Rome Watch Winter 2006

The publication of the Ferns Report into sex abuse by R.C. priests in that diocese has been followed by a deluge of allegations and admissions of abuse in R.C. dioceses across the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland. When you read the selection of newspaper reports that we reproduce in our New Year Edition you will understand why our Reformation forefathers identified the Roman Church as the prophesied Mystery Babylon of the Book of Revelation described as:

"THE HABITATION OF DEVILS AND THE HOLD OF EVERY FOUL SPIRIT AND A CAGE OF EVERY UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD" - Revelation 18:2

These reports show how you need to pray for R.C. people held in the spiritual bondage of that system.

How by all lawful and legitimate means you must oppose and resist the political and spiritual encroachments of that system.

Ulster's Catholic bishops were considering the fall out of a damning report which revealed the full horror of brutal clerical child abuse in the Diocese of Ferns in the Republic.

Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Dr Sean Brady, apologised to "all those people who have suffered lasting hurt at the hands of abusers in the church". The leading Catholic cleric said he was"deeply shocked and saddened" by the Republic government's probe into the activities of pervert priests in the Co Wexford dioceseof Ferns over a 40 year period.

Former Supreme Court Judge Frank Murphy's damning report found that the church lied, deceived and covered up to protect 21 priests in the diocese who had faced more than 100 allegations of child sexual abuse.

"As priests they should havebeen protecting and nurturing the talents of these young people.The betrayal of trust is horrendous.Today the church is ashamed of its past failings regarding child protection," Dr Brady said.

And the Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, was expected to release a statement, described as significant, to allay fears that the "country is crawling with priests who are paedophiles" his administrator Fr Michael Canny said.

Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor, Donal McKeown,said he was "shocked and horrified" by the report's findings. "I am shocked at how this could have been allowed to happen and how nothing was done," he said.

In the Republic, administrator of the Diocese of Ferns, Bishop Eamonn Walsh, welcomed the report and said he "accepted and acknowledged" its findings. He said the church "unreservedly and sincerely apologised to all who have suffered abuse".

Paedophile priest Fr Sean Fortune, who faced unproved allegations of sexual abuse arising from his brief time in a Belfast parish, was one of the priests at the centre of the shattering probe. Fortune, who served in the Holy Rosary Parish in south Belfast for less than a year in 1979, faced 40 allegations of sexual abuse from his time in Ferns alone.

According to the explosive report, Fortune, who committed suicide in 1999, was judged "unfit" for the priesthood by a Catholic Church psychiatrist but ordained anyway. Shortly after his ordination, he was sent as a curate to south Belfast where he was asked to leave less than a year later when concerns were raised about his bullying and difficult nature. It emerged years later that three people from Belfast, including Damien McAleenan, made serious abuse complaints against Fortune dating from 1979. Following the accusations Fortune was investigated during an RUC inquiry into clerical abuse.

The Ferns report also found that Fortune organised beach parties for youngsters where he provided them with drugs, alcohol and condoms. It also said Fortune left a suicide note in which he claimed he was abused by Bishop Brendan Comiskey. The note was later found and destroyed by a priest, Fr Gerald O'Leary, who thought the claims were a deliberate attempt to discredit the former bishop.

THE PRIEST at the centre of rape allegations in the Republic has been suspended, it was confirmed last night. The unnamed priest had been continuing to carry out parish duties in the Diocese of Tuam in County Galway while Gardai investigated the allegations from a woman. However, Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary last night said he had asked the priest to stand aside.

"My biggest concern is that the Garda investigation would be allowed to run its course and by asking the priest to step down does not in any way connote guilt," he said.

Archbishop Neary had faced questions about why the priest was allowed to continue to serve after the allegations had been made. It is thought the cleric said Mass, despite the claims having been made. The woman is understood to have written to the archbishop in September through her solicitors and also made a statement to Gardai. Gardai are preparing a file on the case for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Irish Independent had reported that the alleged victim went to the curate for advice when she became pregnant aged 24. The woman, now in her forties, alleged that the priest raped her on two occasions. It has also been claimed that she was paid thousands of euro by the priest and offered thousands more. Gardai confirmed they began an investigation after the woman made a statement to them regarding the alleged assaults.

