Lisburn priest calls for Dublin archbishop's resignation

A Co Antrim priest has called upon the Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, to resign over the Church's handling of child sex abuse allegations in Ireland.

In an open letter to the Irish News, Father Patrick McCafferty, from Lisburn, accused church leaders of being “guilty of the most stunning arrogance and breathtaking indifference to real human anguish”.

He said that the Cardinal Connell and other senior bishops were “not fit to lead the people of God” and should follow the lead of Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston, who quit last week.

There have been a series of calls for the resignation of Cardinal Connell who admitted earlier this year that he had made mistakes in dealing with complaints of abuse.

The calls to step down were made shortly after a television documentary was broadcast, which detailed circumstances and responses to alleged child abuse offenders within the Church.

In a frank exposition of his views, Father McCafferty wrote that the Catholic Church had shown "wicked contempt for survivors of clerical abuse".

He said that when he had tried to highlight it through the pulpit he had been regarded as a "troublemaker by certain ecclesiastical grandees".

He added: “These men, who moved paedophiles around from parish to parish, who later on refused to listen to stories of immense and incalculable harm visited upon little ones, have absolutely no excuse. I hope they all resign now. Just as there is no role for paedophiles in the priesthood, so there is no place for such individuals as Cardinal Law [and others] in the role of shepherding the people of God.”

Meanwhile the Vatican announced today the approval of the revised US bishops' policy that allows "due process" for priest’s accused of molesting children.

"The Holy See is fully supportive of the bishops' efforts to combat and to prevent such evil," Cardinal Giovanni Re said in a statement today.

“The universal law of the Church has always recognised this crime as one of the most serious offences which sacred ministers can commit, and has determined that they be punished with the most severe penalties, not excluding – if the case so requires – dismissal from the clerical state.”

(AMcE)