A priest in the scandal-hit diocese of Cloyne in County Cork has urged his fellow clerics to speak out and go against the "culture of fear" after the release of last month's report into child abuse in the diocese.
Fr. Joseph McGuane is the first rank and file cleric in the diocese to comment on the child abuse controversies that have rocked both the diocese and the entire Catholic Church in Ireland, leading to a confrontation between the taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Vatican.
Fr. McGuane, who is chaplain at St Raphael's Center, a community hospital in the town of Youghal, said people were angry that "justice has taken a back seat," since the publication of the report, which revealed that the then bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, and the Vatican, had encouraged the concealment of child abuse allegations over a 13-year period.
"The leadership has sailed us into a perfect storm and there must be a new way of thinking to get us out," Fr. McGuane said.
"The church is in a bigger crisis now than it was back in 1994 when the Fr. Brendan Smyth scandal brought down the government," he added, referencing the fall of the coalition government that year when the Irish attorney general's office mishandled an extradition request by the RUC, leading to a delay in Smyth's trial.
Fr. McGuane said the church needed to "totally transform" itself and guarantee greater transparency. But he added that diocesan clerics faced the task of combating a culture of cover-up.
"It would be a great help if my peers spoke out. Sadly, I am the only one," he said.
"There is a culture of fear within the diocese. Good people are afraid of the repercussions if they do speak out. It is hard to break ranks."
Fr. McGuane also hit out at former bishop Magee, who has not been seen since the report was published on July 13. Fr. McGuane said Dr. Magee should have resigned three years ago when Cloyne's problems over its handling of clerical abuse allegations were first highlighted by the church's own watchdog body, the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children.
"I said back in 2009 that Bishop Magee should resign," he said. "The taoiseach, the financial regulator, and the heads of the banks all fell on their swords. Why should it be any different in the church?"
