A preliminary meeting took place at Archbishop's House in Dublin yesterday attended by clerical abuse victims Mrs Marie Collins and Mr Ken Reilly, and members of the archdiocese's Independent Advisory Panel on clerical child sex abuse.
It was the first concrete event to take place following the lengthy meeting involving Mrs Collins, Mr Reilly, Cardinal Connell and Bishop Eamonn Walsh last Monday.
At that meeting it was agreed victims would have direct input into how the archdiocese addressed the clerical child sex abuse issue.
The advisory panel, chaired by Mr David Kennedy, was set up in 1996 following recommendations in the Irish Bishops' guidelines on dealing with the issue, published in January of that year. The panel's function, as with similar panels set up in other dioceses, is to make recommendations to local Church authorities on dealing with clerical sex abuse.
Mr Kennedy attended yesterday's meeting, as did Mr Eddie Shaw, communications director for the archdiocese, and another member of the advisory panel, who did not wish to be named.
The meeting, which was described as "preliminary" and "about getting to know each other" and "about establishing contact", lasted almost two hours.
In a joint statement issued after Monday's meeting it was stated that "the cardinal has invited Ken and Marie to meet with David Kennedy the chairman of the Independent Advisory Panel, who is centrally involved in the establishment of the Child Protection Service in the Dublin Diocese. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a means by which the views of Ken and Marie can be included in the shaping of this service."
It is understood this formed the basis for yesterday's discussions but neither Mrs Collins nor Mr Reilly felt it appropriate to go into detail at this point. Both were "very happy" with what took place yesterday. They "had been listened to very well". It was the initial "part of a process" and they would "see how it works out". It was agreed there would be a "more concrete meeting" very soon.
Cardinal Connell flies to Rome for a week-long visit later today, during which he will attend meetings at the Vatican of the Congregation for Bishops.
Tomorrow he will attend the episcopal ordination of a friend, Dublin priest Father Brian Farrell. Father Farrell, who was bureau chief of the Section for General Affairs at the Vatican's Secretariat of State, was promoted Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity by Pope John Paul last month and and elevated to the office of bishop.
The bishop-elect was born in Dublin in 1944. He entered the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1961 and began his novitiate in Salamanca before continuing studies at the Gregorian University in Rome until 1966.
He continued studies for the priesthood in the United States before being ordained on November 26th, 1969, in Rome.
From 1970 to 1976 he was director of the Novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ in Connecticut, in the US, and was awarded a Doctorate in Theology from the Gregorian University in 1981. He began work in the Secretariat of State at the Vatican in October of the same year.
On January 1st, 1999, he was nominated as head of the General Affairs section of the Secretariat of State.
His brother, Most Rev Kevin Farrell, was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Washington in December 2001.
