John Magee (bishop)
Encyclopedia
John Magee, SPS
(born 24 September 1936) was a Roman Catholic bishop
in Ireland
. He resigned his episcopal seat on 24 March 2010.
[An tIúir], Northern Ireland, in the Roman Catholic diocese of Dromore, on 24 September 1936. His father was a dairy farmer. He was educated at St Colman's College
in Newry and entered the St Patrick's Missionary Society at Kiltegan
, County Wicklow
in 1954. He also attended University College Cork where he obtained an honours degree in philosophy before going to study theology
in Rome, where he was ordained priest on 17 March 1962. He served as a missionary in Nigeria
for almost six years before being appointed Procurator General of St Patrick's Society in Rome. In 1969 he was appointed secretary to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
in Rome, when he was chosen by Pope Paul VI
to be one of his private secretaries.
On Pope Paul's death he remained in service as a private secretary to his successor, Pope John Paul I
, and also to Pope John Paul II
. As private secretary to three Popes Magee is the only man to hold such a position in Vatican history.
He also acted as chaplain to the Vatican's Swiss Guard
.
, explaining that he found the pope dead in his bed on the morning on September 28, 1978 (Lighthouse Catholic Media, NRP, 2008, entitled "Untold Stories of the Last Three Popes"). While Magee was the first to summon assistance, he explains that the nun who served him coffee each morning was, in fact, the first to discover the pope dead, when she realized he hadn't opened the door to accept his morning beverage (Lighthouse Catholic Media, NRP, 2008, entitled "Untold Stories of the Last Three Popes").
In a radio interview in 1990, RTÉ
religious affairs correspondent Kieron Wood asked Bishop Magee why he had claimed that he found the body of the dead Pope, when it was then public knowledge that the body had been found by a nun. "I did find the body of His Holiness," he replied. "I just didn't find it first."
, elected on 16 October 1978, but was in 1982 made papal Master of Ceremonies
and continued in this post until on 17 February 1987 when he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Cloyne
, in Ireland. He was consecrated bishop on 17 March 1987, St. Patrick's Day, by Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
On April 28, 1981 Magee travelled to Long Kesh Prison in Belfast
, Northern Ireland
on behalf of Pope John Paul II
to meet with IRA
hunger striker Bobby Sands
. Magee sought to convince Sands to end his hunger strike; Magee's attempt was unsuccessful and Sands died one week later.
In January 2007, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków and former private secretary of Pope John Paul II for forty years, published a book of reminiscences of his life with the Pope entitled Una Vita con Karol (Rizzoli, Milan). Although Dziwisz mentions other colleagues such as Archbishop Kabongo and Monsignor Thu, who also acted as private secretaries to the Pope, he does not mention John Magee at any point in the 250-page book. However, in May 2008, Cardinal Dziwisz was "surprised" when it was put to him that Bishop Magee was the only papal secretary not to be mentioned by name. Indeed, at Pope John Paul II's request, Dziwisz presented to Magee as a gift the last cassock that the Pope wore before he died.
by encouraging lay persons of both sexes to become active in Church life at all levels. He appointed Ireland's first female "faith developer" and entrusted her with the task of transforming an Irish rural diocese into a cosmopolitan pastoral model using techniques borrowed from several urban dioceses in the United States. Bishop Magee has made the faith developer's services available, free of charge, to the Irish Episcopal Conference.
which organised an effective and professional opposition to the Bishop's controversial plans to re-order the interior of Cobh Cathedral
, plans similar to much-criticised re-orderings in Killarney
, Cork
and Limerick cathedrals. In an oral hearing conducted by An Bord Pleanála
, the Irish Planning Board, it emerged that irregularities had occurred in the planning application that were traced to Cobh Town Council which accommodated the Bishop's plans to modify the Victorian interior designed by E W Pugin and George Ashlin
. On 2 June 2006, when Bishop Magee was in Lourdes
, An Bord Pleanála directed Cobh Town Council to refuse the Bishop's application.
On 25 July 2006 Magee published a pastoral letter stating: "As a result of An Bord Pleanála's decision, the situation concerning the temporary plywood altar still remains unresolved and needs to be addressed. The Diocese will initiate discussions with the planning authorities in an attempt to find a solution, which would be acceptable from both the liturgical and heritage points of view."