In a letter to the archbishop, the woman's solicitors detailed the "loss, damage and expense" suffered by their client as a result of the "assault, battery, rape, trespass to the person, sexual abuse and the infliction of emotional harm" allegedly perpetrated upon her by the priest. In the 1996 paper Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response, it is recommended that if a priest is accused of child sex abuse he should be removed pending a full investigation.

In the "Ferns Inquiry", more than 100 complaints of clerical sexual abuse were identified against 26 priests in the south east. It criticised the Church, health services and gardai for the way in which the complaints were not given appropriate attention by the relevant authorities.

The accused priests who are still alive are no longer involved in "active ministry". One has been convicted of child sexual abuse and is currently serving a custodial sentence.

The diocese would not reveal how much money has been paid out in compensation claims but said that a number of civil actions are pending and are close to settlement.

In Dromore diocese none of the accused priests are now in ministry. The diocese also received a complaint about a priest that related to events alleged to have occurred before he was ordained. He was asked to stand down from ministry.

Bishop McAreavey said: "I want to make it absolutely clear that the Church in our diocese must always strive to be a place of safety and trust where all our people, and especially the young, are cherished and protected."

He added that numerous child protection policies and training strategies are in place.

A native of south Derry, Fr Crilly is well known throughout the Derry diocese. After studying for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, he was ordained in 1968. A fluent Irish speaker, he has served as chaplain to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry as well as at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in the city's Steelstown area, where he was administrator. Fr Crilly is prominent in literary circles and has been a regular contributor to the Irish language magazine "An Sagart." Among his fellow priests, Fr. Crilly is also known as a keen cyclist and has worked closely with the Church's marriage encounter movement.

The County Derry priest was reported to have confirmed to parishioners that he was denying the allegations. It is also understood they relate to a period when he was in a different parish from his current one.

In excess of €2M has been paid by five dioceses to 35 victims of child abuse in recent years, The Irish Independent has learned. Killaloe diocese has confirmed that it has paid out €500,000 to six people. Kerry diocese has paid €260,000 to three people, while the archdiocese of Cashel and Emly has paid one victim €8I,000 including legal costs. The diocese of Ossory, which covers parts of Laois and Kilkenny paid €370,000 to six people. Raphoe, which mainly covers Donegal, has paid €760,000 in respect of 19 allegations. In addition, Raphoe has now released figures showing that 10 of its priests stretching back 40 years have been accused of child abuse. Seven of the 10 have stood aside from ministry. Two priests have been convicted, and one is awaiting trial. Four clerics were investigated by gardai but a prosecution did not result. A statement from the diocese said:

"One priest against whom an allegation of child sexual abuse has been made is still in ministry, but there are no reasonable suspicions such as would give rise to a child protection question."

The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, said that the money for the six victims had come from the proceeds of a €1.5M land sale of six acres at the Westbourne residence in 2000. He confirmed that €70,000 has been paid this year, €I00,000 paid out in 2004, with €265,000 paid out to two victims in 2003. Dr Walsh said that if the need arises, the diocese would sell off other land to make any additional payments. He stressed that none of the money towards the payments has come from Sunday offerings at churches. However, Bishop Walsh said that in future "if it happens that we have to use other money to make payments, full information will be made to the people and to the priests". The diocese of Ossory, headed by Bishop Laurence Forristal, said the six victims it has compensated involved complaints against four priests. Another €128,098 in legal costs must be added to the €370,000 paid directly to the victims, making a total of €498,098.

