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Bishop Hegarty travels to Vatican 16.02.10
by Linda McGrory
BISHOP of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty is to deliver a
seven-minute speech to Pope Benedict as part of the
two-day Vatican summit into clerical sex abuse in
Ireland.
Bishop Hegarty flew out to Rome on Sunday morning
equipped with a speech he was required to prepare
for the Pope.
Bishop Hegarty's spokesman, Fr Michael Canny
yesterday said he was not privy to the contents of
Dr Hegarty's speech.
"All the Irish bishops were asked to prepare a
seven-minute talk to be delivered in person by them
to the Pope," said Clonmany-born Fr Canny.
"I cannot say what is in the speech because I
haven't seen it. Bishop Hegarty prepared it himself
and I was not privy to it," he added. |
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The Vatican meetings
began at 8am yesterday and will continue today, with
the Pope sitting through 168 minutes of testimony
and reflection from the Irish bishops.
Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady described
the summit as “one step in a process...which will
lead to a journey of repentance, renewal and
reconciliation”.
Bishop Hegarty joined Cardinal Brady and the 23
other bishops on Sunday for a |
month’s mind Mass for
Cardinal Cahal Daly in Rome.
Cardinal Brady said all the bishops were "singing
off the same hymn sheet" in regard to the
safeguarding of children.
While the Rome summit was called chiefly in response
to the Murphy report into child abuse in the Dublin
Archdiocese, Bishop Hegarty has been under pressure
locally to account for his handling of allegations
when he was Bishop of Raphoe, from 1982 to 1994.
The group, Voice of the Faithful Ireland (VOFI), has
strongly challenged Bishop Hegarty to explain his
handling of the Eugene Greene case.
In an interview last month, VOFI spokesman, Seán Ó
Conaill said: “During the period 1982-1994 Bishop
Seamus Hegarty was Bishop of Raphoe. The prolific
child rapist Eugene Greene served as a priest in
Raphoe in that period. Gardaí did not become aware
of his crimes against 26 young men until 1997."
Meanwhile, last November, in response to the Murphy
report, Bishop Hegarty issued a statement regarding
child sex abuse allegations against priests in the
Derry Diocese.
The statement said: "In October 2005, the Diocese of
Derry put on public record information regarding
allegations of child sex abuse made against priests
of this diocese. Recently, (August 2009), the
diocese furnished the Health Service Executive with
up-to-date figures, relating to the entire diocese,
regarding priests who are still alive, irrespective
of the place or date to which the allegation
refers."
The statement continued: "Seventeen who were priests
of the diocese at the time to which an allegation
refers, have had some form of child sexual abuse
allegation made against them. In addition, one
priest, who was on loan to the diocese, has been
convicted of child sexual abuse. There is also a
number of allegations where the identity of the
priest is unknown.
"All allegations have been reported to the
appropriate civil authority – PSNI, DHSSPS, HSE and
Gardaí. It is routine that all allegations are
passed to the civil authorities, whose role it is,
to investigate such matters. The diocese again
encourages anyone who has been abused to approach
the civil authorities," the Bishop’s statement
concluded. |
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