Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore has resigned following revelations that he covered up for a paedophile priest Malachy Finnegan.
He had officiated at Finnegan’s funeral and at one stage concelebrated mass with him, while knowing about his record of child abuse.
Catholic parents in the diocese were so disgusted that they refused to allow Bishop McAreavy attend the confirmation of their children.
Malachy Finnegan was the former President of St Colman’s College in Newry where he systematically targeted and raped vulnerable boys.
The allegations against Finnegan came to light in 1994 but the former Catholic Bishop for the diocese, Bishop Brooks, did nothing to alert the police. Instead Finnegan was secretly sent to a centre in England for the treatment. This happened just months after the scandal about the notorious paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth broke. Finnegan was allowed returned to Hilltown in the summer 1995. But within days of his return, he sexually abused another boy in the village’s parochial house.
Bishop McAreavey continued with this cover up and even celebrated mass with the notorious paedophile.
All of this makes a mockery of the Catholic Bishops’ stance on the ‘unborn’ who, they claim, have an equal right to life as women.
If they spent less time attacking women who had abortions and dealt with the cover up in their own ranks they would do us all a favour.
There have been over one hundred known cases of paedophile priests in the North, but to date there has been no public inquiry into their activities.
Instead of lecturing women on when life begins, the Irish Bishops should acknowledge that they have been involved in a conspiracy of silence to protect abusers of children.
The police collaborated by with this cover up by refusing to investigate.
