Below is an article by Catherine Pepinster in the current issue of The Tablet. Ms Pepinster is a former editor of The Tablet.
It makes for an interesting read. It is a powerful example of the damage that clericalism does to the church.
St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle is one of Augustus Pugin’s great masterpieces. Built with the halfpenny subscriptions of the Tyneside Catholic poor – among them migrants from Ireland who had flocked to the city for work in its docks, shipbuilding yards and mines – it symbolised the hope that the Church would return to its pre- Reformation glory in the north of England.
On 25 March 2019 it was filled to overflowing when bishops from England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, including the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, the clergy of the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri, the mayors, civic leaders and the great and the good of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Darlington and Hartlepool heard the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Edward Adams, read out the mandate from Pope Francis con- firming that Robert Byrne, auxiliary bishop of Birmingham, was the new diocesan bishop.
The Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, presented the new bishop to the dean of the cathedral, Fr Dermott Donnelly, representing the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. Then those at the installation Mass heard from the new bishop himself, talking, appropriately on that Feast of the Annunciation, of new beginnings. He spoke of being humbled by the task before him, of coming to Newcastle “over-awed and with some trepidation”. “We are on a journey of faith,” he told his new flock. “Like any journey we learn as we walk on our way together.”
If anybody wondered that day why an Oratorian with absolutely no links to the north east had been chosen to lead the Church in one of the poorest parts of Britain, and had managed to secure papal, episcopal and civic endorsement, they stayed quiet. But it did not take long for doubts to emerge about how Byrne had been included in the terna – the list of three names submitted to Rome as epis- copal contenders – let alone how he had emerged as the top candidate.
Byrne himself seemed lonely, isolated and uncomfortable in his new home. He seemed uninterested in learning what Geordie Catholics liked and loved. Among their loves was the cathedral dean, Dermott Donnelly, brother of Declan, one half of the TV duo Ant and Dec. Fr Donnelly had developed an impressive youth ministry in the diocese and had made the cathedral a place of hospitality for all, includ- ing the homeless. But within six months Byrne cast him aside; Fr Donnelly died last year at the age of 55, following a short illness. In his place, Byrne had installed Canon Michael McCoy, despite concerns raised by senior priests and safeguarding experts. It was a foolish decision.
Byrne also dismayed people with his decision to move the bishop’s house to a far more affluent neighbourhood and to spend considerable sums on refurbishment. But possibly the most disastrous move of all was another decision to ignore advice from his safeguarding team. Soon after arriving in Newcastle, Byrne informed the diocesan safeguarding officer that he wanted a close friend, Fr Timothy Gardner, to move in with him in his home. He told her he was lonely and isolated. Given that Gardner was a regis- tered sex offender with a previous conviction for possession of child pornography, this was viewed as unwise. Yet soon after, Fr Gardner started to visit, staying overnight. He had his own set of keys to the house.
The diocesan safeguarding co-ordinator at the time, Angie Richardson, says: “The key safeguarding issue was Robert Byrne. [His predecessor] Bishop Seamus Cunningham was always respectful of safeguarding expertise. But this was different. Bishop Byrne did not take advice and details of the problems with Michael McCoy were in the files.” Richardson also warned Byrne about associating with a sex offender. “He raised having someone stay in his house the first time I met him but I knew about Gardner so I told him it was unwise.” She also advised against Byrne finding Gardner a job in the diocesan archives, where he might have seen sensitive material.
Within three-and-a-half years of being installed as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, Robert Byrne quit, saying that his office was “too great a burden”. His episcopacy had led to serious complaints to the nuncio about his conduct, not least how he handled safeguarding matters; to rumours in the diocese about his decisions, his choice of friends and his appointments; to grave concerns about safe- guarding held by both professional safeguarders and by survivors of abuse. Just how serious the situation was is revealed in the report published last week by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA), which said that there were “serious failures of lead- ership” by Bishop Byrne, including “poor decision-making, inappropriate associations, and ignoring professional safeguarding advice”.
Another inquiry was conducted earlier this year by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon on behalf of the Vatican’s Dicastery of Bishops. It remains secret, but the executive summary published by the archbishop also refers to “errors of judgement”.
Why Bishop Byrne thought it wise to appoint Canon McCoy as dean is mystifying. Not only did he disregard advice from his safeguarding coordinator but the CSSA report makes it clear that his predecessor, Séamus Cunningham, had warned him that there were historic concerns about McCoy’s relationships with teenage boys. But Byrne went ahead. There was further trouble. Rumours swept Newcastle about goings-on in the cathedral during the Covid lockdowns, including allegations of misbe- haviour in both the cathedral and the adjoining residence. Three priests told the diocesan safe- guarding coordinator that there was a culture of drinking in the cathedral. Archbishop McMahon’s report acknowledges that those working in the cathedral during lockdown enjoyed drinking wine together. A report was made to Northumbria Police but they decided to take no action; Byrne was not present at any of these gatherings.
