THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK:THE BISHOP of Limerick Donal Murray was last night standing over his position not to resign despite calls on him to do so following the revelations about senior church figures in the Dublin diocesan report.
The report noted the commission which compiled the Dublin diocesan report said Bishop Murray did not deal properly with the suspicions that that were expressed to him in relation to Fr Tom Naughton in the early 1980s.
When some time later evidence of Fr Naughton’s behaviour emerged in another parish, Bishop Murray’s failure to reinvestigate the earlier suspicions was “inexcusable” according to the report.
In June this year, Fr Naughton pleaded guilty to charges of sexual assault in relation to a complainant from the Wicklow parish of Valleymount.
During an interview yesterday on Limerick’s local radio station Live 95FM, Bishop Murray said that in none of the three cases referring to him in the report did he receive an allegation of sexual abuse.
“What happened in the case they are referring to was that two people came to me and they expressed concern about the closeness of Fr Naughton to the altar boys. Obviously I questioned them . . . [but] they said no, they weren’t suggesting there was anything wrong going on,” he added.
The bishop said he spoke to the parish priest in the diocese who was “very sceptical” about the matter and that he asked the priest to talk to the sacristan and teachers in the parish about Fr Naughton and report back to him, which he did and the the report was “positive”.
“Then I called Fr Naughton to my house and I asked him about it and he denied he was doing anything wrong,” he said.
Bishop Murray said he also spoke to the archbishop about what had happened in order to make sure he had “done everything right”.
Fr Naughton was subsequently moved to a different parish because of his “manner” but not because of any other allegations, according to Bishop Murray
“He was moved because he had offended so many people in his parish it was better for him to have a new start somewhere else,” said Bishop Murray.
The bishop accepted that when the allegations in relation to the sexual abuse later emerged from Fr Naughton’s new parish he “should have gone back” and looked at the earlier complaints.
“The question whether I remain on [as bishop] as far as I am concerned is a question for the people and priests of Limerick,” Bishop Murray said.
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh and the priests of the diocese are to make a joint statement tomorrow in response to the findings of the commission.
The statement was being distributed to priests in the diocese after a consultation between Dr Walsh and the priests on the statement’s content.