Geoghan remains an appalling symbol of the church's failures. He was the archetypal serial predator, transferred from parish to parish despite repeated warnings about his crimes.

A decade into the arc of the crisis, we now have a new symbol of another of its distressing features: the way all Catholic priests have been tarred with the same brush, presumed guilty until proven innocent and often cut loose by officialdom at the first hint of an allegation.

That symbol is Fr. Kevin Reynolds of Ireland, and his is a story that merits serious reflection. Before getting into it, however, let's stipulate two points.

First, there's no moral equivalence between the agony experienced by victims of sexual abuse, especially children, and the hardships of a falsely accused priest. The point is not to compare the two things, but rather, that you can't remedy one injustice by creating another.

Second, the fact that some priests have been falsely accused does not mitigate the culpability of the church, or its leadership, for scores of other cases in which the abuse is all too real. Nor does it supply a free pass to church leaders to dismiss criticism, or to wave off arguments for reform.

That said, the Reynolds story illustrates two points that must figure on any list of lessons learned in the last decade:

• The need for more effective firebreaks against false allegations, both in the church and in the media.
• Greater support for priests facing accusations, including church leaders more inclined to balance legitimate measures of precaution when an allegation surfaces against concern for the reputation and rights of the accused party.

Continue reading the story at NCR: A new symbol of false sex abuse allegations

Image: Clerical Whispers

RTE accused Reynolds of fathering a child with a minor while working as a missionary in Africa.

Ireland's Communications Minister, Pat Rabbitte noted the considerable concern and disquiet about the liable case involving Fr Reynolds, and described the issues surrounding RTE's defamation as 'very grave'.

RTE has paid an substantial out of court settlement to Reynolds and an independent inquiry has been launched.

In the meantime, the managing director of RTE news and current affairs, Ed Mulhall, and the editor of the Prime Time Investigates programme, Ken O'Shea, have stepped aside from their posts and reporter Aoife Kavanagh and executive producer Brian Pairceir will not be involved in any on-air programming until the inquiry is completed.

The inquiry, which has two months to make its report, will have the power to compel witnesses to attend and to provide all records relevant to the making of the programme.

RTE's director general, Noel Curran, yesterday announced 'Prime Time Investigates' will be suspended for the rest of the year. He also failed to rule out the possibility of resignations over what he called "one of the gravest editorial mistakes ever made" by the national broadcaster.

Sources

• Kerryman
• Irish Times
• Irish Times
• Image: Clerical Whispers