Bishop received hate mail after radio interview

BISHOP of Killaloe Willie Walsh has revealed he received a large amount of “hate mail” following comments he made in a radio interview last December about his decision not to support calls for the resignation of embattled Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray.
Bishop Walsh also admitted he made a “serious error under pressure” when he failed to state he had read sections of the report referring to the Bishop Murray’s handling of some abuse cases following the publication of The Murphy Report.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, the 75-year-old cleric said some people accused him of not being concerned about the protection of children.
The bishop, who will step down in the autumn once Bishop Elect Kieran O’Reilly is ordained, stated most of the hate mail and severe criticism came from people outside of the diocese, while he also received supportive letters from people within his own diocese.
“There was a lot of understandable anger at the time. If you speak in public about sensitive issues you don’t always get it right and you can upset people. You have to accept criticism, which can be difficult and you can find yourself in a lonely place. If you can’t deal with this criticism, you don’t make any statement.
“My difficulty at the time was that accountability took on a new meaning after the publication of the Murphy Report and it seemed to be equal to resignation.
“I don’t have a difficulty with bishops or people being accountable. Being accountable means being responsible for and explaining a person’s own actions,” he noted.
In the immediate aftermath of the Murphy Report, he said it was difficult to have a reasonable assessment.
“I am not for a moment excusing what was in the Murphy Report. It was appalling. The clerical child sex abuse was catostrophic. The protection of Church being made a priority over the protection of children was totally wrong,” he said. 
At the end of an interview with Morning Ireland at the time, Bishop Walsh said calls for the resignation of Dr Murray were based on a “gross misreading” of the Dublin Diocesan Report and warned against a desire “to get a head on a plate”.
He also stated during the interview that he hadn’t read the full report. The bishop however admitted he made a “serious error” when he failed to state that he had read the references in the report relating to Bishop Murray.
“I didn’t tell a lie. I should have said I had read the references about Donal Murray,” he stated.
Bishop Walsh apologised the day after the interview for the inappropriate way he reacted when questioned about the need for Bishop Murray to resign and deeply regretted he had caused deep hurt to victims of abuse. Bishop Murray subsequently resigned last December.