No mention made of references to bishop

BISHOP OF KILDARE STATEMENT:A STATEMENT from the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Dr Jim Moriarty, read at Masses in the diocese at the weekend made no mention of references to himself in the Dublin diocesan report.

An auxiliary bishop in Dublin from 1991 to 2002, in 1993 he received a complaint about Fr Edmondus concerning the priest’s contact with young children. This was the priest who had abused Marie Collins in 1960 when she was a patient at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

The report found that “no attempt was made by archdiocesan authorities to check the archives or other files relating to Fr Edmondus when these complaints were received”.

It added: “Bishop Moriarty pointed out to the commission that he did not have access to the archives, but he could have asked the archbishop to conduct a search.”

In Carlow cathedral on Sunday morning, Dr Moriarty said: “While the Murphy report does not criticise me directly, I feel it is important to state that I fully accept the overall conclusion of the commission – that the attempts by church authorities to ‘protect the church’ and to ‘avoid scandal’ had the most dreadful consequences for children and were deeply wrong.”