A statement from the diocese said that €125,895 of the total has been paid by the diocese itself, and the balance has come from the Bishops' Stewardship Trust. The Trust was established ten years ago as a common fund out of which compensation payments can be made. The 26 dioceses are paying a total of €5m per annum into it. The Trust also funds the Bishops' child protection services as well as counselling for victims.

The Ossory diocese also provided more details on the number of its priests against whom allegations have been made. It was five, and not four as reported. Two of the five are deceased, one has retired and is out of ministry. One was convicted in the courts, and one is awaiting trial. None of the priests has been dismissed from ministry.

Meanwhile, two dioceses have not yet responded to questions from The Irish Independent concerning the number of their priests against whom allegations have been made. A report in a recent paper outlined the number of priests accused in 23 out of the country's 26 dioceses. Elphin could not be contacted.

A spokesman for the archdiocese of Tuam said that the required information would be made public"shortly", probably on Sunday. At least 72 civil actions against the Bishops are still pending, and at least 104 have so far been paid out.

Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, has said around forty allegations of child sex abuse have been made against 26 priests in his diocese over the last 50 years.

At an unprecedented news conference, Dr Hegarty read from a detailed statement before undertaking a prolonged question and answer session. The bishop said he was taking the unusual step in the interests of transparency and to help victims of clerical sex abuse. He said the move was also designed to help the people of the Derry diocese and to show his confidence in its priests.

"Clearly when it is a question of clergy who are abusing, that makes people in my position doubly keen to express my deepest and heartfelt and most sincere sympathy and profound apology to them [the victims]," he said.

At the press conference in the sacristy of St Eugene's Cathedral, Dr Hegarty said that over the past 50 years, allegations of child sex abuse had been made against 26 priests. Around 330 priests have served in the diocese in this time. Nine of the priests are now dead, allegations against 11 others did not go further for a variety of reasons, one priest was stood down and professionally assessed to be no risk and another paid money to a claimant without admitting liability.

In another case, abuse happened outside Ireland, and another case is recent and ongoing.Two priests have been prosecuted, with one being acquitted and one found guilty - Fr. Gerard McCallion in 1996 for indecent assaults against two young Derry girls. Dr Hegarty said every allegation made against priests currently serving in the Derry diocese had been investigated and necessary procedures followed.

He said an independent review has been carried out and a second review is currently underway. The bishop said investigations against serving clergy against whom allegations had been made were carried out by police. Answering questions from journalists, Dr Hegarty conceded that in the past the Church had on occasions tried to save the offending priest as much as the victim. 20 years ago there had been no protocol in place to deal with such situations.

"There were priests moved on who, with today's knowledge, shouldn't have been moved on," he said. "But they were working out of a particular protocol or lack of it."

He also pledged to cooperate with any national audit which may be undertaken south of the border. Dr Hegarty said the Church would work along with gardai and the PSNI in any future investigations. The Derry bishop said there was no doubt that the scandal of child abuse has deeply damaged the Church in Ireland, and that much work needed to be done to rebuild trust.

"lt is very important that people who were abused-that their first stop would be the police," he said.

Asked if he ever considered resigning from his ministry as bishop, Dr Hegarty said: "Not at all, not in the slightest. It all goes with the job. My business at this time is to do what I can to begin the comprehensive healing for victims," he said. "I have a job to do."

The diocese of Kerry has paid out more than €250,000 in three settlements of child abuse claims, it has emerged.

The information is the latest in a series of revelations from around the country in the wake of the report revealing sexual abuse in Ferns. Bishop of Kerry, Bill Murphy said: "I have a sense of profound sadness and regret as I have listened to the stories of those who have been abused by priests. I am concerned, in a particular way, for those who have been hurt and betrayed because of the abusive behaviour of any priest of the diocese of Kerry."

Dr Murphy said there had been 11 allegations against priests in the diocese over the last four decades. He said one man had served a prison sentence following a conviction, while in another three cases, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed with a case.

