IRISH PILGRIMAGE TRUST:A FORMER Dublin auxiliary bishop has given up his role in a charity which brings disabled children to Lourdes following criticism of him in the Murphy report on child sexual abuse in the archdiocese.
Bishop Dermot O’Mahony, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Dublin, resigned on Sunday with immediate effect as president of the Irish Pilgrimage Trust.
In his resignation letter, Dr O’Mahony said he was stepping down “in view of unfavourable criticisms” of him in the report and the public controversy which has continued since its publication.
The board of trustees accepted his resignation and said it was grateful for the generous and supportive presence and wise counsel he provided over many years.
Dr O’Mahony was honorary president of the trust, which is under the patronage of the Irish bishops.
In his letter to trust chairman John O’Reilly, Dr O’Mahony said he had been considering for some months whether he should continue in the position. “In view of the unfavourable criticisms of me by the report of the commission on the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, which has now been published, and the continuing public controversy in its regard, I have decided to step down from this position and I hereby submit my resignation, to take immediate effect.”
“I leave the trust with delightful memories which will sustain me for a lifetime and the assurance of my prayers for the future development of the trust which I greatly admire and love.”
The Murphy report found Dr O’Mahony’s handling of complaints and suspicions of child sexual abuse “particularly bad”. It said he was aware of complaints involving 13 of the priests in the representative sample looked at by the report.
Criticisms of Bishop O’Mahony include that he failed to tell Archbishop Dermot Ryan about a number of complaints. He gave the late Fr Vidal a reference to the diocese of Sacramento in California without explaining that he had “a relationship” with a girl when she was 13 and shredded documents relating to the matter in 2001.
In the case of Fr Ivan Payne, he allowed a psychiatric report which was clearly based on inaccurate information to be relied on by Archbishop Dermot Ryan and subsequently by Archbishop Desmond Connell.
Dr O’Mahony served as auxiliary bishop of Dublin from 1975 to 1996.
The trust, a registered charity, takes young people with special needs on pilgrimage to Lourdes each year at Easter. It also provides respite care at a centre in Kilcuan, Co Galway.
