Sir, —
In addition to reporting a current safeguarding matter in Down and Dromore, the recent BBC Spotlight programme also detailed new allegations against the late Canon WG Neely. Bishop David McClay in his response to clergy, not to the wider public, questioned the linkage. They are linked as follows, not least in Bishop McClay not mentioning the name of the clerical abuser.
Not talking about Neely is part of a wider pattern.
Though the Church of Ireland paid compensation to two of Neely’s victims, the Church has not once named Neely as an abuser.
Neely’s name features in Church of Ireland Synod reports as a respected founder of the Church of Ireland Historical Society. His death in December 2009 was also duly noted.
Neely’s name was cancelled after he was named publicly as an abuser in 2022, though the Church knew of his abuse since 1974. After 2022, the Church of Ireland Historical Society and the Church of Ireland made no mention of an abuser in their ranks.
Neely was protected at all times, in life and in death. Those attending services at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh might glance to their right, at the grave nearest the entrance. It is Neely’s.
How Neely was granted this singular honour has never been explained. In an attempt to find out, I wrote an unanswered letter to the Archbishop of Armagh. I also applied to the Probate Office in Belfast for a copy of Neely’s will, to see if it might shed light on the matter.
Uniquely, of the hundreds of thousands of wills administered by the Probate Office, Neely’s is missing.
The historic matter, that is not historic for Neely’s living victims, is linked to the contemporary issue raised by Lyndsey Telford and the Spotlight team. We are witnessing an exercise in safeguarding reputations, not victims.
Yours, etc.,
Dr Niall Meehan
(Griffith College, Dublin)