A diocesan official explained that the bishop did not wish to institute a judicial review in the Irish High Court because of the financial implications of such an action and because of the bishop's desire to avoid a Church-State clash.
Claims that the decision of An Bord Pleanála infringed the constitutional property rights of religious bodies were dismissed when it was revealed that the cathedral is the property of a secular trust established in Irish law. It is estimated that Bishop Magee expended over €200,000 in his unsuccessful bid to modernise the interior of Cobh Cathedral to bring it into line with what he claimed were Vatican II guidelines. It is believed that a hefty contribution to the bishop's expenses was made by fellow trustee, Dr Tom Cavanagh of Fermoy, before he resigned from the Cathedral Steering Committee in September 2006. So far Dr Cavanagh has not been replaced on the committee.
Public interest then focused on who would pay the substantial bill incurred by the Friends of St Colman's Cathedral in presenting their case.
The controversy was reported even outside Ireland, as shown in the external links below.
A February 2006 article by Kieron Wood in ‘The Sunday Business Post’http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/02/05/story11588.asp claimed that Magee did not have the backing of the Vatican in his proposals for St Colman's. At the oral hearing of An Bord Pleanála he was requested to provide a copy of the letter from the Vatican in which he claimed he had been given approval for the modernising of Cobh Cathedral. The letter that he produced was a congratulatory message dated 9 December 2003 [no. 158/99/L) to the team of architects who worked on the cathedral project from Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
. The whole text of this letter was then reproduced in a publication called ‘Conserving Cobh Cathedral: The Case Stated’ pp. 108–109.
On 12 May 2007 prayers were requested for Bishop Magee who was admitted to the Bon Secours
Hospital in Cork
where he underwent a knee replacement operation. All official engagements were cancelled for the next ten weeks to allow the Bishop sufficient time to recuperate. After this ten-week period, the bishop, described as well-rested, began catching up on his work. The annual clerical changes were issued.
died on 2 April 2005, the Pope's Polish personal secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz called Magee urgently to Rome, where he arrived the day after the Pope's death. While remaining in Rome for the Pope's funeral, he kept contact with his diocese and was informed of the great outpouring of grief and love for Pope John Paul II manifested by the people of his diocese, and declared that he was grateful to the journalists who by interviewing him enabled him through their various media to share with his people his thoughts and his own grief on that occasion.
Who's Who in Ireland [2006] described Magee as "remote [and] low profile". It commented that many ecclesiastical observers "expected him to return to Vatican City
by now" and remarked that the "red hat
still eludes him" (cf. Who's Who in Ireland [2006], p. 233).
In the 2007 play http://www.trh.co.uk/show_lastconfession.php The Last Confession], which centred on events surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I, the Pope's valet claimed that Magee was responsible for the Pontiff's death and that he fled after committing the act. Magee is represented as interrogated by a committee of cardinals and explaining why he had to leave Rome after the Pope's death.
April 2008 brought renewed speculation that Magee was being considered for a position in the Roman Curia. The French left-wing clerical review, Golias reported that the Irishman was in the running to succeed as head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
. The review suggested that Magee's support for the Latin Mass had won him the Pope's approval and it argued that the bishop's apparent lack of ambition and shyness eminently qualified him for a position in the Vatican http://www.golias.fr/spip.php?article2035.
In September 2008, as the world prepared to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of John Paul I, the Italian weekly Diva e Donna published an interview with Magee, presenting it as the first time he broke his silence on the events surrounding the death of John Paul I, which he attributed to exhaustion brought on by the stress of the initial period following his election. Magee said he had been accused of having poisoned the Pope and had even been questioned by INTERPOL
.
visit at the end of the previous month. He mentioned that he had been closely questioned on several aspects of his proposals to re-order Cobh Cathedral. It was obvious, he said, that the Pope had been kept well informed of the entire issue.
Bishop Magee's contribution to the ad limina visit concerned not only his diocese of Cloyne but also ceremonial matters (an area of expertise for him) on behalf of the Conference. He also facilitated the broadcasting, in coincidence with the visit, of a life of Pope John Paul I prepared some months earlier by Italian state television (RAI
). In an interview published on the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire
on 26 October 2006, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone criticised the image that the programme presented of Pope John Paul I.
After the ad limina visit, Bishop Magee represented the Irish bishops at a meeting in Rome of the International Commission for Eucharistic Congresses.
