Dublin, Ireland, Dec 1, 2009 / 23:43 pm
Last week an Irish government investigation released its report about the Irish bishops’ failure to combat and report clerical sexual abuse. Irish prelates have reacted with dismay and shame about their predecessors’ “betrayal of the sacred trust.”
The report focused on why church leaders in the Archdiocese of Dublin did not report to police a single abuse complaint against a priest until 1995.
Archbishops and their senior deputies had compiled confidential files on more than 100 parish priests accused of sexually abusing children since 1940. The files were locked in the Dublin archbishop’s private vault, the Associated Press says.
Archbishops of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara did not report cases of abuse but tried to avoid public scandal by moving offenders from parish to parish and also overseas to U.S. churches.