Churchman jailed for abuse still to be stripped of priesthood
ACatholic priest who disappeared after being accused of abuse in Scotland and California has been tracked down in rural Ireland.
Father Joseph Dunne was found living with his sister in a bungalow just outside the village of Geashill, in County Offaly.
Asked about the allegations against him, the 77-year-old denied any wrong-doing, saying: “I’ve done nothing wrong. My conscience is clear.” Last week we told how Dunne was sacked from his Glasgow parish in 1988 by the late Cardinal Thomas Winning, after complaints about inappropriate behaviour towards young girls.
But the police and other Catholic churches were not told and Dunne found a new church in Los Angeles before being accused again.
US church leaders only learned of his past when they called his former bosses in Glasgow. Dunne was investigated by police in LA, but never charged. He returned to Glasgow where he was told never again to work as a priest – but still Scottish church authorities did not inform the police. Scottish police were finally told about Dunne in 2013 but decided to take no action. Speaking from his home, Dunne denied the allegations against him, claiming he had been formally cleared. A Catholic churchman jailed last year for abusing boys as young as five has yet to be stripped of his priesthood. Father Paul Moore was jailed for nine years last April after he was found guilty of abusing three young boys and indecently assaulting a trainee priest.
But the Bishop of Galloway has revealed that the process of laicisation – removing a priest from the church – has not been completed.
Bishop William Nolan said the process had been held up by Moore refusing to admit his guilt.
One of his victims said he felt “betrayed all over again” by the Church. Moore was twice sent for “treatment” after confessing to his bishop he had a “desire to abuse minors.”
The Church did not report the Ayrshire priest to police, leaving victims to fight for justice for decades.
Last night one victim, Paul Smyth, said: “All along, the Church has put the abuser He said: “I got the all-clear from Scotland and America and I have a letter telling me that. “
Asked if Cardinal Winning had sacked him in 1988 after allegations of inappropriate behaviour he said: “No. No. No. That never came out.” And when we quizzed him about events in LA, where he faced a second allegation in 1993, he replied: “I’m 25 years away from America – how can I go back and remember all that?”
In response to Dunne’s claim he had been cleared, the Archdiocese of Glasgow said: “Father Joseph Dunne has been forbidden from exercising priestly ministry since 1988. He has been reminded of this repeatedly.”
The allegations against Dunne emerged when the Los Angeles Archdiocese published a list of more than 200 priests accused of abuse. The Catholic Church in Scotland has never published such a list.
Dunne was moved around five Glasgow parishes after being ordained at Waterford Cathedral in 1975.
He first served as a priest at St James’s Crookston, moving to St Lawrence’s, Drumchapel, until 1978 and then St Bartholomew’s, Castlemilk. He was then sent to St Paul’s, Whiteinch, in 1985 and then to St Mary The Immaculate in Pollokshaws. In 1988 he was sacked. However, in 1990 he was given a licence to continue acting as a priest by the Archdiocese of LA, where the second allegation, of molesting a schoolgirl, was made in 1993.
The church’s former abuse adviser, Alan Draper, said: “This is a deeply worrying case, and one which will have many asking where he went after Los Angeles.” before his victims and they continue to do that. The Church first knew of the allegations nearly 40 years ago. They should have stripped him of his priesthood then instead of sending him for treatment.”
Explaining the delay, Bishop Nolan said: “The process was on hold until his appeal was heard and that was in December.”
But Father Gerry Magee, who has supported Moore’s victims, said: “There is simply no excuse for this not being done years ago, never mind since Moore’s conviction.”
Last December, 82-year-old Moore’s sentence was reduced to eight years on appeal.