The subsequent report of the Irish government judicial inquiry, The Cloyne Report, published on 13 July 2011, found that former Bishop Magee had falsely told the Government and the HSE in a previous inquiry that the diocese was reporting all allegations of clerical child sexual abuse to the civil authorities.
He gave his second-in-command Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan, who admits he was more concerned with the plight of abusive priests than victims, a free hand to defy an edict to report all accusations.
Both Bishop Magee and the Monsignor, the vicar general in Cloyne, refused to co-operate with a Garda inquiry into abuse in 2006.
The inquiry into Cloyne — the fourth examination of clerical abuse in the Church in Ireland — found the greatest flaw in the diocese was repeated failure to report all complaints. It found nine allegations out of 15 were not passed on to the Garda.
Magee also offered to meet abuse victims and apologised "on bended knee". "I beg forgiveness, I am sorry and I wish to say that if they wish to come and see me privately I will speak with them and offer my deepest apology," he said. Bishop Magee said he had been "truly horrified" when he read the full extent of the abuse in the report. However, the victim said apologies would "never go far enough". "It's too late for us now, the only thing it's not too late for is that maybe there will be a future where people will be more enlightened, more aware and protect their children better," she said. Asked about restitution for victims, Dr Magee said it was a matter for the Cloyne Diocese.
St. Patrick's Missionary Society
St. Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions is an Irish Roman Catholic society of apostolic life composed of missionary priests, sometimes known as the Kiltegan Fathers from its headquarters at Kiltegan, County Wicklow.-History:It was founded on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1932 by Monsignor...
(born 24 September 1936) was a Roman Catholic bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He resigned his episcopal seat on 24 March 2010.
Early life
He was born in NewryNewry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
[An tIúir], Northern Ireland, in the Roman Catholic diocese of Dromore, on 24 September 1936. His father was a dairy farmer. He was educated at St Colman's College
St Colman's College, Newry
St Colman's College is a Roman Catholic school in Newry, Northern Ireland. Now named in honour of St. Colman, it was founded in 1823 as the Dromore Diocesan Seminary by a Father J.S. Keenan. The College stands on Violet Hill, the same 60 acre site it has occupied since 1829, adjacent to the...
in Newry and entered the St Patrick's Missionary Society at Kiltegan
Kiltegan
Kiltegan is a village in west County Wicklow, Ireland, on the R747 regional road close to the border with County Carlow.The 19th century mansion Humewood House lies just outside of the village...
, County Wicklow
Wicklow
Wicklow) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. Located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island, it has a population of 10,070 according to the 2006 census. The town is situated to the east of the N11 route between Dublin and Wexford. Wicklow is also connected to the rail...
in 1954. He also attended University College Cork where he obtained an honours degree in philosophy before going to study theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in Rome, where he was ordained priest on 17 March 1962. He served as a missionary in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
for almost six years before being appointed Procurator General of St Patrick's Society in Rome. In 1969 he was appointed secretary to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for missionary work and related activities...
in Rome, when he was chosen by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
to be one of his private secretaries.
On Pope Paul's death he remained in service as a private secretary to his successor, Pope John Paul I
Pope John Paul I
John Paul I , born Albino Luciani, , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as Sovereign of Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes...
, and also to Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. As private secretary to three Popes Magee is the only man to hold such a position in Vatican history.
He also acted as chaplain to the Vatican's Swiss Guard
Swiss Guard
Swiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
.
The death of Pope John Paul I
In his own words, John Magee recounts the surrounding events and death of Pope John Paul IPope John Paul I
John Paul I , born Albino Luciani, , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as Sovereign of Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes...
, explaining that he found the pope dead in his bed on the morning on September 28, 1978 (Lighthouse Catholic Media, NRP, 2008, entitled "Untold Stories of the Last Three Popes"). While Magee was the first to summon assistance, he explains that the nun who served him coffee each morning was, in fact, the first to discover the pope dead, when she realized he hadn't opened the door to accept his morning beverage (Lighthouse Catholic Media, NRP, 2008, entitled "Untold Stories of the Last Three Popes").
In a radio interview in 1990, RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
religious affairs correspondent Kieron Wood asked Bishop Magee why he had claimed that he found the body of the dead Pope, when it was then public knowledge that the body had been found by a nun. "I did find the body of His Holiness," he replied. "I just didn't find it first."
