Handling of Allegations of Abuse Against Clergy
In 1961 Archbishop McQuaid established a hostel in Dublin for boys who had been in industrial schools – mainly Artane – and assigned priests to see to their spiritual welfare and to help them integrate into society. In the mid 1960s, one of these priests was the young Diarmuid Martin who went on to become Archbishop of Dublin in 2004 and to take a strong line against alleged clerical abusers. On 20 June 2009, John Cooney wrote an article in the Irish Independent demanding to know why Martin had not denounced the alleged horrors of Artane 40 years previously. (Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs correspondent of the Irish Times wrote a similar article "Archbishop Defends Abuse Inaction")
The Murphy Report notes that Archbishop McQuaid was familiar with the requirements of Canon law but did not fully apply them. It states that he was more interested in preventing scandal than protecting children in dealing with Fr. Edmondus (a pseudonym) in 1960.
Moreover, the 2009 Murphy Report found that an abusive priest in the Dublin archdiocese had been made known to McQuaid by the police in 1960. When his auxiliary bishop Patrick Dunne wanted to report the priest to the Rome, McQuaid specifically forbade him from so doing.
Read more about this topic: John Charles McQuaid
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