Bishop Eamonn Walsh, who was appointed Apostolic Administrator to the diocese of Ferns on the resignation of Bishop Brendan Comiskey last April, is to pay his first visit as bishop to Templetown parish in Fethard on Sea, Co Wexford, this weekend.
Father Seán Fortune was a curate there from 1981 to 1987, and it was there he abused Colm O'Gorman and Pat Jackman, as remembered by them on the BBC Suing the Pope programme, broadcast on BBC and RTÉ last March.
The parish priest at Templetown, Father Oliver Sweeney, said he had asked Bishop Walsh whether he would like to visit the parish and meet the people there. Bishop Walsh responded he "would be delighted" to do so, he said.
The bishop will say Mass at the church in Templetown this evening, at eight o'clock. At 10 a.m. tomorrow, he will say Mass in the church at Poulphur where Father Fortune was based. After that Mass tomorrow, he will be available at the local Naomh Seosamh hotel in Fethard to meet the people.
The Ferns diocesan spokesman, Father John Carroll, said Bishop Walsh's visit to Fethard was part of a series he has been undertaking around the diocese since his arrival there in April.
They are essentially pastoral, part of a "getting to know you" exercise, and which present the people of Ferns with an opportunity to share their concerns with the bishop, he said.
Bishop Walsh has already visited parishes in Gorey, Enniscorthy, Ballymurn - where Father Fortune served from 1989 to 1995 - Wexford town, and Clonard. Father Carroll emphasised the pastoral nature of these visits, and this would also be the case with the visit to Fethard, he said.
"It was not envisaged as any more than that. We don't see it as a media spotlight event," he said. And it was the bishop's hope the visit to Fethard "would remain pastoral in focus," he said.
Since he took up his appointment as Apostolic Administrator in Ferns, Bishop Walsh has suspended two priests, pending further inquiries, and has arranged for relevant documents concerning the diocese's handling of complaints about clerical child sex abuse to be handed over to the Government's Birmingham Inquiry. This was done last week.
Meanwhile, Ireland's Catholic bishops will meet for their summer meeting at St Patrick's College Maynooth on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week.
It is expected they may announce details of their planned independent audit of how each of the 26 Catholic dioceses on the island have handled complaints of clerical child sex abuse over recent decades.
They are also expected to announce details of the additional powers to be given to the Child Protection Office at Maynooth.
It remains unclear whether they will host a press conference during or after this meeting. They do not always do so. Should they do so, it is likely they will also face questions from media concerning their handling of the Ledwith scandal at the college eight years ago, and since.
Yesterday, Dublin Archdiocese issued a statement confirming that three priests had been suspended from ministry by Cardinal Desmond Connell "while certain allegations are being investigated". It also confirmed that relevant authorities were involved in all three cases.