Service under Pope John Paul II
He remained for a time in the same capacity with Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, elected on 16 October 1978, but was in 1982 made papal Master of Ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
and continued in this post until on 17 February 1987 when he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Cloyne
Diocese of Cloyne
Diocese of Cloyne may refer to:* Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne* Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross...
, in Ireland. He was consecrated bishop on 17 March 1987, St. Patrick's Day, by Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
On April 28, 1981 Magee travelled to Long Kesh Prison in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
on behalf of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
to meet with IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
hunger striker Bobby Sands
Bobby Sands
Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
. Magee sought to convince Sands to end his hunger strike; Magee's attempt was unsuccessful and Sands died one week later.
In January 2007, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków and former private secretary of Pope John Paul II for forty years, published a book of reminiscences of his life with the Pope entitled Una Vita con Karol (Rizzoli, Milan). Although Dziwisz mentions other colleagues such as Archbishop Kabongo and Monsignor Thu, who also acted as private secretaries to the Pope, he does not mention John Magee at any point in the 250-page book. However, in May 2008, Cardinal Dziwisz was "surprised" when it was put to him that Bishop Magee was the only papal secretary not to be mentioned by name. Indeed, at Pope John Paul II's request, Dziwisz presented to Magee as a gift the last cassock that the Pope wore before he died.
Interest in vocations
Bishop Magee has played a pivotal role in the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference where he has been a leading figure in the modernization of the liturgy in Ireland, especially in championing the avant garde. Bishop Magee's pastoral strategy has always placed heavy emphasis on the promotion of vocations to the priesthood but, after some initial success, the number of vocations in the diocese of Cloyne entered a period of slow but certain decline, with numbers of seminarians dropping from 46 to 5. This trend is reflected all over the island of Ireland. However, with five seminarians, Cloyne is the fourth most populated seminarian group in Ireland, after Raphoe, Dublin and Meath. Bishop Magee has announced his intention of tackling the shortage of vocationsPriest shortage
A priest shortage is the situation of a reduced number of priests in religions, especially the Roman Catholic Church.In 2008, 49,631 parishes in the world had no resident priest pastor. While the number of Catholics in the world nearly doubled between 1970 and 2008, growing from 653 Million to...
by encouraging lay persons of both sexes to become active in Church life at all levels. He appointed Ireland's first female "faith developer" and entrusted her with the task of transforming an Irish rural diocese into a cosmopolitan pastoral model using techniques borrowed from several urban dioceses in the United States. Bishop Magee has made the faith developer's services available, free of charge, to the Irish Episcopal Conference.
Redecoration of cathedral
Bishop Magee was in dispute with the Friends of St Colman's Cathedral, a local conservationist group in CobhCobh
Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...
which organised an effective and professional opposition to the Bishop's controversial plans to re-order the interior of Cobh Cathedral
Cobh Cathedral
St. Colman’s Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Cathedral located in Cobh, Ireland. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Cloyne.-Schedule of Mass and other services:MassWeekdays: 8am & 10amSaturday: 6pmSunday: 8am, 10am, 12noon & 7pm...
, plans similar to much-criticised re-orderings in Killarney
Killarney
Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is located north of the MacGillicuddy Reeks, on the northeastern shore of the Lough Lein/Leane which are part of Killarney National Park. The town and its surrounding region are home to St...
, Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
and Limerick cathedrals. In an oral hearing conducted by An Bord Pleanála
An Bord Pleanála
An Bord Pleanála is an independent statutory administrative tribunal that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007 The Planning Board directly decides major strategic infrastructural projects under the provisions of the Planning...
, the Irish Planning Board, it emerged that irregularities had occurred in the planning application that were traced to Cobh Town Council which accommodated the Bishop's plans to modify the Victorian interior designed by E W Pugin and George Ashlin
George Ashlin
George Coppinger Ashlin was an Irish architect, particularly noted for his work on churches and cathedrals. He had an early association with leading architect E.W. Pugin.-Work:*Adelaide Memorial Church, Myshall...
. On 2 June 2006, when Bishop Magee was in Lourdes
Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
, An Bord Pleanála directed Cobh Town Council to refuse the Bishop's application.
On 25 July 2006 Magee published a pastoral letter stating: "As a result of An Bord Pleanála's decision, the situation concerning the temporary plywood altar still remains unresolved and needs to be addressed. The Diocese will initiate discussions with the planning authorities in an attempt to find a solution, which would be acceptable from both the liturgical and heritage points of view."
