Dear Archbishop Nicholls,
Firstly, I should like to congratulate you on your appointment as the new Archbishop of Westminster.
Secondly, I should say that I, particularly, welcomed the news of your appointment, in the context of a) reports that you have been a serious and thoughtful proponent of effective child protection procedures within the Church and b) the very serious concerns I have about the actions of the Bishop and his representatives in my own Diocese of Salford with regard to both a Diocesan priest convicted of offences against children and sentenced to a substantial period of imprisonment and a more than 70% reduction in the hours of the only post requiring a social worker qualification in the Salford Safeguarding Commission.
Immediately below, you will find a copy of a letter sent recently to the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Muňoz about these matters. (I also include the relevant attachments.) I send these to you, in the hope that you will be taking an early opportunity to ensure that the people of Dioceses throughout England and Wales (and in Salford Diocese, in particular) can, once again, have confidence that their Bishops' apparent commitment to fully implementing the recommendations of A programme for action (Nolan, 2001) was, in fact, sincere, and is one which is still ongoing.
The Apostolic Nuncio has, meanwhile, again, advised me that such issues are "the responsibility of the local Bishops", and I am, therefore, hoping that you, as their new leader in England and Wales, will be able to take some action to address the ongoing problems which I alerted him to.
Many thanks
Yours sincerely,
Philip Gilligan
18 Dean Head
Todmorden Road
Littleborough
OL15 9LZ
18 Dean Head
Todmorden Road
Littleborough
OL15 9LZ
21 March 2009
Dear Archbishop Muňoz,
Re. Right Reverend Terence Brain, Bishop of Salford: continued failure to respond to letters
In July 2007, you kindly wrote to me (Your ref. N.6824/08) regarding my concerns about child protection in the Diocese of Salford. You advised me that “this issue is the responsibility of the local Bishops”. Following your advice, I have continued my attempts to address both ongoing and new concerns regarding child protection in the Diocese of Salford by writing directly to my local Bishop, the Right Reverend Terence Brain and without writing to you. (For your information, I attach copies of all the letters / e-mails sent to Bishop Brain since receiving your letter.)
Unfortunately, this approach has proved to be completely fruitless. As had been my consistent experience previously, Bishop Brain has not acknowledged or replied to any of my letters or e-mails. Thus, none of my questions have been answered and my concerns about child protection in the Diocese of Salford have been greatly increased, as a result.
To cite just one of many worrying examples: - I wrote to Bishop Brain, on 8 January 2009, raising a number of issues and questions.
These included,
“2. I note that Doherty has not, in fact, been laicised and, therefore, retains his canonical status as a priest. Have his former parishioners been made aware of this? Since Doherty’s conviction in 1998, has the vicar general or anyone else ever asked him to apply for laicisation?
3. I note that in Doherty’s case, at least, the diocese appears not to have followed recommendation 78 of A programme for action. Final report of the independent review on child protection in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, despite the announcements made in 2001 and since. Are you, in fact, committed to implementing the recommendations of A programme for action?
4. I note that Doherty is reported by Fr O’Sullivan to be “renting a house from the diocese”. In light of this, as a parishioner making financial contributions to the Diocese of Salford, I need to ask, whether Doherty is paying a ‘market’ rent set according to the value of this property or a ‘nominal’ rent with the result that his housing costs are being effectively subsidised by the diocese and by the voluntary contributions made to it by parishioners such as myself?”
(To put these issues and questions in context, it is necessary to know that Thomas Doherty is the former parish priest of St Joseph’s in Todmorden. He was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment in February 1998 for five offences of indecency against a boy under-16 (see http://caads.blogspot.com/ for contemporary reports from the Todmorden News).
As with all my letters to him, Bishop Brain has not acknowledged my letter of 8 January 2009 and has not answered any of the questions posed, either directly or through a representative. As a result, I am left with no alternative but to conclude that parishioners in St Joseph’s, Todmorden have not been made aware of the fact that Doherty has never been laicised; that Doherty has never been asked to apply for laicisation; that, therefore, despite his past public statements, Bishop Brain has not been committed to fully implementing the recommendations of A programme for action; and that the housing costs of someone who has been shown, in a criminal court, to have betrayed his position of trust within the Diocese, are being
effectively subsidised from the voluntary contributions made by the people of the Diocese.
Meanwhile, in your letter of 1 July 2007, you also noted that I had copied my correspondence to COPCA and stated that you had “no doubt that they,
together with the Diocesan Bishop, are doing all that is possible to handle your concerns appropriately.”
Unfortunately, I must report that, although they have (unlike Bishop Brain) at least had the courtesy to reply to my letters / e-mails, the response from COPCA and its successor organisation regarding a number of matters has also greatly increased my concerns regarding the apparent abandonment of the policies announced by the Church to the public in 2001. Indeed you will see from the attached copies of my correspondence with Mr Adrian Child, Director of the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service that he largely failed to address any of the concerns which I had raised. At the same time, whilst declaring his apparently direct involvement in a number of the very worrying developments in the Diocese of Salford, he suggests that CSAS had already abandoned the organisational structure and national standards which arose from the Nolan report, before the review of these had been completed.
I remain extremely concerned about the actions of Bishop Brain in relation to Thomas Doherty, about the massive reduction in the hours of the only post in the Salford Safeguarding Commission which requires the holder to have a social work qualification, and about Bishop Brain’s failure to respond to my letters / e-mails to him regarding these and other matters related to child protection in the Diocese of Salford.
I have noted Pope Benedict’s very clear statements with regard to child protection during the past few months. In relation to the Doherty case I was struck, in particular, by his statement in July 2008 that “It must be clear, it was always clear from the first centuries that priesthood, to be a priest, is incompatible with this behaviour…” (see http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=8303 ). I sincerely pray that such statements are not just empty rhetoric, and that I can, in fact, trust you, as the Holy Father’s representative in England, to intervene to ensure that appropriate actions are finally taken with regard to Doherty and about other child protection matters in the Diocese of Salford.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Philip Gilligan
Copy to:
Right Reverend Terence Brain, Bishop of Salford - bishop@wardleyhall.org.uk
Adrian Child, Director of CSAS - Adrian.Child@csas.uk.net
Isabel de Bertodano, Home News Editor of The Tablet - idebertodano@thetablet.co.uk
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