Top Irish Bishop Quits after Covering for Pervert Priests

By John Breslin
Irish Sun
February 1, 2013

http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepage/news/4775021/Top-Irish-bishop-quits-after-covering-for-priests-in-US.html



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Cardinal Roger Mahony

Sacked ... Roger Mahony

Top Irish bishop quits after covering for pervert priests

By JOHN BRESLIN

Published: 11 hrs ago

AN Irish bishop has quit after being accused of protecting evil priests who molested children.

Top cleric Thomas Curry, of Cavan, resigned from his post in Santa Barbara, California, on foot of thousands of files detailing horrific abuse of kids.

Curry, 70, could face criminal charges as prosecutors in Los Angeles confirmed they are reviewing the documents. His former boss Cardinal Roger Mahony, 76, was sacked and stripped of all public and administrative duties.

Both churchmen are accused of sending pervert priests out of state to avoid police scrutiny.

Mahony and Curry also tried to keep clerics sent away to a Church-run paedophile treatment centre from revealing their deeds to private therapists. The counsellors would have been obligated to report the alleged crimes to the police.

New Archbishop Jose Gomez said: “I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behaviour described in these files is terribly sad and evil.

“There is no excuse, no explaining what happened to these children. The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers and they failed.” Over 12,000 pages of files will be turned over to the courts before February 22 and made public soon afterwards.

The handover is the final part of a ˆ480million civil settlement to more than 500 child victims of clerical abuse.

The Archdiocese was able to pay up in large part due to Allied Irish Bank, which lent it nearly ˆ300million to help afford the settlement.

In September, Bishop Robert Finn of Missouri was convicted for failing to report a priest suspected of child abuse.