Tenure Tarnished By Clerical Sex Abuse
It was Connell's failure, when Archbishop of Dublin in 1988-2004, to address adequately the abuse scandals in Dublin that led the Vatican to assign Archbishop Martin as his replacement in the country's largest diocese. The Murphy Report found that Connell had handled the affair "badly" as he was "slow to recognise the seriousness of the situation. It did praise him for making the archdiocesan records available to the authorities in 2002 and for his 1995 actions in giving the authorities the names of 17 priests who had been accused of abuse, although it said the list was incomplete as complaints were made against at least 28 priests in the Archdiocese. He was criticised for being economical with the truth in his use of the concept of mental reservation to inadequately answer questions truthfully about his knowledge of the abusive activities of priests under his control.
From 1988 Connell had also continued to insure his archdiocese against liability from complainants, while claiming to the Murphy Commission that the archdiocese was "on a learning curve" in regard to child abuse. He arranged for compensation payments to be made from a "Stewardship Trust" that was kept secret from the archdiocese's parishioners until 2003.
In 1996 Connell refused to help a victim of Paul McGennis and did not pass on what he knew about McGennis to her, or to the police. He apologised for this in 2002.
In 2005 the prospect of Connell giving evidence to the Murphy Commission was notable in itself, according to the National Catholic Reporter: "The 79-year-old cardinal will be rigorously questioned on his handling of complaints when he was archbishop of Dublin from 1998 until his retirement last year. Never before has an Irish prince of the Roman Catholic church found himself hauled before a state inquiry into the management of the country's largest diocese."
Read more about this topic: Desmond Connell
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