Archbishops pay tribute to former bishop Brendan Comiskey as funeral details announced

Comiskey, who died yesterday at the age of 89, will be buried on Thursday, May 1, at 1pm in the Church of the Sacred Heart, St Johns Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin.

He died early Monday morning in the Louth County Hospital, Dundalk, predeceased by his parents, two sisters and seven brothers.

Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin said: “I wish to express my sadness at the death of Bishop Brendan Comiskey SS CC, Bishop Emeritus of Ferns, who served for over twenty years as a member of the Bishops Conference.”

He added: “I am deeply conscious that he chose to resign as Bishop of Ferns in April 2002 while recognising his failures in governance, and accepting that his continuation in office would ‘indeed be an obstacle to healing’ for victims and survivors of abuse.

“The safeguarding of children and vulnerable persons, and the prompt reporting of allegations of abuse, is of paramount importance in the Church today and must remain so.

“Bishop Comiskey’s death will rekindle memories of pain and suffering for many and I my thoughts and prayers at this time are also with all those who have been traumatised or let down by the awful sins and crimes and abuse perpetrated by members of the Church, or by the failure to appropriately and adequately follow up concerns that were brought to those in leadership.”

Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell said Comiskey’s decision to resign as Bishop of Ferns following allegations of child abuse in the Diocese “necessitated both courage and strength”

Archbishop Farrell said: “His words communicated both his humility, and the painful discovery of the reality of abuse, and its long-lasting consequences. It brought him to the realisation that those who shepherd the Lord’s flock were to be more concerned about the survivors, the most vulnerable, than about themselves, their position in society, their reputation, or their status.

“I offer my personal sympathies and prayers to his family, to the members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, priests, religious, friends, and to the many people whose lives he touched throughout his 64 years of priestly and episcopal ministry. We ask the Lord to grant him eternal rest.”

The Monaghan native retreated from public life following the publication of the damning Ferns Report which outlined a catalogue of child sex abuse in the diocese over a period of forty years.

It emerged that Bishop Comiskey had failed to protect children from paedophile priests and failed to report allegations that Fr Seán Fortune had abused a number of children.

The Ferns report found that Comiskey had “failed to recognise the paramount need to protect children, as a matter of urgency, from potential abusers”.

Born in August 1935, Dr Comiskey was originally from Clontibret in Co Monaghan and was ordained a priest in 1961.

He became Bishop of Ferns back in 1984, aged just 49. He would serve in the role for 18 years, through what is widely regarded as one of the darkest periods of the Catholic Church.

Speaking to the Irish Independent in 2014 about the clerical abuse scandal, he said: “I did my best and it wasn’t good enough and that’s it.”

For clerical sex abuse survivor Colm O’Gorman, the news of Bishop Comiskey’s passing stopped him in his tracks.

“I had to think, ‘how do I feel about it?’” he said. “First of all, I’d say that the death of anybody is a sad moment. I genuinely mean it when I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and those who loved him.

“Brendan Comiskey has been a private individual for a very long time. In terms of his legacy, I think it’s clearly laid out in the Ferns Report for anyone who wants to read it,” said Mr O’Gorman, who founded the One in Four charity which offers support to women and men who have experienced sexual violence.

“He was, however, one Bishop. It was really clear in the years following the report that Ferns was sadly not unique at all.”

In recent years, Bishop Comiskey had been under the care of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Ranelagh in Dublin.