ARMAGH (UNITED KINGDOM)
Irish Independent [Dublin, Ireland]
August 27, 2023
By Sarah Mac Donald
American prelate, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, ignored calls from Irish survivors of clerical abuse to step back from a mass yesterday to mark the 150th anniversary of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh.
Cardinal Dolan, who is the Catholic archbishop of New York, was the chief celebrant at the mass in Armagh.
However, survivors of clerical abuse in the diocese of Dromore, including victims of Fr Malachy Finegan, wrote to Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh ahead of the liturgy, describing themselves as “appalled” by the decision to invite the 73-year-old American prelate to the mass and “the role afforded to him as chief celebrant”.
The American cardinal has been criticised for his role in transferring $57m into a special trust, when he was Archbishop of Milwaukee, in order to protect it from legal claims by clerical abuse victims. Other criticisms centre on a leaked 2017 transcript which suggested he sought to block the Child Victims Act, which extended the statute of limitations on victims of abuse in New York to pursue perpetrators in court
The Dromore survivors group expressed solidarity with US abuse survivor Chris O’Leary, who alleges he was abused by American priest Fr LeRoy Valentine at Immacolata parish in Missouri, in St Louis archdiocese in the mid-1970s. Cardinal Dolan served in the same parish at the same time as Fr Valentine.
Mr O’Leary expressed anger that the cardinal was being “feted” in Ireland. Speaking to Independent.ie, he accused the American prelate of brushing off his concerns in 2002 when he approached him as a bishop in St Louis to convey his concerns about Fr Valentine.
Following the mass, he added: “That the mass went ahead in Ireland with Cardinal Dolan as chief celebrant reflects the dismissive and scornful manner in which he has dealt with US clerical abuse survivors.”
Cardinal Dolan left the Archdiocese of St Louis when he was appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee in August 2002. He was later appointed to New York, the second largest Catholic diocese in the US.
In his letter to Archbishop Martin, abuse survivor Anthony Gribben said: “The Dromore Group sees Dolan’s participation and role in the mass, and your part in that process, as grossly insensitive and disrespectful of clerical abuse victims and survivors.”
Mr Gribben added after the mass went ahead: “Despite our request, we have not had an acknowledgment or reply from Dr Martin or other Church official, underlining the arrogance and indifference of a militantly clerical Church.”
The criticism of Cardinal Dolan was echoed by censured Irish priest, Fr Tony Flannery, who wrote in a post on social media: “I think Archbishop Martin could have chosen someone better than Cardinal Dolan to celebrate the centenary mass in Armagh, given Dolan’s poor record on Synodality & Church Reform generally and on clerical abuse. Also his apparent closeness to Trump.”
The US cardinal was one of the team of prelates appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to carry out an investigation of the Irish Church in 2010. He led the investigation of Irish seminaries. The findings were critical particularly of the Irish College in Rome and led to a number of staff resignations there.
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Armagh said: “In recognition of the immense contribution made by the Irish diaspora in America, and in particular in New York, to the building of St Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh 150 years ago, the Archdiocese and Parish of Armagh invited Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, to celebrate a mass of thanksgiving on Sunday as part of the programme of events to mark the Cathedral’s dedication on August 24, 1873.”
Cardinal Dolan was joined at the mass by up to 40 pilgrims from New York who travelled to Ireland for the occasion.
Speaking after the mass, he said the Church in the US and Ireland was “facing challenges and difficulties”.
In his homily, the great-great-grandson of Irish emigrants paid tribute to those who left Ireland for America, such as the Mercy Sisters who set out from Drogheda, Co Louth, and had been involved in his own formation in Missouri.