Brendan Comiskey

Bishop Brendan Comiskey, is the former Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Ferns. [ [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcomiskey.html Appointments of Bishop Comiskey] ] He was born (August 13 1935 in Clontibret, County Monaghan, Ireland.

He resigned on April 1, 2002, over charges that he had failed to deal adequately with allegations that Fr.Seán Fortune and others were sexually abusing children.

He was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on June 25, 1961, and appointed Bishop of Ferns on April 4, 1984. At the time of his resignation, he had served as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin since 1979.

Diocese mired in clerical sexual abuse

"The Ferns Report", published by the Irish Government on October 25, 2005 into child sex abuse in this diocese describes a catalogue of abuse between 1962 and 2002 involving 100 individual cases involving 21 priests during the tenure of Comiksey and his immediate predecessor, Bishop Donal Herlihy (1964 - 1983)

It is alleged that Tomás Cardinal O'Fiaich, Archbishop of Armagh, had been told about the allegations, as had the Holy See. Comiskey did not report any incidents or allegations of child sexual abuse which had come to his attention before 1995 to the civil authorities.

Abuse allegations against Comiskey

In August 1990 in the course of an investigation of another matter, the South Eastern Health Board (SEHB) became aware of an allegation of inappropriate behaviour which was made against Comiskey by the parents of a girl who was over 16 at the time of the alleged incident. The SEHB did not report the incident to the Gardaí or Church Authorities as the complainant was over 16 at the time and was adamant that the matter should not be mentioned to any Authority. The complainant likewise, did not pursue the complaint with the Gardaí or Church Authorities. The Ferns Inquiry was concerned that either such behaviour itself or the existence of an allegation of such behaviour against a Bishop would influence his ability to deal effectively with a problem of sexual abuse when it was brought to his attention in relation to other priests.

Comiskey told The Ferns Inquiry that he had no recollection of any such incident occurring and denied the allegation. He also stated that he was not influenced in his handling of allegations of child sexual abuse by the existence of this complaint as he had no knowledge that this complaint had been made to anyone until after his resignation in 2002.

The Inquiry contacted the mother of the young woman involved who said that Bishop Eamonn Walsh (who, as Apostolic Administrator, assumed control of the Ferns Diocese following Comiskey's resignation) became aware of the allegation early in 2004. He called to see her daughter and urged her to make a formal statement, which she did. Walsh reported the matter to the Metropolitan for the Diocese of Ferns, Desmond Cardinal Connell, Archbishop of Dublin. A report on the matter was prepared for the Vatican. Comiskey was not interviewed during the preparation of this report. The report concluded that a delict had not been committed as regards the behaviour alleged but the fact that, under the influence of alcohol, Comiskey was alleged to have acted in such a manner was something that needed to be addressed to ensure that no repetition of such behavior could take place.

The Inquiry was informed by Comiskey that, although he agreed to step aside from active ministry when this allegation was first made known to church authorities, he had returned to ministry but agreed to refrain from high profile acts of ministry. As of 2007, he is residing in Inniskeen, County Monaghan.

Micheál Ledwith

Comiskey enthusiastically nominated his diocesan colleague, Monsignor Micheál Ledwith to be president of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth in 1984 despite the prior concerns of six seminarians about Ledwith's lifestyle. Ledwith resigned as president in 1994 following allegations of a sexual relationship with a minor and was defrocked by the Church 11 years afterwards.

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1906504.stm BBC News story on Comiskey's resignation]
* [http://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0401/comiskey02.html RTE News story about Comiskey]
* [http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/04/07/story129500728.asp Sunday Business Post 'Comiskey Proved A Formidable Foe']
* [http://www.sscc.org/ Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary]

ee also

*Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal
*Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses
*Crimen sollicitationis

References