Four of the eleven accused priests were dead, two had been dismissed from the priesthood, two had applied for and been granted laicisation and three were no longer in the ministry, he said. Three cases had been settled by the diocese for a total €260,000, excluding legal fees. In a message to the people of Kerry, the Bishop said he was saddened and hurt by the Ferns Report. It describes the enormous damage done by a number of priests in the diocese of Ferns who have sexually abused children.

"For those who have suffered abuse, words of apology appear very weak and inadequate, and yet these words must be spoken. Our first concern is to reach out to victims and to ensure that what has happened will never happen again. I fully appreciate the hurt felt by those who have suffered, the abused, their families and friends. I acknowledge the distress of all who look to the Church for spiritual healing, guidance and comfort," he said.

The Bishop said a childcare committee had been in place in Kerry since 1996, with experts in psychology, medicine, pastoral care, counselling and law. Next month two people from the diocese are to begin a year's training with the Child Protection Office, and will then train people in all parishes to ensure best practice in child protection. Dr Murphy reiterated his call for anyone who had been abused to come forward.

Although the spotlight has been shone on clerical sex abuse in Ferns, the Catholic Church's six northern dioceses have also been at the centre of a series of sexual abuse convictions and allegations.

Eight priests have been suspended in the last five decades due to allegations of sexual abuse, according to a diocesan spokesman. He refused to say if any are currently suspended following allegations. The one conviction within the diocese came in November 2004. One of the longest sentences ever given to a clergyman for sexual abuse in Ireland was imposed on Father Michael Gerard McQuillan. The Armagh city priest was ordered to serve 12 years in prison after he was found guilty of 40 sexual abuse charges against five children. In a statement following the sentencing at Newry Crown Court, the Archbishop of Armagh, Sean Brady, personally apologised for the hurt caused to Fr. McQuillan's young victims:

"To those who have suffered abuse in this case and who have been so gravely wronged, I offer my most sincere sympathy," he said.

Four priests are suspended in the diocese following allegations of sexual abuse. Spokesman Fr. John McManus said the information was being given in order to remain"open and honest" but warned parishioners not to make dangerous comparisons.Nine Down and Connor priests have been suspended for allegations of sexual abuse over the last 50 years and there have been two convictions for abuse. In 1994 the conviction of a priest who served in west Belfast brought down the Irish government and opened the floodgates for hundreds of sexual abuse claims. Fr. Brendan Smyth, a priest from the Norbertine Community, was jailed for four years for sexually abusing children over a 20 year period. Following his release from Magilligan Prison, Fr. Smyth was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after admitting 74 counts of sexual abuse in the Republic. He was given a 12 year sentence but died a year later in prison. Fr. Sean Fortune, who had served in south Belfast, appeared before Wexford District Court in March 1999 on 29 charges of sexual abuse. Fr. Fortune, who had spent two years working at Holy Rosary parish in south Belfast, died by suicide while on bail for the charges of serious sexual abuse against boys. It later emerged that police had investigated at least three claims of abuse relating to Fr. Fortune's time in Belfast. Last April Fr. Daniel Curran was given a suspended 18 month sentence after admitting two counts of indecent assault against a boy while serving at St Paul's parish in west Belfast.The court heard how the chaplain for a troop of scouts had plied a boy with alcohol before taking him to a cottage near Tyrella beach in County Down and sexually abusing him during the 1980s. Last month County Down priest Father John McCallum was found guilty of 25 charges of viewing pornographic photographs of children between April 1999 and June 2004. The former Kilcoo parish priest has been placed on the sex offenders' register and was sentenced to a year in jail.

Two priests are "not in active ministry" following allegations of child sex abuse, a diocesan spokesman said. Fr. Gerard John McCallion was jailed for two years at Derry Crown Court in January 1996 after pleading guilty to nine charges of indecent assault of two girls aged nine and ten in Derry's Creggan estate between May 1987 and August 1988. The diocese said six priests have been suspended or stood down following sex abuse allegations.Fr. Andy McCloskey made a five figure payment without liability to a man who alleged the priest had made a sexual approach to him in 1992, when he was aged 18. Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty, reinstated Fr. McCloskey in 1993.

