Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

By AM Wednesday, July 27, 2011

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Bishop John Magee is a name that is likely to be synonymous with Catholic Church cover up of clerical rape in Ireland for some time to come. His handling of abuse in Cloyne put him in the A League – Appalling, Awful, Atrocious. Imagine his surprise when Judge Yvonne Murphy pointed out to him that Accountability might just force its way through major league style.

Magee’s appointment of the indifferent Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan to exercise diocesan authority in Cloyne was indicative of his outlook. O’Callaghan was as unconcerned and ‘uncommitted’ as himself. Moreover, O’Callaghan did not agree with the 1996 Church Framework guidelines ostensibly in place to protect children but which on the advice of the criminal class in the Vatican could be ignored.

To compound matters O’Callaghan actually believed the complaints from the abuse victims but, like Magee, decided that the reputation of the Church was more important so he failed to act. Former school Principal Eugene Riordan, who has long argued for prosecutions in respect of Cloyne, claimed that Callaghan was absolutely cynical in his handling of child abuse cases.

Now when he stands at his door offering mealy mouthed apologies to RTE he should be told where to go. Although in his defence he had the courage to face the cameras unlike the gutless Magee. A man that cannot face the cameras and account for himself even when the chips are down, preferring to force others to act as sandbags rather than take responsibility for his actions, is pretty contemptible.

What drove Magee and O’Callaghan? In their need to protect Mother Church these venerable men decided that the most vulnerable were dispensable. What could a child possibly matter when the interests of Mother Church need protected? As Eugene Riordan argued:

I don’t wish to minimise the trauma of abuse for victims but to my mind, Bishop Magee and Msgr O’Callaghan were 20 times worse than the abusers by covering it up; the abuse is bad but you expect those in management to deal with it, not to hide it.

As we know only too well, however, Mother Church was as concerned about children as the despicable Tracey Connelly, another thug wearing the mantle of mother, who gave birth to Baby P and then helped Steven Barker murder him.

As for culprit number one, Magee has no excuse. None of the usual proffered mitigations apply to him. The Cloyne Report was addressing post 1996 allegations. That was the year when the Catholic Church was supposed to have put in place a framework document which was meant to be innovative and dynamic in terms of child protection practices. Magee cannot claim ignorance of best practice or plead requiring time to acquaint himself with the learning curve. The Framework document was simply ignored by Magee. This Vatican backed mountebank behaved as if abuse of children were minor priestly peccadillos, failing to report accusations of clerics molesting children to the Garda or HSE.

Despite his determination to continue pissing on the civil law and sabotaging justice for Vatican victims the writing was on the wall. It did not spell absolution. In January 2009 the decision was taken by the then Minister for Children Barry Andrews to extend a State inquiry (Murphy) into child abuse by priests to cover Cloyne after a report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church was critical of Magee’s handling of a number of complaints about clerical sexual abuse.

Contemptuous that something as temporal as human society could intervene in the higher affairs of the men of god he stalled his resignation for as long as he could. He was backed by Cardinal Brady and two archbishops, Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Michael Neary of Tuam. By 2010 he had become such an embarrassment to his fellow godfathers that Ratzinger, the boss of bosses, felt compelled to take his resignation as bishop of Cloyne. In spite of it all Magee, incredibly, still remains a bishop in the Catholic Church.

Yet this bishop cannot face his flock. One Vatican victim told the Irish Independent it was "beyond belief" that Church authorities had not ordered Magee to come forward to answer questions about his actions. Unfortunately it is not beyond belief at all but well within the range of belief. Maurice Hayes was even more to the point:

In a long career of evading responsibility for the care of children, Bishop John Magee's last shameful dereliction of duty has been his failure to face the public, his priests and in particular the victims and their parents.

Has an Odessa network been set up for here? There is no sign of Magee. Whether he is holed up in the Vatican or holidaying abroad with some teenager of his dreams is not certain but the Church is denying knowledge of his whereabouts. There is absolutely no reason to believe it on this.

Bishop Magee should choose the one honourable course open to him. Step under the spotlight in the public arena and explain the crimes perpetrated by god’s men against society’s children. He will take much flak but will be better thought of.