A diocesan official explained that the bishop did not wish to institute a judicial review in the Irish High Court because of the financial implications of such an action and because of the bishop's desire to avoid a Church-State clash.
Claims that the decision of An Bord Pleanála infringed the constitutional property rights of religious bodies were dismissed when it was revealed that the cathedral is the property of a secular trust established in Irish law. It is estimated that Bishop Magee expended over €200,000 in his unsuccessful bid to modernise the interior of Cobh Cathedral to bring it into line with what he claimed were Vatican II guidelines. It is believed that a hefty contribution to the bishop's expenses was made by fellow trustee, Dr Tom Cavanagh of Fermoy, before he resigned from the Cathedral Steering Committee in September 2006. So far Dr Cavanagh has not been replaced on the committee.
Public interest then focused on who would pay the substantial bill incurred by the Friends of St Colman's Cathedral in presenting their case.
The controversy was reported even outside Ireland, as shown in the external links below.
A February 2006 article by Kieron Wood in ‘The Sunday Business Post’http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/02/05/story11588.asp claimed that Magee did not have the backing of the Vatican in his proposals for St Colman's. At the oral hearing of An Bord Pleanála he was requested to provide a copy of the letter from the Vatican in which he claimed he had been given approval for the modernising of Cobh Cathedral. The letter that he produced was a congratulatory message dated 9 December 2003 [no. 158/99/L) to the team of architects who worked on the cathedral project from Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is the congregation of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Catholic Church as distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches and also some technical matters relating to the...
. The whole text of this letter was then reproduced in a publication called ‘Conserving Cobh Cathedral: The Case Stated’ pp. 108–109.
Health problems
Bishop Magee's failing health continued to be a source of concern for his diocese. In 2007, for the third year in succession, he failed to complete his personal schedule of confirmations in Cloyne diocese.On 12 May 2007 prayers were requested for Bishop Magee who was admitted to the Bon Secours
Bon Secours Hospital, Cork
The Bon Secours Hospital, Cork is a private hospital in County Cork, Ireland. Owned by the Roman Catholic Bon Secours Sisters, it offers healthcare to privately insured patients. It forms part of the Bon Secours Health System, the largest private healthcare network in Ireland, which includes...
Hospital in Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
where he underwent a knee replacement operation. All official engagements were cancelled for the next ten weeks to allow the Bishop sufficient time to recuperate. After this ten-week period, the bishop, described as well-rested, began catching up on his work. The annual clerical changes were issued.
International profile
Shortly before Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
died on 2 April 2005, the Pope's Polish personal secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz called Magee urgently to Rome, where he arrived the day after the Pope's death. While remaining in Rome for the Pope's funeral, he kept contact with his diocese and was informed of the great outpouring of grief and love for Pope John Paul II manifested by the people of his diocese, and declared that he was grateful to the journalists who by interviewing him enabled him through their various media to share with his people his thoughts and his own grief on that occasion.
Who's Who in Ireland [2006] described Magee as "remote [and] low profile". It commented that many ecclesiastical observers "expected him to return to Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
by now" and remarked that the "red hat
Galero
A galero in the Catholic Church is a large, broad-brimmed tasseled hat worn by clergy. Over the centuries the galero was eventually limited in use to individual cardinals as a crown symbolizing the title of Prince of the Church...
still eludes him" (cf. Who's Who in Ireland [2006], p. 233).
In the 2007 play http://www.trh.co.uk/show_lastconfession.php The Last Confession], which centred on events surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I, the Pope's valet claimed that Magee was responsible for the Pontiff's death and that he fled after committing the act. Magee is represented as interrogated by a committee of cardinals and explaining why he had to leave Rome after the Pope's death.
April 2008 brought renewed speculation that Magee was being considered for a position in the Roman Curia. The French left-wing clerical review, Golias reported that the Irishman was in the running to succeed as head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is the congregation of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Catholic Church as distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches and also some technical matters relating to the...
. The review suggested that Magee's support for the Latin Mass had won him the Pope's approval and it argued that the bishop's apparent lack of ambition and shyness eminently qualified him for a position in the Vatican http://www.golias.fr/spip.php?article2035.
In September 2008, as the world prepared to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of John Paul I, the Italian weekly Diva e Donna published an interview with Magee, presenting it as the first time he broke his silence on the events surrounding the death of John Paul I, which he attributed to exhaustion brought on by the stress of the initial period following his election. Magee said he had been accused of having poisoned the Pope and had even been questioned by INTERPOL
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
.
