Madam, – The way forward for the diocese of Cloyne, and indeed for the Irish Catholic Church, was clearly mapped out by Dr Monica Applewhite in her address to the Irish bishops at their spring meeting on March 10th.
Speaking of what the US Catholic Church had learned from its own experience of child sexual abuse of children by priests, she said: “We emerged from our crisis and began to move forward because of a decision that was made by our Catholic leaders – a decision to clarify the fundamental priority in matters of sexual abuse from a focus on the life and value of the individual priest to a focus on the wellness of the church as a whole and the children of our church as the primary representatives of this community.”
Bishop Magee has pledged to give every possible co-operation to the government inquiry into the way complaints of child sex abuse against priests were handled by Cloyne diocese. I know Bishop Magee to be a person of his word and I believe any inquiry will show he is a man of absolute integrity; the title he bears has sparkled with integrity since the days of Colman, our first bishop. And it is my own personal experience that Bishop John has been an outstanding and very caring brother-priest and father-bishop since being appointed to Cloyne on March 17th, 1987.
But I believe words are no longer enough to heal the hurt in this diocese, nor can we wait for the inquiry to complete its work. I believe a very significant sign is needed to show that Cloyne diocese as a whole is prepared to accept and own its past, whether illustrious or shameful, and move forward now; and not appear to be a judge in its own case.
I believe a meaningful sign in the Cloyne crisis would be for the title Bishop of Cloyne to be humbly relinquished now.
I think this difficult personal decision is needed now to clarify “the fundamental priority in matters of sexual abuse”. It would also allow a process of healing for the priests and people of Cloyne to begin immediately under the Apostolic Administrator before the announcement of a new title-bearer. — Yours, etc,