Bishop expresses regret, but says he will not resign

By Kathryn Hayes
Irish Times
November 27, 2009

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1127/1224259546857.html

MURRAY'S REACTION: THE BISHOP of Limerick, Donal Murray, last night expressed his deepest regret over the abuse of children perpetrated in the Archdiocese of Dublin, but insisted he does not intend to resign over his role into how the abuse was handled.

Speaking in Limerick, Bishop Murray, who served as auxiliary bishop in the Dublin archdiocese from 1982 to 1996, denied he failed to act when allegations of abuse were brought to his attention.

The commission identifies failures of communication in the archdiocese and is critical of my role in a number of cases. At no time did I as an auxiliary bishop of Dublin, receive an allegation of sexual abuse and fail to act. When an allegation of sexual abuse of children by a priest was brought to my attention, I responded promptly and conscientiously and in each case notified the archbishop and diocesan authorities and co-operated fully with them, he insisted.

I wish to state that I never deliberately or knowingly sought to cover up or withhold information brought to my attention. There were, as the report notes, occasions when roles / responsibilities were not clear or where I did not have full information concerning cases in which I was asked to become involved, he added.

Bishop Murray said he had not yet read all of the 700-page report but described what he had read to date as very painful reading .

He also insisted he never consciously tried to cover up cases .

He did admit, however, that had he succeeded in deriving more information, particularly in relation to a complaint against Fr Tom Naughton it might have been possible to prevent some of the dreadful suffering of child abuse .

When asked if he would resign, he said no I won t but regretted his actions. I tried my best but didn t succeed, and not succeeding is a kind of failure.