

“The church in Ireland has been severely shaken as a result of the child abuse crisis. As a sign of my deep concern,” Pope Benedict said from Rome on the eve of Saint Patrick’s Day, “ I have written a pastoral letter dealing with this painful situation. I ask all of you to read it for yourselves, with an open heart and in a spirit of faith.”

That pastoral letter talked a lot more about sin than crimes. Would the cover up in Ireland be a crime? In the judgment of so many clerics who spent their Saturdays offering absolution in their lives, addressing crime and punishment. Would the cover up by people in Rome who seem to think they are above human law be a secular crime?

Archbishop Martin’s current three-page letter to his priests dealt mainly with preparation and arrangements for Baptism and Confirmation, but also revealed the Vatican’s decision.

Preserved from even the possibility of error since the First Vatican Council on July 18, 1870, Pope Benedict XVI has exercised his authority to on matters of Faith and not Morals. The two bishops had been continuing in their normal duties pending the decision.

The maintenance of church secrecy was mentioned in the Murphy Commission report, as one reason the priest abuse was able to continue.

Vatican sources said the Secretariat of State had recalled the excellent work done by Bishop Walsh in the role of apostolic administrator in the diocese of Ferns, in line with Cardinal Seán Brady’s decision last spring not to resign as the Archbishop of Armagh, despite his own involvement in an investigation 35 years ago of a case involving Brendan Smyth.

The Father Brendan Smyth affair over a period of over 40 years in which the controversy surrounding his case brought about the downfall of the government of Ireland in December 1994.

Father Brendan Smyth of the the Norbertines Order had sexually abused and indecently assaulted over 100 children, moving from parish to parish and between dioceses in Belfast, Dublin and in Rhode Island and North Dakota in the United States. After his arrest in 1991, Father Brendan Smyth fled to the Republic of Ireland, where he spent the next three years on the run, with the poor handling of an extradition request from the Royal Ulster Constable of Northern Ireland by the Irish Attorney General Republic of Ireland. Cardinal Cahal Daly, Archbishop of Armagh (previous Bishop of Down as well as Connor, a diocese where some of the abuse took place), reportedly was privately furious at the Norbertine “incompetence.”

The Primate of all Ireland, Seán Brady admitted that in 1975, as a 36-year-old priest with his doctorate in canon law since 1967, that he had attended two separate interviews in 1975 as part-time secretary to the then Bishop of Kilmore, Francis McKiernan. Joined by two other priest in the first interview, his role was to take notes. He had been alone with the child at the second interview, and had been responsible for conducting the inquiry, taking notes. He had also witnessed the two teenage boys sign the oaths of silence after testifying against Father Brendan Smyth, which read “”I will never directly or indirectly, by means of a nod, or of a word, by writing, or in any other way, and under whatever type of pretext, even for the most urgent and most serious cause (even) for the purpose of a greater good, commit anything against this fidelity to the secret, unless a…dispensation has been expressly given to me by the Supreme Pontiff.”

When the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, wrote to his people that “The sexual abuse of a child is and always was a CRIME in civil law; it is and always was a crime [in] canon law; it is and always was grievously sinful.”

Before he became pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was quoted in the Jesuit Magazine America, in the days of Rev. Thomas Reese, as writing that the church needs to get smaller so that it can become purer. Because, maybe the Church could not going on the way it had been. Maybe his dreamt about pruning finally has started this summer, based upon the article in the National Catholic Reporter in August 2010, which raises again the question where is the goodness in institution church?

Given former Maryknoll priest Roy “Bourgeois’ central role as the founder and public face of the SOA Watch, [Maryknoll] society leadership has determined that it cannot continue its financial support of that organization without giving the impression that it also supports the actions of its leader concerning the issue of women’s ordination,” said a Maryknoll statement dated May 24th which was made public on July 22, 2010 after SOA Watch announced a fundraising drive to replace the $17,000 grant.

“The American missionary order Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers has discontinued a longstanding annual grant to the anti-military campaign group School of Americas Watch because the organization’s founder, Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois (now excommunicated) publicly supports women’s ordination. Within a week, the SOA Watch fund drive had raised nearly $10,000.

