The Bishop of Raphoe has acknowledged that the Catholic Church failed victims of abuse, and by today’s standards, dealt with such situations in a way that was “tragically bad”.
Bishop Alan McGuckian was speaking after two Fanad sisters who were abused by a priest in the 1970s issued a comprehensive statement this week asking who else knew of the abuse they suffered.
The sisters were aged eight and twelve respectively when they were abused by Fr Con Cunningham, who was convicted of a number of sexual offences in 2018. Their case did not form part of that trial.
They met with the then Bishop of Raphoe Seamus Hegarty and made a comprehensive statement to him in 1994, and in 2002, they met with Bishop Philip Boyce on a number of occasions, and also gave statements to gardai.
On today’s Nine til Noon Show, Bishop McGuckian today acknowledged that the then Bishop Seamus Hegarty believed the sisters, but said the priest was not removed from ministry because the guidelines and protocols there now were not in place at the time.
Bishop Mc Guckian said outstanding issues need to be dealt with through a statutory process…………
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