Bishop McAreavy facing calls to resign

Bishop McAreavey told parishioners he first became aware of allegations against Malachy Finnegan in 1994

There have been calls for the Bishop of Dromore to resign amid claims he celebrated Mass alongside a priest he knew was a paedophile.

Malachy Finnegan, who died in 2002, has been accused of sex abuse by 12 people.

Fr Finnegan, a teacher at St Colman's College in Newry from 1967 to 1976, is also accused of a catalogue of physical and emotional abuse against pupils.

Bishop of Dromore, Dr John McAreavey, has previously apologised for conducting Fr Finnegan's funeral Mass.

• Finnegan survivor speaks of sex abuse secret

• Watch: BBC Spotlight Buried Secrets

Last month, Bishop McAreavey, who was chair of the board of governors at the school, told parishioners in the Dromore diocese that he first became aware of allegations against Fr Finnegan in 1994.

Fr Malachy Finnegan taught at St Colman's College in Newry, County Armagh, and was later its president

He said the bishop at that time, Francis Brooks, asked him to liaise with a victim and his family in a pastoral role.

On Wednesday, Spotlight NI reporter Mandy McAuley told the BBC's Nolan Live programme that six years later, Fr Finnegan was allowed to help Bishop McAreavey celebrate a Mass to mark the 150th anniversary of the Clonduff parish.

'Unannounced attendance'

She said the paedophile priest was vested - robed in garments - at the Mass in 2000, although he was not the main celebrant.

Speaking on the BBC's Stephen Nolan Show on Thursday, one of Fr Finnegan's victims, Sean Faloon, said his position was untenable.

"I'm not calling for him to resign, I'm telling him he's unfit to be in the position he's in - he has to resign," Mr Faloon said.

Sean Faloon says Bishop McAreavy's position is untenable

Another victim, Paul Gilmore, said Bishop McAreavey's position had been "untenable for years".

"All the rolling tide of revelations over the past two weeks have just reinforced that," said Mr Gilmore. "If he has a scrap of decency, he has to quit."

A spokesperson for the Catholic diocese of Dromore said Bishop McAreavey had been "very surprised" at Fr Finnegan's "unannounced attendance" at the Mass.

It is understood that because Fr Finnegan's ill health made him increasingly difficult to manage, a last-minute decision was taken not to confront him beforehand.

The spokesperson said the bishop visited Fr Finnegan a few days later and remonstrated with him for attending the Mass.

Never prosecuted

Parishioners have told the BBC Spotlight team they will no longer set foot in the parochial house in Hilltown and that priests will no longer stay there overnight.

Recently, the Catholic diocese of Dromore settled one of the claims against Fr Finnegan.

Fr Finnegan was never prosecuted for sexual abuse, but allegations against him were reviewed by the National Board for Safeguarding Children - a clerical abuse watchdog set up by the Catholic Church.

In a statement, the Bishop of Dromore said that during an independent audit in 2011, he "specifically" asked the watchdog to examine the cases involving Fr Finnegan.

A statement was published on St Colman's College's website saying its board of governors "condemns in the strongest possible terms the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted by Malachy Finnegan when he was in the employment of the college over 30 years ago".

The governors said they were "devastated that any pupil who was entrusted to the care of St Colman's College should ever have suffered abuse".

"When informed in October 2017, that a case had been settled by the Diocese of Dromore, the board of governors instructed that Malachy Finnegan's image be removed from photographs which were on display in the college," the statement added.