There has been one conviction relating to child sex abuse in the diocese, according to a spokesman. Monsignor Liam McDaid said that a number of suspensions have been made over the last 20 years arising from four allegations of child sex abuse.He refused to be drawn on the total number of priests under investigation although it has been reported that up to five cases were being examined.

"I don't think it is appropriate to give a name or number in this case because that would be encouraging a manhunt," he said. "However, they are either deceased or not in active service in the diocese."

The diocese did not respond to queries yesterday about current suspensions or convictions. Fr. Eugene Greene was jailed for 12 years in 2000 for abusing children over a period of 30 years. The County Donegal based priest served in several parishes across the county and from the 1960s raped or sexually assaulted at least 26 boys. In 2003 former diocesan secretary Paul McDaid was sentenced to two years in prison with the last six months suspended after he was found guilty of possessing 3,000 imagesof child pornography. He left the priesthood in 1996. In June of this year Fr. Patrick McGarvey was prosecuted following an incident in 2004 in Foyleside Shopping Centre in Derry. He was found guilty of observing a person in his twenties for sexual gratification in a public place.

Five priests have been suspended for allegations in the diocese in the last five decades, a spokesman said. Two were tried but were later acquitted. Jailed: Fr Smyth Sentence: Fr Curran Charges: Fr Fortune

FORMER bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey, has stepped down from ministry in a parish in England after an abuse allegation relating to his time in Ireland was made against him. He is now planning to return to Ireland to fight the allegation, of which no details are known.

The former bishop is now living in a house owned by the diocese while waiting to see if an official complaint is made. "He's shocked, himself, but he's at peace because he knows he has nothing to answer," Dr Conry said.

A statement was issued to parishioners on a Sunday to explain Fr Casey's departure.

"He has been extremely popular in the parish, and a very good worker in the local hospital and he will be very greatly missed while he's not working," Dr Conry said. He also said Fr. Casey had not planned to return to Galway for the funeral recently of his successor as Bishop of Galway, Dr James McLoughlin. Catholic Primate of Ireland, Sean Brady, has declined to comment on the development.

A County Down former seminarian is set to be appointed this week as the next British ambassador to the Vatican, the first Catholic in 400 years to be given the post.

Francis Campbell (35) is also the first Irishman to represent Britain overseas since partition in 1921.

Mr Campbell, who attends Mass every Sunday at Westminster Cathedral in London, was a foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair until 2003. He is, however, not a career diplomat and his appointment is likely to raise some eyebrows in Foreign Office and diplomatic circles.

The job of ambassador to the Holy See was advertised in the Economist, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Independent, The Times and the Financial Times newspapers in July. It was not, however, advertised in any Irish newspapers.

In an answer to a written parliamentary question from Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay on November I, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the "recruitment campaign" for the position of ambassador to the Holy See was closed. "We expect to make an announcement concerning the appointment of the new ambassador to the Holy See in due course," he said.

The announcement that Mr Campbell has secured the post is expected quite soon. Diplomatic relations between Britain and the Holy See have a colourful past. After Henry VIII broke with Rome during the 1530s, it took more than 380 years for diplomatic relations to be partially restored with the establishment in 1914 of the British Legation to the Holy See. In 1938 the Vatican sent an apostolic delegate to London. It was not until 1982, when Pope John Paul II visited Britain, that full diplomatic relations were established at the level of ambassador.

Roman Catholic priests in Croatia are demanding £6 million a year to hire chauffeurs after the country introduced a strict law against drink driving. The priests claim the zero tolerance policy means that Communion wine would put them over the limit and open them to prosecution if they drive after Mass.

