In the Shelter of the Most High

In the Shelter of the Most High describes the struggle of a country curate against a plethora of historical, false, and unsubstantiated allegations of child sexual abuse made against him over a period of time. Some of the allegations date back thirty and forty years. Daniel Duane refers to how his memory has recalled these alleged events. It began with an allegation of ‘kissing an adult’. After ten years, inexplicably, it grew into sexual assault of a child, and after another eleven years, it finally blossomed into multiple allegations of child rape over a three-year period. That allegation was followed by another of abuse in open confession, which was neither sexual nor physical according to the director of public prosecutions (DPP), but this sprouted into ‘solicitation in confession’, a serious crime in canon law if it can be proven. Another allegation was made by a mother who claimed the author sexually abused her son. The son did not make the allegation. There was no corroboration of these allegations, yet diocesan authorities restricted Fr Duane’s ministry to adults. The next allegation was made by a woman who had been friendly with Fr Duane for years. She claimed he sexually abused her, including full sexual intercourse, at thirteen years of age and that he continued to sexually abuse her until she reached seventeen. This allegation was made in November 2005 when Fr Duane was very ill and unable to defend himself. Nevertheless, Bishop John Magee removed him from public ministry without a preliminary trial and later sent a votum (recommendation) to the Vatican to have him summarily dismissed from the priesthood, claiming that the accuser had a diary and that ‘it was a clear case of sexual abuse of a minor’. The diary was a scrapbook with no details of abuse. The DPP found no evidence of criminal behaviour in her allegation. Undaunted by this decision, she and the father of the first claimant went to the CEO of NCPA with their false allegations and then began a public campaign of vilification of Fr Duane in the media, resulting in the Elliot report and finally resulting in the Cloyne report, costing the state four million euros, causing the resignation of Bishop Magee, and creating the biggest split between Church and State since the State’s foundation. Five more allegations arrived in as many months. The twain were later joined by a new recruit from the fresh allegations, and the trio bullied an archbishop, a bishop, priests, and the Cloyne tribunal, which was established to try the beleaguered priest. Apart from establishing the tribunal, the church stood idly by. In the Shelter of the Most High contains the full documentary.