‘NO CATHOLIC FUNERALS FOR ACCUSED PRIESTS’

NEW Church guidelines will block innocent clergy accused of sexual abuse from having ‘traditional Catholic funerals’ – even if they weren’t convicted of any offence, a priests’ representative group has said.

And one prominent member of the Association of Catholic Priests has claimed that even murderers are laid to rest with more dignity than members of the clergy forced to step down in the wake of sexual abuse allegations, under guidelines from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The NBSCCCI issued the guidelines to Church authorities on how to discreetly conduct the funerals of clerics who were the subject of abuse claims before they died.

Meanwhile, some dioceses have adopted even more stringent policies for clerics facing accusations, including rulings that:

Funerals take place in private chapels;

No death notice be published;

The deceased be referred to only by his forename during the funeral rite;

And he should not be buried in clerical garb.

The NBSCCCI said its guidelines are in place because ‘pastoral concern for complainants must be considered in the situation where a priest/religious dies following receipt of a credible allegation’.

But a leading member of the Association of Catholic Priests said the rulings go too far, and cause unnecessary heartache for surviving family members.

Fr Tim Hazelwood, spokesman for the 1,000-strong ACP, said his colleagues’ particular concern was for priests ‘who have been accused of something but nothing has been proved’.

‘I personally know an elderly priest, who’s been facing an accusation, which he totally denies, on a case dating back 40 years,’ Fr Hazelwood said.

‘In his case he will be denied a proper Catholic funeral, and it’s causing him terrible distress. The situation differs from diocese to diocese, but in general priests in this situation are treated terribly.

‘Even members of the Kinahan gang or convicted murderers can expect proper Catholic funerals – that’s not the case with some priests, who are treated like the lepers of Irish society.’

One set of diocesan guidelines, obtained by the ACP, suggests that ‘consideration be given’ to having the funeral liturgies in a private chapel ‘and/or a time other than the usual times’.

It also recommends that the deceased priest not be buried in his clerical garb and that ‘if possible, no death notices should appear’.

It also states: ‘The funeral Mass is not to be concelebrated. No vestments to be worn by priests attending the funeral.’

Fr Hazelwood added: ‘I do not know of any other group of people who have such restrictions placed on their funerals.’

The NBSCCCI has not yet replied to a request for comment.

Last week, the Irish Daily Mail revealed that priest Fr Joe Seery, who was accused of sexual abuse in the US, served in various parishes in Ireland after New Orleans police launched an investigation in 1978. Fr Seery died in 2011.

‘Even murderers get proper funerals’