IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter
by Michael Kelly,Catholic News Service | Nov. 27, 2012
Dublin —
The newly appointed bishop of Cloyne vowed he would make healing the lives of victims of abuse in the diocese a priority.
The Vatican announced Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Fr. William Crean, 60, to lead the diocese.
Cloyne has been without a bishop since Bishop John Magee, a former secretary to three popes, resigned in 2010. A year earlier, following sharp criticism of his handling of clerical sex abuse, Magee requested an apostolic administrator for the diocese. A government inquiry begun in 2009 later reported Magee covered up allegations of abuse against priests in his diocese.
Speaking at St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh, County Cork, the bishop-designate said he had mixed feelings about his appointment.
“I am apprehensive because I am deeply conscious of the trauma of these years past — so much suffering endured by young people at the hands of a few — sufferings compounded by the failure of those who didn’t believe them and those who didn’t hear their cry for help,” he said. “One thing I ask, however, is your patience to allow me time to grasp the full measure of this deep hurt.
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