LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Abuse of a young adult “is of no less magnitude than the abuse of a minor,” a bishop in Northern Ireland admitted in a statement on August 1.

Bishop Alan McGuckian of Down and Connor was speaking about the abuse suffered by Father Paddy McCafferty, who was sexually abused as a young adult in the 1980s by Father James Martin Donaghy, who was jailed in 2012 for 10 years.

Down and Connor is the diocese which includes Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland.

Donaghy was released from prison in 2017 after serving five years of his sentence. He was officially removed from the priesthood in 2015.

A review into the handling of the Donaghy’s abuse accusations by the now-deceased Bishop Patrick Walsh was carried out last year.

In his statement, McGuckian said the diocese received the final report in February.

“One of the victims [of Donaghy] was a priest of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Father Paddy McCafferty who, in the early 2000s correctly and entirely appropriately, reported abuse at the hands of James Donaghy,” the bishop said.

“Father McCafferty came forward out of concern for others who could be at risk. He showed courage and leadership in the face of incredulity, disbelief and animosity on the part of many, including clergy of the diocese,” he continued.

McGuckian said at the time of the abuse, McCafferty was a “vulnerable young adult.”

“It is clear now that the report of his abuse was eclipsed by the diocese’s focus on child sexual abuse. This should not have occurred. What Father McCafferty reported in extensive written detail, in 2003, was clearly criminal,” the bishop said.

“In contemporary church law the sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult victim is of no less magnitude than the abuse of a minor. This was not recognised at that time in the case of a dominant adult abuser and a vulnerable young victim,” he continued.

McGuckian said in 2012, in a newspaper article published after Donaghy had been convicted of serious crimes, the assertion on the part of the diocese of equal standing between an adult abuser and a vulnerable adult “was misjudged and unfair to Father McCafferty who was not believed and supported by the diocese when he should have been.”

On behalf of the Diocese of Down and Connor, the bishop apologised to McCafferty “most sincerely” and readily acknowledged “the toll all of this has taken on him over the years since his initial reporting in 2001.”

“An earlier statement made by the diocese in 2006, following the decision of the [Public Prosecution Service] ‘not to prosecute’ James Donaghy, supported the then alleged perpetrator at the expense of his victims.  In the light of his subsequent conviction as an abuser, the statement was ill-judged,” McGuckian said.

“The 2006 diocesan statement also clearly compounded the hurt and pain for all the victims. Indeed, when James Donaghy was finally convicted there was a lack of demonstrable regret in the apology from the diocese for the wrongs done to his victims. I want to take this opportunity now to apologise sincerely to all the victims in that case and all cases,” he continued.

“Courageous victims have led the way in uncovering abuse. Father Paddy’s speaking out has encouraged others to come forward. I welcome this and in turn I encourage anyone who has suffered abuse to come forward. We, as a diocese, will ensure that our response is victim-centred, professional and just,” the bishop added.

Responding to the bishop’s comments, McCafferty said he welcomed the apology, adding it has been “a very long and painful road.”

“When I was being raped and abused as a young adult by the then-Father Jim Donaghy, the way I coped was to dissociate and pretend it wasn’t happening,” the priest said.

I didn’t ‘feel’ anything even though I was being physically subjected to violent acts of depravity. I left my body and became an onlooker to what he was doing to me,” he continued.

“For decades, I have suffered, since the abuse stopped, with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Two and a half years ago, the enormity of what Donaghy inflicted hit me like a ton of bricks. This is because I was now strong enough to face the horror of what I suffered,” McCafferty said.

He now serves in a parish in West Belfast.

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