The Bishop of Kildare Steps Down Over Irish Child Molestation Scandal

12/22/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Bishop James Moriarty has stepped down from his post over the bishopric of Kildare. He is the second to resign over the Murphy Report which detailed the sexual molestation of children by priests over the last thirty years. Bishop Moriarty came under pressure from his own flock who stated that they would keep their children from anything officiated by Bishop Moriarty. Typically, the Bishop of a local area officiates at First Communion. In so doing, they would deprive Bishop Moriarty of many of his duties and threaten his position as Bishop.

Bishop Moriarty is among five who have been singled out for either resignation or removal over this scandal as they are seen as having done little to nothing to prevent it. In a statement published by the BBC, Bishop Moriarty stated “I feel it is important to state that I fully accept the overall conclusion of the Commission – that the attempts by Church authorities to ‘protect the Church’ and to ‘avoid scandal’ had the most dreadful consequences for children and were deeply wrong.”

“I know that any action now on my part does not take away the suffering that people have endured. I again apologise to all the survivors and their families. I have today offered my resignation as Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin to the Holy Father. I hope it honours the truth that the survivors have so bravely uncovered and opens the way to a better future for all concerned,” he went on to say further on in his statement.

In 1993, Bishop Moriarty was contacted over the suspicious behavior of Father Edmondus around children. He passed this information on to the archbishop at the time, and the matter ended there. Bishop Moriarty did not pursue the matter, nor did he follow up on it. While he did not have access to Father Edmondus’ records, Bishop Moriarty did little more than warn Father Emondus about his behavior.

Maeve Lewis, the director of victim services at One in Four, welcomed the resignation. She pointed out that it was immensely painful and insulting for victims of child molesting priests to have to listen to one Church official after another try to justify why they should remain in power when they did nothing to really help those who were the most vulnerable.

The child molestation scandal has spanned two Popes, and uncovered hundreds of victims. Many have sought compensation for the acts that were perpetrated upon them. The bulk of the victims, so far, have been male; however, it should be noted that this does not equate with the priests being homosexuals. Until fairly recently, priests had far less access to girls than they did boys.

Bishop Moriarty’s departure leaves three named within the Murphy Report who have not resigned. The Archbishop of Dublin has already stated his intentions to remove them if they do not quit voluntarily. Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick resigned previously.

Second Irish bishop resigning over abuse scandal report
Bishop James Moriarty statement in full