The Vatican has been accused of using its charity Caritas to smuggle arms to the Kosovan liberation Army (KLA), a Muslim, Albanian terrorist group which helped undermine the stability of the former Yugoslav province of Kosovo, now under UN control.

The central allegation is that a variety of weapons were smuggled to the KLA in trucks bearing the livery of Caritas, conveying the impression that the contents were purely food and medical aid for the Albanian community in Kosovo which since the World War II has seen waves of Albanian immigration into what was previously a Serb dominated province.

Caritas is the Vatican's largest international charity. Its Croatian branch was set up in 1934 by Archbishop Stepinac, and later co-operated with the Nazi Ustashe puppet state of Croatia. Stepinac, beatified on 3 October 1998, prior to being made a Papal saint, has been described as 'the Papal saint of genocide' by one critic, aware of his active participation in the repression of the Serbian Orthodox community in the last war.

Stepinac epitomised Vatican hatred of the Serbian and Greek Orthodox churches in this notorious comment from his diaries: "The Orthodox Church is Europe's greatest curse, almost greater than Protestantism. It knows no morals, principles, truth, justice or decency".

Members of Caritas were actively involved in the torture and forced conversion of members of the Serbian Orthodox community in World War II and in the running of the notorious Jasenovac concentration camp.

The evidence against Caritas surfaced at a recent United States congressional hearing, which examined reports of Iranian arms being smuggled into Bosnia and Kosovo under cover of Muslim humanitarian organisations.

On 12 April 1999, Italian customs officials found a huge cache of 30 tons of anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers, machine guns and tons of ammunition in a convoy of 50-foot trucks discovered to have been leased by Caritas. The trucks had been carefully constructed with false floors and closets in which the armaments were hidden. The arms were mostly Russian, but included NATO arms stolen from Germany. The Italian authorities said the arms were destined for a KLA training camp in Scutari, northern Albania. The consignment was ordered in the name of Father Luciano Augustina, a Roman Catholic priest in Scutari. Serbian leaders had long suspected that arms were being smuggled into the Croatian and Muslim forces attacking the Serbs.

Caritas issued a simple flat denial of involvement although the trucks at Ancona were said to have come directly from the Caritas centre in Sarajevo. A cache of arms was also found under the Caritas children's hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993.

Rodney Atkinson, of Free Nations, said recently: "The Vatican was using Caritas to provide cover for NATO and German arms smuggling to the KLA. They may also have provided Iran, the world's leading terrorist state, with the same cover in Bosnia. The Vatican's goal is a single European Catholic superstate".

Austria's Roman Catholic church has denied modifying its rules on clerical celibacy when a priest was allowed to resume his parish ministry after fathering an illegitimate child.

"He had to promise his bishop he would in future live the celibate life of a Catholic priest. Once he'd done this, he could return to pastoral duties," said Erich Leitenberger, spokesman for Austria's Catholic Bishops' Conference. "But this is a purely personal arrangement, affecting a single priest. It has no repercussions for our church's general situation."

Leitenberger told ENI that Christoph Frischmann would take charge of three rural parishes from 1 September following a two year leave of absence, after also pledging to provide for his child's financial and educational needs. He explained that the child and mother would live nearby, but not in the same parish house. Leitenberger said that it should not increase pressure for a change in celibacy rules. Frischrnann now wishes to resume pastoral duties "with agreement of his child's mother".

"The Innsbruck diocese stands by this decision, because he has given a plausible assurance that he will live as a celibate priest in obedience to his bishop, while also taking his task as a father seriously," the statement added. Leitenberger denied claims that the Innsbruck diocese's decision reflected a shortage of Roman Catholic clergy in Austria. He noted that it had "voluntarily publicised" Christoph Frischmann's case, rather than acting under media pressure.

It is not the aim or intention of Rome Watch to incite hatred of Roman Catholics but rather, by use of International Press reports already carried in newspapers, to show the religious and political advances of the Papacy in the light of Bible Prophecy, which foretells an end-time World Religion, Government and Economy.