By John Hooper
The Guardian
May 31, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/31/cormac-murphy-o-connor-inquiry-sex-abuse-ireland
The retired archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, was today appointed by the pope to take the leading role in a top-level investigation of the Roman Catholic church in Ireland and its handling of the clerical sex abuse that has shaken it.
Two official reports have pointed to decades of rape, coercion and sexual attack by predatory clerics whose activities, in the words of one of the reports, were "obsessively" concealed by the church hierarchy.
A statement issued on behalf of Pope Benedict said the investigators' job would be "to explore more deeply questions concerning the handling of cases of abuse and the assistance owed to the victims".
Starting in the autumn, they would "monitor the effectiveness of, and seek possible improvements to, the current procedures for preventing abuse".
Underlining the importance he attaches to the exercise, formally known as an Apostolic Visitation, the pope named a second cardinal to work alongside Murphy-O'Connor and no fewer than three archbishops.
 |
| Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor faced criticism himself eight years ago over his handling of a paedophile priest case. Photo by Fiona Hanson/PA |
The most recent such team to report to Rome did not include anyone more senior than a bishop.
The choice of the man who was until last year head of the Catholic church in England and Wales could nevertheless stir controversy. He faced fierce criticism eight years ago over his handling of a case involving a paedophile cleric and apologised to the victims after the priest, Father Michael Hill, was jailed.
As Bishop of Arundel and Brighton in the 1980s, he had moved Hill to Gatwick airport, where he abused a teenage boy with learning difficulties. This was despite expert warnings that Hill might still be a danger to children.
An Apostolic Visitation is the highest level of investigation in the Catholic church. Members report directly to the pope and can make wide-ranging recommendations, including imposition of direct control by the Vatican.
Pope Benedict announced the inquiry in March when he wrote to Ireland's Catholics about the sex abuse scandals that have so far led to the resignation of three Irish bishops. The investigators will visit churches, seminaries and convents and are expected to question hundreds of people.
The Vatican said the inquiry had been ordered to help the Irish church "respond adequately to the situation caused by the tragic cases of abuse perpetrated by priests … upon minors". It was also intended to contribute to Ireland's "spiritual and moral renewal".
In his letter, the pope appeared to cast much of the blame for sex abuse on Ireland's secularisation.
None of the prelates was named specifically as head of the visitation, but Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor's name came first on the list of its members and he was given Armagh, the diocese of the Irish primate. The current primate of all Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, has faced intense criticism for his conduct over a sex abuse case in the 1970s. Archbishop Diarmuid Murphy of Dublin, who has made clear his differences with Brady, welcomed today's move, and "in particular the announcement that the visitation is being asked to evaluate the current response to victims and the quality of the assistance which the Church in Ireland owes to survivors".
Murphy's own archdiocese will be investigated by Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston. The archbishops of Toronto and Ottawa were assigned to the two other Irish archdioceses, of Tuam, and Cashel and Emly, while the archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, will look into seminaries, including the Pontifical Irish College in Rome.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.