Enough with all the secrets

Last month Bishop Kieran Conry, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton and one of England’s most influential bishops, resigned after admitting to sexual affairs with women and being in a relationship with a married mother of two children. The lawyer for the husband of the said woman claimed, “My client is considering pursuing a possible High Court action against the Catholic Church because they’ve known for years that the bishop has been having affairs and if they’d taken action he almost certainly would not have lost his marriage and his children would not be having to be brought up in a broken family.”

We do not yet know the full details of the case or the validity of the lawyer’s allegations, but in a statement read out at Masses throughout the bishop’s diocese, parishioners were told that Conry was “sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors. As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop … I want to apologize first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this. I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.”