Nigeria is not left out of the wave of child sexual abuse sweeping across the Catholic Church worldwide, as a 
serving Irish Bishop and Archbishop of Benin City, Richard Burke, yesterday resigned over child sexual abuse he allegedly committed while serving as a priest in the Warri Diocese..
According to the Irish Catholic website, the Pope accepted the resignation of the Tipperary-born Archbishop, on Monday, saying “the reason for his resignation was his failure to observe his vow of celibacy.”
Mr. Burke of the St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, had initially relegated his office as Archbishop of Benin by stepping down in early 2009, after an allegation of child sexual abuse, which he denied. The allegation was by one Dolores Atwood, (a woman) who claimed she was sexually abused by Mr. Burke when she was 14 years old, while the Archbishop was serving as a priest in the Warri Diocese of the church.Photo:The Pope has accepted the resignation of Tipperary-born Archbishop Richard Burke, a member of the St Patrick’s Missionary Society and Archbishop of Benin City, Nigeria.
Acceptance of guilty
According to the website, Mr. Burke admitted having a sexual relationship with Mrs. Atwood but claimed adamantly that “she was over 18.” An investigation into the abuse claims by the St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, according to a statement released yesterday, “found no evidence to corroborate the allegation of child sexual abuse.”
“The case has now been taken over by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and is still with that department of the Vatican,” the statement read.
In his resignation statement addressed to the Pope, Mr. Burke apologised for the “pain and hurt” he has caused Mrs. Atwood, who is now based in Canada, and her family, stating that “she and I had a caring relationship that began in the latter part of 1989, when she was 21 and I was 40. I was posted back to Ireland in March 1990, and returned to Nigeria in April 1996.”
The embattled bishop further described the sexual escapades he had with Mrs. Atwood as against the Catholic’s celibacy doctrine, stating that “in the last 20 years, Mrs. Atwood and I met on seven occasions. On three of those occasions, our relationship was again expressed sexually. This was entirely inappropriate behaviour and it is something for which I am truly sorry,” he expressed in the statement to the Vatican.
“I apologise to my family, to my relatives, to my friends, and to my fellow members of St Patrick’s Missionary Society. I also ask the forgiveness of the people, religious and clergy of the Diocese of Warri and the Archdiocese of Benin City. I am very aware that I have hurt many people and I ask their forgiveness and prayers,” he said.
The Catholic Church has being under immense attack, with Pope Benedict XVI coming under pressure for concealing some of the alleged abuses.
HER STORY:
I am writing this note concerning the past and present conducts of ArchBishop Richard Burke S.P.S of the Arch Dioceses of Warri and Benin in Nigeria a Irish citizen. I am a 41-year-old woman who has been living in Canada since 1995 with my husband and 3 children. In 1982 as a young girl from a Muslim home I began my journey into the Catholic faith and first met Father Richard Burke a Catholic priest at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Warri Nigeria. In 1983 when I was 14 years old, I became the victim of (what I now know to be) a sexual assault.
When I was 14, I was sick in the hospital with a fever and Father Burke came to visit me. When he and I were alone in my hospital room, he touched and kissed me in a very inappropriate manner. During my teenage years, I suffered through the divorce of my parents, Richard Burke was there for me and the relationship between myself and he intensified. I became so attached to Richard Burke, that there seemed to be no one else that could be a part of my life, even though I knew that he was having relations with other young Nigerian girls.
During the past 25 years I did not tell anyone of our relationship, because he told me not to talk about it to anyone no matter what and also fear of the negative impacts on him and the Catholic Church. Richard Burke left Nigeria in 1989 when he was sent to New Jersey in the USA and then back to Ireland with St. Patrick’s Society. In 1993 I met my husband, who was a Canadian volunteer working in Nigeria, while I was studying at University. My husband and I were married in 1995 in Canada and have had 3 children together.
From 1989 to 1995 Father Burke and I continued communications by letters. When I told him that I was planning to get married in 1994, he became upset with me and told me that I should never tell anyone about the relationship between himself and I. Richard Burke returned to Nigeria in 1996 as Bishop of Warri Diocese. From 1996 to 1998, my husband and I left Canada and worked in Thailand. In 1998 Bishop Burke and I began regular communications by phone again. In 2000 while I was expecting my second child, Bishop Burke said that he would help get my youngest sister to come to Canada for a visit.
I suspected that there was something not right when things did not work out and Bishop Burke began to take a keen interest in my youngest sisters well being. Once again, our relationship intensified with frequent amorous telephone conversations. In 2005 I found out that Bishop Burke had had a sexual relationship with my youngest sister. The “friendship” between Bishop Burke and myself began to deteriorate as, once again, I started to become aware of other young girls that he was molesting.
In fact, I suspect that Richard Burke has molested or sexually abused hundreds of young Nigerian girls during his time as a priest and Bishop in Nigeria. I also know that he has taped past conversations that I have had with him and have told others, including his family in Ireland as well as my husband that I am obsessed with him in order to discredit me and make me appear to be crazy. Over a year ago, following a major dispute between myself and Bishop Burke, I confessed to my husband that I had had an intimate relationship with Bishop Burke.
This was the first time that I had ever told anyone of this affair. Since my confession, my husband and I have gone to marriage counseling and I have taken private counseling to deal with the stress, trauma and confusion that I have had to deal with over the past 26 years. Following my counseling sessions, I have learned that a man that I though had loved and cared for me has in fact manipulated and controlled me. I know that Richard Burke is self-serving and that he does not serve the Church. In fact the Church serves Richard Burke by providing him access to the young girls that look up to him and then become his victims of unwanted sexual advances.
I believe now, that Richard Burke is a pedophile I have been corresponding with St. Patrick's Society since 2007 about this and have shared with them taped conversations that I had with Richard Burke in the past where he admits to having inapproprite sexual relations with young girls, married women, religious sisters and prostitutes. I have saved notes letters and emails that Richard Burke had sent me in the past, which I have shared with those of St. Patrick's that are "investigating" him. I know that Richard Burke was sent for an assessment at St. Luke's in Manchester in March of this year, and that Richard Burke is continuing with his public ministry in Nigeria and is having access to young girls in Nigeria.
I do not beleive that St. Patrick's Society in Kiltegan County Wicklow, Ireland has taken my complaints seriously. I do not trust them, and believe that they are trying to help Richard Burke escape prosecution and justice for the crimes he has committed.
Feeling a little hypocritical and conflicted, I did some research. While there are many different definitions of sexual harassment, they all agree that, if the victim feels uncomfortable, and/or the action is unwelcome, then the behaviour (or words) can be construed as harassment. I particularly like the Australian human rights commissiondefinition: "sexual harassment is any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour which makes a person feel offended or humiliated and that reaction could reasonably have been expected in the circumstances". It provides a little more clarification- that 'uncomfortable' feeling needs to be reasonable, but I still couldn't justify my double-standard - how could I be morally outraged at one man for staring at my breasts, and yet flutter my eyelashes at another? (Okay, so this is all hypothetical - I wish that man would stare at my breasts!)
