Move is 'too little, too late' for victims
Related Articles
FOR survivors of clerical child sex abuse, Bishop Donal Murray's resignation is "too little, too late".
There are repeated calls for other bishops who failed to act on information about serial sex offenders to follow suit and offer resignations.
Mervyn Rundle, who was abused by serial paedophile Thomas Naughton, said the decision of Dr Murray was "long overdue".
He added: "The only reason the resignation came about was because they were backed into a corner, as per usual with the Catholic Church.
"If the bishop had acted like he had said in his statement before, that he was not trained or unaware of the procedures of what to do, my response to him was what awareness do you need? What training do you need to be a human being?"
Mr Rundle said the matter was a "step in the right direction" and called on other bishops who had failed to act to also tender their resignation.
Abuse survivor support group One In Four said it was disappointing that the resignation took so long to come through.
"The Dublin report clearly shows that a purposeful, deliberate policy of protecting the Church regardless of the danger to children prevailed," director Maeve Lewis said.
"I call on any bishop across the country who has endangered children to resign now, without waiting to be shamed into doing so by public scrutiny."
Andrew Madden, who was abused by Fr Ivan Payne, welcomed the decision of Dr Murray and also called for the resignation of the other bishops.
- Shane Hickey
Irish Independent
