Cloyne ex-priest sets out abuse defence in book
A former priest from the Diocese of Cloyne whose peers defrocked him “for the crime of abusing minors” has written a book setting out his own defence “in full”.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) has called on Amazon to remove the book by Daniel Duane from sale immediately.
Mr Duane, who spent 42 years in active ministry, self-published In the Shelter of the Most High through publishing company AuthorHouse, and says in the book that his chief reason for doing is to “redress the injustice that I was denied by the Cloyne Report and the Cloyne Church Tribunal”.
Yesterday Teresa Devlin, CEO of the NBSCCCI, told the Irish Examiner they are “very concerned about the self-publication of this book as it has already caused enormous distress to the women involved”.
Ms Devlin said the NBSCCCI “has been in direct contact with some of the women in question and have offered any support we can provide to them”.
“As the NBSCCCI is not a statutory agency, it has no control over the decision by Amazon to sell the book but we would call on the company to remove it immediately,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Cloyne said: “The diocese is concerned about this [book] because of the power of the impact on victims”.
The spokesperson said its designated liaison person, Fr Patrick Winkle, had been liaising with the statutory authorities to see what could be done, and that survivors and gardaí have been made aware. The spokesperson said the diocese has not been in contact with Mr Duane “as he was dismissed from the clerical state and is no longer Fr Duane”.
“He is a private citizen now and he’s Mr Duane to us. Our contacts are with survivors,” the spokesperson said.
One of Mr Duane’s alleged victims said none of them are “shocked or surprised” by his decision to write a book, but that they are “disgusted”. “He is deliberately setting out to hurt us again,” she said.
This paper also asked gardaí if the Diocese of Cloyne had alerted them to Mr Duane’s book and if so, whether they had taken any action. In response, a spokesperson said: “It is Garda policy not to comment on individual cases and therefore An Garda Síochána is not in a position to comment further.”
Mr Duane was acquitted in a criminal court on two occasions; the first occasion in May 2011 on the direction of the trial judge, and in November 2011, when he was acquitted by a jury. However a canonical court hearing found him guilty of complaints by five women. A judging panel of three priests said they were satisfied to a standard of “moral certainty”.
Mr Duane lost two appeals against the decision by the canonical court to dismiss him from the priesthood, as well as losing a personal appeal to Pope Francis, made after the Pope declared 2016 to be A Holy Year of Mercy.
The Pope confirmed to the Bishop of Cloyne, William Crean, that he agreed with the earlier decision to reject Mr Duane’s appeal against dismissal.
The Cloyne Report looked at the Church’s handling of clerical sex abuse allegations, including 11 complaints against Mr Duane, referred to in the Cloyne Report as “Fr Ronat”.
In his foreword to the book, Mr Duane writes he had “much agonising” before penning his “memoirs” as he was “conscious of the collateral hurt that will arise from the publication”. However, he said: “I will strive to seek justice until I die”.
He refers to each of the allegations made against him in the book and uses the same pseudonyms for the alleged victims as are used in the Cloyne Report.
He also outlines details of his own childhood, including how he toyed with the idea of being a vet or a doctor which would be “a fulfilling vocation… and more importantly, I could have a wife and family.
“I loved the fairer sex and the hormones in my youthful body were impatient for fulfilment,” he writes.
The book has an almost identical title to The Shelter of the Most High by Francis Frangipane.
