The Irish Times – Tuesday, January 5, 2010
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
CALLS FOR the resignation of the Bishop of Galway, Martin Drennan, “are unfounded”, a former professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s College Maynooth has said.
Rev Dr Vincent Twomey also said: “If I was in any way guilty of inciting such calls, I am sincerely sorry and ask forgiveness.”
In a letter to The Irish Times today Fr Twomey says: “Since I am on record as calling for the resignation of the bishops mentioned in the Murphy report (December 3rd, 2009), I should have expressly excluded Dr Martin Drennan.”
He continues: “The present Bishop of Galway was not found guilty of either negligence or cover-up by the Murphy commission. The one substantial reference to Bishop Drennan in the report (51.1-51.2) indicates that, when he was auxiliary in Dublin, he acted appropriately in the case in question.
“The report itself concludes that ‘The archbishop acted correctly in immediately addressing the concerns and suspicions in this case.’ This amounts, if I am correct, to a recommendation of Bishop Drennan’s initial response with regard to a young priest acting suspiciously with young males.”
Meanwhile, an online petition calling for the resignations of people named in the Murphy report was said to be “going well, but slow” yesterday. Dublin Catholic social activist Brendan Butler launched the petition last week.
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