An independent audit of the handling of sex-abuse complaints in six Irish dioceses by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) has found a marked improvement in recent months. However, the NBSCCC says Church officials regularly overlooked the rights of victims in order to protect priests, they covered up evidence of abuse, moved accused Read more
Sister Miriam Duggan, from Limerick, a Franciscan Missionary of the Sisters for Africa, was awarded for her dedication to people with AIDS/HIV and commitment in fighting the pandemic in Africa.
Duggan graduated in medicine at the University College in Cork. The missionary specialized in obstetrics and gynecology in Birmingham in 1969, and continued to work for 30 years in Uganda as chief medical officer of St Francis’ Hospital, Nsambya, in Kampala.
Read the article...Monsignor Charles Brown, an Irish American from New York has been appointed the new Papal Nuncio to Ireland by Pope Benedict XVI.
It is a highly unusual appointment as Brown does not come from the Vatican diplomatic corps. His ability to speak English and his closeness to the current pope are seen as the major reasons that he was appointed.
Read the article...Fr Dan Duane, of Cecilstown in Mallow, Co Cork, had told the jury at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that he had no recollection of the meeting where the woman alleged he had assaulted her.
The alleged victim had claimed that this meeting had changed the course of her life. She claimed Fr Duane had indecently assaulted her while whispering to her that it was “OK with God” and “God would approve.”
Fr Duane denied the assault and said he had no recollection of the meeting the woman complained of.
He told the court she must have invented the story.
The jury delivered its not guilty verdict after an hour and 25 minutes of deliberations.
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Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny wants high journalistic standards restored at RTE, Ireland’s National Broadcaster, after its ‘Prime Time Investigates’ current affairs programme made false allegations against Irish Mill Hill priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds. RTE accused Reynolds of fathering a child with a minor while working as a missionary in Africa. Ireland’s Communications Minister, Pat Read more
A Catholic bishop stepped down yesterday just six days before child sex abuse audits into two dioceses where he served are due to be published.
Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty’s resignation on health grounds was accepted by Pope Benedict just two weeks after offering it. He left his post immediately.
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The people in Ireland have been misled about the extent of abuse by priests and priests subject to unjustifiable wrongs, according to the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. Dr Martin, speaking at Mass to celebrate the lives of the nine priests who had died in the diocese this year, said he had been thinking about Read more
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has reacted angrily to claims that his row with the Vatican is behind the decision to close Ireland’s embassy to the Holy See.
The government leader has categorically refuted that the closure is down to anything other than economic reality.
Fianna Fail’s deputy leader Eamon O Cuiv challenged Kenny to admit his row with the Catholic Church over the Cloyne Report was the real reason behind the decision to close the embassy at the Vatican.
Read the article...The closure of the Irish embassy to the Holy See in Rome is a major setback for the Vatican. The decision by Ireland’s government brings to life a number of Vatican nightmares.
First of all, it was made for “economic reasons”, which means that keeping a diplomatic mission at the papal court is supposed to be expensive (implicitly, uselessly expensive). Worse, the costs just seem to be a pragmatic and neutral explanation to cover up a hot political struggle: the sex abuse scandalsinvolving Irish Catholic priests.
But in a period of financial turmoil, economy might be a perfect reason, or excuse, for other governments to take similar steps. This has happened before.
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A leading priest in Ireland has launched a stinging shower against the Catholic Church hierarchy, accusing them of sticking their heads in the sand over a number of crucial issues. Fr Joe McGuane warned that if the current church regime continued, financial problems facing the church could leave some clerics “filling supermarket shelves at night or Read more