MSGR DENIS O'CALLAGHAN:THE SENIOR cleric criticised by the Commission of Investigation into Clerical Sexual Abuse in Cloyne for his handling of complaints of clerical sexual abuse defended his approach to the problem in a memoir published four years ago.
Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report said the greatest failing by the diocese was its failure to report all complaints to the Garda authorities.
The report also highlighted how child protection delegate Msgr Denis O’Callaghan didn’t believe in the church’s own reporting guidelines.
The commission said Msgr O’Callaghan “always had reservations about reporting to the civil authorities” and had “stymied” the implementation of the church’s own framework document, which advocates reporting of abuse to the civil authorities.
Yesterday Msgr O’Callaghan told RTÉ he regretted he had not implemented the church guidelines in relation to reporting abuse allegations to the civil authorities and also regretted any hurt that he may have caused to the “accusers” by his actions.
But in his memoir, Putting a Hand to the Plough, published in 2007, Msgr O'Callaghan, a former professor of moral theology at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, sought to justify what he described as "the pastoral care" approach to dealing with complainants, which he felt was superior to the rule-bound approach advocated by the church.
“Why should we put that experience aside and simply sign up to a list of civil procedures? . . . What emerged then as a result was a direct personal involvement with people rather than a cold professional client-based policy,” wrote Msgr O’Callaghan.
Adopting what he described as “the model of the Good Samaritan”, Msgr O’Callaghan wrote that his approach went beyond satisfying oneself whether the diocese was or was not liable for the actions of an abuser.
