Bishop James Moriarty issued his call after Pope Benedict XVI yesterday officially confirmed acceptance of his resignation, offered last December in the wake of public fury at the shocking findings of the Murphy investigation into the archdiocese of Dublin.
“The decision to offer my resignation was the most difficult decision of my ministry,” Bishop Moriarty said in a statement. “I did not anticipate resigning when I first read the Murphy Report, because I was not directly criticised. “However, the Murphy Report covers far more than what individual bishops did or did not do. Renewal must begin with accepting responsibility for the past.”
Bishop Moriarty was an Auxiliary Bishop in Dublin from 1991 until 2002. “I was part of the governance of the Archdiocese prior to when correct child protection policies and procedures were implemented,” he admitted. “Again I accept that from the time I became an auxiliary bishop, I should have challenged the prevailing culture.”Dr Moriarty again apologised to survivors and their families. “The truth is that the long struggle of survivors to be heard and respected by church authorities has revealed a culture within the church that many would simply describe as unchristian,” he said.
Bishop Moriarty went on to rally Irish Catholics in favour of Church reform, rather than leaving in disillusion. He spoke of how the spiritual well-being of “the people of God” demanded that the principle of the Church as always in need of reform — which was embraced at the Second Vatican Council — should again come to the forefront…
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.