Bishop Magee's deputy 'should have resigned'

Bishop John Magee's number two, Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan, has
admitted he should have resigned as child protection delegate rather
than continue in a job where he disagreed with the child protection
guidelines he was supposed to enforce.

Msgr O'Callaghan came in for sharp criticism in the Cloyne Report for
his role in failing to respond appropriately to abuse allegations.

In a letter published in The Irish Catholic newspaper, Msgr
O'Callaghan, who had responsibility for child safeguarding in the
diocese, insists that his primary focus was always on the pastoral care
of 'everyone suffering the consequences of sex abuse, primarily the
victim but also the transgressor.'

He wrote: 'Judge Yvonne Murphy was made aware of the Cloyne
commitment to pastoral care but the commission focussed on its remit of
reporting on whether or not procedures were fulfilled.'

He also appears to justify his non-acceptance of mandatory reporting
to the civil authorities of abuse allegations insisting that 'for most
of those priests accused in Cloyne the complaints alleged incidents
dating back over 30 or 40 years.

'Of those priests some would now be terminally ill while others would be under constant medical care.

'The literal guidelines did not allow for any discretion to bishops
and to their delegates. Reporting was to be made immediately. No
exception was to be made even when an accused priest was on his
death-bed,' he adds.

Source