Bishop of Limerick
resigns over abuse
cases mishandling
By staff reporter

18 December 2009

The Bishop of Limerick, a bishop named in the report dealing with the Irish Church's handling of clerical child abuse, has resigned.

Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick quit last week. Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation at the beginning of the week but allowed Bishop Murray to make the announcement in Limerick in person.

The bishop was named in the Dublin report, a government report by Fachtna Murphy that looked into the cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin from the 1970s to 2004. He was named for failing to deal properly with suspicions about a priest who was later convicted of sexual abuse of children.

Bishop Murray, who also taught at an important diocesan seminary Conliffe College, said: "I know full well my resignation cannot undo the pain that survivors of abuse have suffered in the past and continue to suffer each day.

"I humbly apologise once again to all who were abused as little children. To all survivors of abuse, I repeat that my primary concern is to assist in every way that I can on their journey towards finding closure and serenity. I asked the Holy Father to allow me to resign and to appoint a new bishop to the diocese because I believe that my presence will create difficulties for some of the survivors who must have first place in our thoughts and prayers."

From 1982 to 1996 Bishop Murray was an auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese of Dublin. The report criticised his treatment of suspicions about a priest who later pleaded guilty of six counts of indecent assault of children, which it described as inexcusable. Fr Tom Naughton, the priest in question, returned to jail last week for sexually abusing an altar boy.

Since the release of the Dublin report there have been calls for Bishop Murray to resign. Four others who were mentioned as complicit in the cover-up are still in active ministry as bishops.

Pope Benedict XVI summoned the leaders of the Irish Church to Rome two weeks ago in order to formulate a response to the Murphy Report. He met Cardinal Seán Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

He will write a pastoral letter to the Irish faithful and has said that he "was deeply disturbed and distressed" by the contents of the report, He expressed "his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims".