ENGLAND
The Guardian
April 2, 2018
By Harriet Sherwood
Deirdre McCormack says Catholic church covered up claims by Oxford academic later detailed in acclaimed book
The next of kin of a senior Catholic priest who was accused of sexual abuse before his death wants the headstone she paid for to be removed and destroyed.
Deirdre McCormack said she was “outraged and disgusted” at the allegations made by an Oxford academic against Canon Dermod Fogarty, and said the church had tried to sweep the disclosures “under the carpet”. She is seeking the urgent removal of the headstone.
The allegations were made by Stephen Bernard in an acclaimed book, Paper Cuts, published in February, which details more than 300 assaults over a four-year period starting in 1987 when Bernard was 11.
The disclosures came as a shock to McCormack, who was Fogarty’s closest living relative and inherited his personal effects.
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