2006 ad limina visit
At a meeting of his liturgical advisers and diocesan clergy in November 2006, Bishop Magee spoke of his conversation with the Pope in the course of that ad liminaQuinquennial Visit Ad Limina
In the Roman Catholic Church, a quinquennial visit ad limina or more properly, quinquennial visit ad limina apostolorum or simply an ad limina visit means the obligation of residential diocesan bishops and certain prelates with territorial jurisdiction , of visiting the thresholds of the [tombs of...
visit at the end of the previous month. He mentioned that he had been closely questioned on several aspects of his proposals to re-order Cobh Cathedral. It was obvious, he said, that the Pope had been kept well informed of the entire issue.
Bishop Magee's contribution to the ad limina visit concerned not only his diocese of Cloyne but also ceremonial matters (an area of expertise for him) on behalf of the Conference. He also facilitated the broadcasting, in coincidence with the visit, of a life of Pope John Paul I prepared some months earlier by Italian state television (RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
). In an interview published on the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire
Avvenire
Avvenire is an Italian daily newspaper affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two Catholic magazines: L'Avvenire d'Italia of Bologna and l'Italia of Milan.-History:...
on 26 October 2006, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone criticised the image that the programme presented of Pope John Paul I.
After the ad limina visit, Bishop Magee represented the Irish bishops at a meeting in Rome of the International Commission for Eucharistic Congresses.
Clerical child sex abuse inquiry
In December 2008, Bishop Magee found himself at the centre of a controversy concerning his handling of child sex abuse cases by clergy in the diocese of Cloyne. There were calls for his resignation, and on 7 March 2009 he announced that at his request the Pope had placed the running of the diocese in the hands of Dermot Clifford, metropolitan archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, to whose ecclesiastical province the diocese of Cloyne belongs. Magee remained Bishop of Cloyne, but withdrew from its administration in order, he said, to dedicate his full time to the matter of the inquiry. On 24 March 2010 it was announced by the Holy See that Bishop Magee had formally resigned from his duties as Bishop of Cloyne and was now bishop emeritus.The subsequent report of the Irish government judicial inquiry, The Cloyne Report, published on 13 July 2011, found that former Bishop Magee had falsely told the Government and the HSE in a previous inquiry that the diocese was reporting all allegations of clerical child sexual abuse to the civil authorities.
He gave his second-in-command Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan, who admits he was more concerned with the plight of abusive priests than victims, a free hand to defy an edict to report all accusations.
Both Bishop Magee and the Monsignor, the vicar general in Cloyne, refused to co-operate with a Garda inquiry into abuse in 2006.
The inquiry into Cloyne — the fourth examination of clerical abuse in the Church in Ireland — found the greatest flaw in the diocese was repeated failure to report all complaints. It found nine allegations out of 15 were not passed on to the Garda.
Response
Speaking in August 2011 Magee said that he felt "horrified and ashamed" by abuse in his diocese. Magee said he accepted "full responsibility" for the findings. He added that "I feel ashamed that this happened under my watch - it shouldn't have and I truly apologise," he said. "I did endeavour and I hoped that those guidelines that I issued in a booklet form to every person in the diocese were being implemented but I discovered they were not and that is my responsibility."Magee also offered to meet abuse victims and apologised "on bended knee". "I beg forgiveness, I am sorry and I wish to say that if they wish to come and see me privately I will speak with them and offer my deepest apology," he said. Bishop Magee said he had been "truly horrified" when he read the full extent of the abuse in the report. However, the victim said apologies would "never go far enough". "It's too late for us now, the only thing it's not too late for is that maybe there will be a future where people will be more enlightened, more aware and protect their children better," she said. Asked about restitution for victims, Dr Magee said it was a matter for the Cloyne Diocese.
External links
- Bishop John Magee, Memories of the late Pope John Paul II, Christmas Message 2005
- Was the Pope Murdered?
- Bishop to sue over coverage of disputed sacking
- BBC World, Row over Irish cathedral (video)
- Nation's wrath falls on bishop who wants to redesign cathedral
- Vatican refuses to intervene in Cobh cathedral argument
- Papal Secretary, Pro-Life Champions Reach Out to Class of 2006
- Bishop intervenes on behalf of redundant sugar workers