How in the name of God, if Bishop Robert Morlino of the Madison, Wisconsin Diocese is in communion with the faithful, if his public witness is to the fullness of the Catholic faith, could Bishop Robert Morlino lend support to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, justifying his participation on the board of what was formerly known as United States Army School of the Americas, as he has done? And then speak out with credibility on any other moral issue?

In a related story on December 8, 2009, The Irish Times reported that in 1991 Father Kevin Hegarty was appointed editor of the Irish Bishops’ Conference-sponsored magazine Intercom, published under the aegis of the Bishops’ Commission on Communications. In its December 1993 issue an article titled “Twenty Questions for the Bishops” challenged their handling of clerical child sex abuse. “Will they eschew silence as the preferred legal and moral strategy in the face of future allegations?” it asked.

In 1993, just before the reign of Seán Brady, with his doctorate in canon law since 1967, the Irish bishops criticized an Intercom article on women priests published in the magazine and written by the current Irish President Mary McAleese (then a university professor). On December 13, 1994,Seán Brady was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh by John Paul II, taking over upon Cardinal Cahal Daly’s retirement on October 1, 1996.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin wrote to his people in early Decemberr 2009,: “The sexual abuse of a child is and always was a CRIME in civil law; it is and always was a crime [in] canon law; it is and always was grievously sinful.” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin wrote: “Efforts made to ‘protect the Church’ and to ‘avoid scandal’ have had the ironic result of bringing this horrendous scandal on the Church today.”

In 1994, Father Hegarty was removed as editor of Intercom after publishing an article challenging the bishops’ handling of clerical child sex abuse. In March 1994 auxiliary bishop of Dublin, Eamonn Walsh, who was investigated by the Murphy commission, was appointed to survey the Bishops’ Conference on their attitude to Intercom. In July 1994, Father Hegarty was appointed full-time curate at Shanaghy in west Mayo. “In the circumstances I felt I had no choice but to let go of Intercom,” he said.

In a January 1995 letter to the Irish Times, Mary McAleese (then a university professor) wrote that “what is truly depressing about this episode, though, is the contrast between the energy and determination which went into sorting out a perceived problem with the editorial tone of Intercom , and the sheer breathtaking ineptitude of church handling of matters relating to child abuse by clergy….It is truly ironic that Father Kevin Hegarty raised the issue openly in Intercom long before the Father Brendan Smyth affair, and in so doing incurred the wrath of those so anxious now to reassure us of their clean hands and bona fides in this squalid business.”

Journalist were called to Truth-telling, sometimes more nobly than found in an archbishop’s robe. Journalists, not towing the line as so many bishops have done over the years, claiming to be ‘a voice of the church.’

The Irish Times on December 8, 2009 reports that Father Hegarty said the Murphy report “showed that church leaders placed most premium on loyalty, regardless of the truth.” He said. “We live in a dysfunctional church, which happens when deafness becomes deadly.”

Under orders from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, American Jesuit Thomas Reese resigned on May 6, 2005 as editor of the Catholic magazine America because he had published articles critical of church positions, several Catholic officials in the United States told the New York Times. The order to dismiss the editor of America magazine was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in mid-March when the Vatican office of doctrinal enforcement was still headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Catholic officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. (Some have suggested it was the American bishops who got Father Reese removed, a story much like Father Kevin Hegarty’s dismissal.) Soon after Father Reese’s dismissal, Pope John Paul II died and Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI., with his new infallibility on both matters of faith and morals which came with his new job description.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said it was not policy to comment on resignations which had not been accepted. Bishop Eamonn Walsh had been appointed auxiliary bishop in Dublin in April 1990. Bishop Raymond Field was appointed on September 21st, 1997. Bishop Eamonn Walsh and Bishop Raymond Field will remain as Auxiliary Bishops and are to be assigned revised responsibilities within the diocese. Pope Benedict had written, as “a sign of my deep concern,” on the eve of Saint Patrick’s Day, “a pastoral letter dealing with this painful situation.” These two bishops should be available to administer Confirmation even to the consummation of the world. It was time to move on. This all was punishment enough.

Looking for a quiet exit. When there was so much pruning to be done.

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