Disgraced Cardinal O'Brien (Scotland) blocked independent inquiry into historic sexual abuse

The Telegraph
August 22, 2013

The retired Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, revealed that the Catholic Church in Scotland had planned to invite an independent academic to compile a report on each diocese's "secret archives" and each bishop's handling of allegations, which would then be made public.

However, Cardinal O'Brien, then the president of the Bishops' Conference, refused to co-operate and the planned inquiry was shelved, Archbishop Conti wrote in a letter to be published in the Catholic newspaper the Tablet today.

Cardinal O'Brien was forced to resign in March after admitting "inappropriate behaviour" with priests and a seminarian, and is currently in an unknown monastery for a period of "prayer and penance" ordered by Pope Francis.

In a letter defending the Catholic Church in Scotland's handling of allegations of sexual abuse, Archbishop Conti wrote: "It was the intention of all but one member of the Bishops' Conference to commission an independent examination of the historical cases we had on file in all of our respective dioceses and publish the results, but this was delayed by the objection of the then president of the conference; without full participation of all the dioceses the exercise would have been faulty."

A spokesman for the Church said: "This refers to a decision taken in 2011 by the Bishops' Conference of Scotland to commission an independent academic analysis of statistics relating to abuse and allegations of abuse over a 60-year period from 1952 to 2012.

"This project, with the cooperation of each of the eight dioceses in Scotland, started and ran until 2012, at which time, the then president of the conference, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, withdrew from the project. Without the participation of all the dioceses a 'national audit' was not possible so the analysis was stopped."

Cardinal O'Brien was president of the Bishops' Conference from 2001 to 2012.

A source close to the Church said that Cardinal O'Brien could have feared that his own clandestine behaviour may have been revealed during the inquiry or that he was anxious to cover for individuals who were aware of his secret life.

The source said: "We just don't know why he blocked the inquiry. Perhaps there was also a spike in allegations during his years in charge or he would have been seen to have mishandled them."

read full article at The Telegraph