SCOTLAND
The Observer
Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 1 March 2014
Three priests and one ex-priest whose allegations of sexual misconduct against the archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, led to his resignation a year ago, have appealed directly to Pope Francis for a meeting in a last-ditch bid for justice.
Describing the church as a “formidable machine” that had blocked any investigation, one told the Observer: “The abuse we received at the hands of Keith O’Brien is dwarfed by the systematic abuse we have received from church officials. They have passed the buck, misrepresented the truth, engaged in cover-up and, having asked for our trust and co-operation, shamelessly procrastinated and hidden behind a veneer of diplomacy and charm. I want to ask Pope Francis, can you sort this out?”
Secret negotiations have been going on between the men and the cardinal’s successor, Archbishop Leo Cushley, since last November. The archbishop insists that only Rome can initiate an inquiry into O’Brien’s sexual behaviour, but he has agreed to an investigation of the cardinal’s financial transactions. In an email to the complainants last December, the archbishop’s vicar general, Philip Kerr, confirmed: “The archdiocesan auditors have been asked to examine the financial accounts which Keith O’Brien personally operated.”
“Lenny”, an ex-priest who rebuffed O’Brien’s advances at a seminary, says that the diocese is a charity and he would have contacted the charity regulator if Cushley had refused the audit. “Keith O’Brien was essentially the CEO of a £9m charity. We want to assure ourselves that this institution is not totally corrupt.”
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