Report reveals more Irish Church abuse

13 July 2011 Last updated at 15:58 GMT The Cloyne report was critical of Bishop John Magee A report published on Wednesday has criticised a Catholic diocese in County Cork for a failure to report all complaints of abuse to police.

The Commission of Investigation into the Diocese of Cloyne investigated how allegations against 19 priests were dealt with between 1996 and 2009.

The report said Bishop of Cloyne John Magee could not avoid "responsibility by blaming subordinates".

The Catholic Church has apologised following the report.

The leader of Ireland's Catholics, Cardinal Sean Brady, said it was another "dark day in the history of the response of church leaders to the cry of children abused by church personnel".

"The findings of this report confirm that grave errors of judgement were made and serious failures of leadership occurred," he said

"This is deplorable and totally unacceptable."

Bishop Magee was one of the priests identified by the commission.

The Cloyne report, which runs to 400 pages, said there were concerns about Bishop Magee's interaction with a 17-year-old boy.

"The commission regrets that it has not been possible to report the case involving concerns about Bishop Magee without identifying him," the report said.

"Concerns were expressed about his interaction with a 17-year-old boy."

It said the teenager, who had been contemplating joining the priesthood, was concerned that "the behaviour of the bishop towards him, which had not perturbed him at the time, was, on reflection, disquieting".

However, the report said it was satisfied that this case had been dealt with appropriately.

The Newry-born Bishop Magee stepped aside in 2009 after an earlier report criticised his handling of abuse allegations.

The Cloyne report, which was published by Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald, said the response of the diocese to allegations of child sexual abuse for the period of 1996 to 2008 was "inadequate and inappropriate".

It said it was a "remarkable fact" that Bishop Magee had taken "little or no active interest" in the management of clerical sexual abuse cases until 2008. This was 12 years after the rules on how to deal with such matters were implemented by the church.

It added that Bishop Magee had to "a certain extent, detached himself from the day to day management of child sexual abuse cases".

"Bishop Magee was head of the diocese and cannot avoid his responsibility by blaming subordinates whom he wholly failed to supervise," the report said.

Complaints

The commission said it was aware of some 40 people who may have been affected by clerical abuse in the diocese.

All but two complaints came from people who were adults at the time the complaint was made.

The report said between 1995 and 2005 there were 15 complaints against clergy in the diocese which should have been reported.

The most serious lapse was the failure to report the two cases in which the alleged victims were minors at the time the complaint was made.

It also said there was no communication with a neighbouring diocese when a priest who had retired because of complaints went to live there.

However, there was no case in which the diocese moved priests against whom allegations had been made.

A number of priests whom allegations were made against were "retired".

The inquiry was set up by the Irish government in January 2009 following a report published the previous month.

It was conducted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) - a body set up by the Catholic Church to oversee child protection policies.

It found child protection practices in the diocese were "inadequate and in some respects dangerous".

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Bjork reveals newly invented instruments

1 July 2011 Last updated at 07:18 GMT By Ian Youngs Arts reporter, BBC News Bjork gave the first full performance of the songs from her nature-themed concept album Biophilia A musical lightning generator and four harp-playing pendulums were among the custom-made instruments unveiled by Bjork as she opened her world tour.

The Icelandic singer performed the first date of her Biophilia tour on Thursday to launch the Manchester International Festival.

The festival specialises in staging music, theatre and art premieres.

Bjork's concert also involved a 24-piece all-female Icelandic choir and a voice-over from Sir David Attenborough.

With voluminous ginger hair and a purple robe, Bjork gave the first full performance of songs from her forthcoming album Biophilia.

It is a concept album about nature with songs inspired by such themes as DNA, tectonic plates and crystals.

The concert's opening song Thunderbolt featured two Tesla coils - electrical columns that shoot out small bolts of lightning to generate musical notes.

The "sharpsichord" was among the bespoke instruments made for the tour

Four "gravity harps" were made from 10ft (3m) pendulums that plucked strings as they swung back and forth during a song about gravity.

Other newly-invented instruments included a "sharpsichord", a large cylinder with protruding pins that played a harpsichord as they were turned, and a "gameleste", a kind of piano that had been adapted so glockenspiel-style bronze bars were struck as notes were played.

Bjork approached Sir David Attenborough to take part after drawing inspiration for the album from his natural history programmes. She recently said he was her "rock star" when she was growing up.

The singer watched hundreds of video clips from his landmark shows to get inspiration for her songs and concert visuals.

The story of so-called zombie snails, which are invaded by parasites and were seen in Sir David's Trials Of Life series, has been incorporated into one song.

The Graduale Nobili choir accompanied Bjork on stage

Footage of three-foot worms and carnivorous starfish feasting on a seal carcass at the bottom of the Antarctic, from the Life series, was shown on screens during the show.

Sir David recorded his introductory voice-over hours before the concert on Thursday. "He's been a constant source of inspiration for the project," the Biophilia project co-ordinator James Merry said.

The concert took place in front of 1,800 fans in a Victorian former fruit and vegetable market, which has more recently been used to store a Spitfire aeroplane and other items from the Museum of Science and Industry.

Bjork has said she wants Biophilia to be a multi-media experience combining music, technology and nature.

As well as a standard album and tour, the project involves a series of iPad and iPhone applications that let fans play with and create their own versions of the songs.

The apps also include a brand new system of musical notation devised by Bjork as well as academic essays explaining the ideas behind the tracks.

She will now play two shows a week at Campfield Market Hall for the next three weeks before taking the show to eight cities around the world over the coming two years.

Thursday's concert opened the third Manchester International Festival, which aims to put the city on the global cultural map by hosting new works by respected performers.

The festival began in 2007 and takes place every two years.

This year's other highlights include an opera by Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn. Dr Dee, which tells the story of 16th Century alchemist, astrologer and spy John Dee, opens on Friday.

Victoria Wood is staging a new musical play about a 1920s Manchester children's choir, while performance artist Marina Abramovic and theatre company Punchdrunk are also showcasing original productions.

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