Eighteen months after his appointment as dean, police began investigating Canon McCoy over a historic allegation of abuse. He moved out of the cathedral residence but died four days later. A May 2022 inquest ruled that he had taken his own life.
At some point, the CSSA report says, Bishop Byrne took Fr Gardner to the cathedral where they spent time with Canon McCoy. One witness told The Tablet that “McCoy would go out with Byrne and Gardner for a meal”. It was this kind of association that caused safeguarding alarm bells to ring. Yet the diocesan safeguarding team could do very little: they can give bishops advice but it is not mandatory for bishops to take it. This flaw in the Catholic safeguarding system is one that profoundly concerns both members of the laity and the CSSA.
Also deeply worrying is the time it takes for safeguarding issues to be dealt with. The Hexham and Newcastle safeguarding officer spoke to Robert Byrne about Fr McCoy and Fr Gardner within six months of his installation as bishop. By September 2021, when Fr McCoy took his own life, the trustees of the diocese had commissioned an internal investigation from its safeguarding chair. In 2022, the CSSA decided it wanted its own report. Byrne resigned in December, following the intervention of the nuncio, who had also been alerted to problems by a whistleblower. The interim CSSA chief executive, Steve Ashley, met the key Hexham and Newcastle whistleblower the same month and then Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, by then apostolic administrator of Hexham and Newcastle, on 10 January this year. Extraordinarily, Ashley, who had previously been vice-chair of the CSSA, said he “was unaware of what was going on in Hexham and Newcastle” until he took over the top job in October 2022, when he was finally briefed about it.
Mary Varley, a member of the lay organisation Root & Branch, says that the delay of over three years, from alarm bells ringing with the safeguarding officer in September 2019 to Byrne’s resignation in December 2022, is unacceptable.
“This is the big question: why should it take so long for Byrne to go?” she says. “The delay meant there were potential risks to children.” Other problems in safeguarding across the Church in England and Wales have emerged from the CSSA inquiry. It recommends there should be a policy specifically for clergy whistleblowers. As Ashley points out, at present, canon law prevents whistleblowing by a priest about a bishop. But the CSSA can only recommend: it’s down to the English and Welsh bishops to lobby Rome to change canon law. The CSSA, however, can help whistleblowers who are lay people. Ashley and CSSA chair Nazir Afzal are investigating how more support could be offered to the laity.
The CSSA also calls for the Bishops’ Conference to look at how complaints can be dealt with if a bishop does not implement what his safeguarding team advises. “There is no escalation process. There is no point in having advice if the bishop does not take it.
Newcastle shows there are wider structural issues for the Church,” Mr Afzal says. The experience of offering counsel and having it ignored made safeguarding co-ordinator Angie Richardson’s position untenable. As Steve Ashley points out: “We had a situation in Hexham and Newcastle where a whistleblowing member of staff felt they had no alternative but to resign.”
The CSSA is now going to discuss with the bishops whether a third party should be involved when safeguarders and bishops are unable to reach an agreement.
Another issue is the way in which priests convicted of crimes are dealt with by the Church. The Dominican Order, to which Fr Gardner belongs, asked Rome to laicise him in 2015, but the request was turned down.
Ashley calls this “a disgraceful decision” but, again, it is out of the CSSA’s hands. Fr Gardner has now been charged with further criminal offences regarding children following an investigation by Northumbria Police.
Steve Ashley and Nazir Afzal are also calling for more transparency in the appointment of bishops.
That matters took such a wrong turn so soon after Byrne’s installation has caused many people to ask why he was appointed. Maggie Mathews, of Stolen Lives, which represents survivors, says: “Are the same people who recommended Bishop Byrne now recommending others to the episcopacy? What about their judgement? We should have a transparent system, with a proper panel, including survivors of abuse and other laity, assessing can- didates.”
People who have spoken to The Tablet say they voiced concerns about Robert Byrne’s judgement as long ago as the 1970s. But any change to the appointment of bishops will depend on ... bishops.
No amount of calls for transparency from the CSSA or the laity will change the system. “What would be heartening,” says Mary Varley, “would be to see the English and Welsh bishops lobbying their colleagues to get this system changed.” Steve Ashley is convinced that this is one of the most critical issues for the Church today. “We are asking for a change in the process,” he said. “To show some degree of transparency is critical if the Church wants to gain the trust of people again.” Just how damaging this process has been is clear from one Tynesider, who says: “The system we have got is that the bishops basically mark their own homework. And that’s not good enough”.
Last week, the appointment of a new bishop for Hexham and Newcastle was announced. In his first pastoral letter to the diocese, Stephen Wright pledged to “model best practice in safeguarding matters in my personal conduct and by following the national safeguarding policies,” and committed himself to only making appointments in the diocese after consultation with the safeguarding team – a promise that the CSSA welcomes.
The new bishop admits to having accepted his appointment with a “nervous joy”. After the traumas they have endured in the last few years, it would be entirely understandable if his flock felt the same.
Might those nerves – and the anxieties now felt by all Catholics when a new bishop is appointed – be assuaged if they could be confident that the Church was committed to a more convincing and transparent appointments process?
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