A PRIEST in the Catholic archdiocese of Cashel and Emly has stood aside from ministry pending the outcome of investigations into child sex abuse allegations made against him.
Archbishop Dermot Clifford said at the weekend that in the parish concerned and, “in accordance with diocesan child safeguarding policy, the parish priest has agreed to stand aside temporarily from the exercise of his ministry while the matter is being investigated”.
The allegation “has not been established as either true or false. All complaints of this nature are dealt with in accordance with church and State guidelines in which the safety and wellbeing of children is the paramount consideration”, Dr Clifford added.
In Dublin today, the Catholic Church child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) will publish its second annual report, from April 1st, 2009, to March 31st, 2010. It will contain findings of its audit of child-protection practices in 187 Catholic institutions in Ireland, including its 26 dioceses.
It was an NBSC finding in 2008, that child-protection practices in the Cloyne diocese were “inadequate and in some respects dangerous”, which led to the resignation of Bishop John Magee and the extension of the Murphy commission remit to include Cloyne. Its report is expected to be published later this year.
Meanwhile, RTÉ will tonight broadcast, in the first of four short Dance on the Box films, a film which it has described as “a haunting response to the impact of abuse on faith”.
Mo Mhórchoir Féin (Through My Most Grievous Fault) – A Prayer, which goes out at 10.55pm, was filmed at a Dolphin's Barn church in Dublin and features a dancer, an altar boy and an elderly woman watching from the pews.
Directed by Emmy winner Dearbhla Walsh with dancer/choreographer Fearghus Ó Conchúir and music by Iarla Ó Lionaird, it explores "how the Catholic Church has shaped our relationship with the body", Mr Ó Conchúir told The Irish Times.
From the Ring Gaeltacht in Co Waterford, he is now in China preparing to perform at the Irish pavilion at the World’s Fair in Shanghai. Through dance, he said, we could “learn how the body can be expressive and how, through understanding our own physicality, we can express things better than words”.
The film arose “from my own deep appreciation [of the church] and a wanting to set things right”.