Irish Theologian Calls for Irish Bishops' Resignation

In addition to the opportunistic, traitorous as a Scythian and very liberal Archbishop Martin of Dublin, a different and much more credible voice speaks out asking for the Mitres of named Irish Bishops, in contrast to the Peace and Justice Bishop of Dublin, he speaks about the spiritual dimension of this outrage and the malfeasance of the Bishops who aided and abetted it.

A prominent Irish theologian who is former student of Pope Benedict’s has called on those Irish bishops who are named in the Murphy report on clerical abuse in the Dublin diocese “to resign immediately from their current pastoral positions”.

Dr Vincent Twomey, who is professor emeritus of moral theology at Maynooth, writes in a letter published in today’s Irish Times that “at the very least, it would seem, all were guilty of negligence – some, such as Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, whose behaviour was described as ‘inexcusable’, more than others."

He adds, "But all were deemed guilty of inaction, of failing to listen to their conscience, as Mary Raftery put it on radio and television.”

Speaking to The Universe today, Dr Twomey said that the spiritual damage that had been done to the victims by the priests who abused them, and the damage done by the apparent inaction of the bishops, was "now being exacerbated by the bishops' failure to stand down and take repsonsibility".

The theologian underlines in his letter to the Irish Times that “the longer they delay in doing so, the greater the damage they will do to all faithful Catholics, and in particular to the survivors of abuse who are still paying the price for the sins of their priests and bishops”.

Dr Twomey is a member of the Pope Benedict’s Schülerkreis, an annual conference of the Pope’s graduate students who meet the pontiff every year to discuss theological issues.

In his letter, Dr Twomey writes that his “instinct is to defend the Church from unfounded attacks. But the revelations of the Murphy report are something else."

He adds, "The actions, or rather for the most part, the inactions of the bishops named there are simply indefensible.”

Yesterday, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin called on bishops and priests criticised in the Murphy report into the handling of clerical sexual abuse in his diocese between 1975 and 2004 to admit their mistakes and resign.

Five serving bishops who were auxiliary bishops in Dublin over the period of time investigated by Judge Yvonne Murphy’s Commission were criticised in the report, which was published last Thursday.

In what was seen as a response to a statement made by Bishop Donal Murray at the weekend saying his decision about whether to stay on as a bishop would be guided by the faithful of Limerick where he now serves, Archbishop Martin said he would be writing to all the auxiliary bishops who served in Dublin and who are named in the Dublin diocesan report to say that their responses to the report were a matter for the Catholics of the Archdiocese.

Dr Martin said he would need to be confident his priests could stand over their statements.

He added that what they did and did not do failed people in Dublin and they owed them a response. Everyone should stand up and take responsibility for what they did, he said.

Bishop Murray was an auxiliary bishop of the Dublin Diocese from 1982 to 1996.

Pressure has mounted on Bishop Murray to resign after the report branded his failure to investigate complaints against Fr Tom Naughton when later allegations were made as “inexcusable”.

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And in a related story, we have another who should resign to a very austere Monastery (if there are any left) who is guilty of the same inaction and indifference as the Irish Bishops, Cardinal Egan. At least he's out of the game and can't do any more damage.