Irish Bishop Kirby who claimed pedophilia was friendship ‘gone too far’ steps down from charity position

Thanks you Mollie C and exmarine54

He should be getting locked up with many others.

What is so so sad about him? that he is a truly GROWN UP individual and yet couldnt/hadnt grasped the severity and evil of sexual abuse of a minor. HAD HE been a married man and had several of his own children??? perhaps he would appreciate the idea of safety and protection of ALL YOUNG people, no matter their stautus: adopted, orphaned, or whatever. and that EVERY child should be TOTALLY respected and loved....Father Flanagin saw this when he visited Ireland many years ago,,,and had the strength and audacity to call Ireland out on it....too bad no one listened....

this man has to be a republican, he was hoping they would win and he could continue as before. This is why I am no longer a republican nor catholic

Either this man is deliberately obtuse or gravely delusional. 'Friendship gone too far' - what child who was abused would ever consider that to be the case. Please let silly men like these go away...

Why did it take Bishop Kirby so long to withdraw from an organization that has among its missions "We in Ireland who are followers of Jesus Christ must continually try to shape our lives by his teaching. He taught us to love one another, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to care for the sick. He said: 'As you did it to one of the least of these brethren, you did it to me' (Matt 25:40)." The bishop's hanging on to the chairmanship risked dragging Trócaire's name into the mud. And why does Trócaire have a member of the hierarchy as Chair, anyway? It does the work of the laity with lay sources of funding, not money from the Vatican. Episcopal oversight endangers the missions of such organizations.

As an Irish woman living in Ireland I am totally sick of the fact that the hiararchy of the Catholic Church seem to believe that they are somehow above reproach. The fact of the matter is that all Catholics make up the Catholic Church-lay people, priests, bishops & the pope & I know if the loving & compassionate Jesus I believe in, was here on earth in the flesh today his prime priority in all this would be those innocent children who were abused & not the so called "Hiararchy" in their big palaces with their housekeepers, gardeners etc. The rules they preach in relation to women priests, contraception, priests not being allowed marry etc etc are man made laws enforced by the hiararchy for their own benefit, Jesus never preached negatively on any of these issues & it is time the hiararchy of the Church moved on & put their own agenda aside & realized that they have lost all entitlement to be obeyed & to be shown the respect they still seem to think they deserve. Shame on Bishop Kirby for belittling the suffering & pain caused to so many children by describing the vile sickening deeds they took part in as "friendship that crossed a boundry line". I would appeal to all people who like myself were raised catholics & are sickened by what went on in the church by some priests & most of the hiararchy in covering up for those priests to stand up & let your voices be heard.

Not only did he "minimize the grave effects of child abuse," he also let the predator move to a place where he could abuse other children, thereby becoming an accessory. One would think a learned man would know that pedophiles will always seek new victims; they are incurable and should be locked away forever.