Thomas Naughton is a priest of the

Archdiocese of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

,Murphy Report Part 2
, section 29.2, p.455 who was found guilty of the

indecent assault Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in some common law-based jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime and has significant overlap with offences referred to as sexual assault. England and Wales Indecent assault was a broa ...

of minors. He was one of 46 priests mentioned in the

Murphy Report The Murphy Report is the brief name of the report of a Commission of investigation conducted by the Irish government into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. It was released in 2009 by Judge Yvonne Murphy, only a fe ...

Early career and sex offences

Neighton was ordained in 1963 for

St. Patrick's Missionary Society St. Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions (Latin language, Latin ''Societas Sancti Patritii pro Missionibus ad Exteros''; also known as the Kiltegan Fathers) is a Catholic Church, Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for me ...

, then going to Africa and the West Indies. He also served in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

and Grenada before returning to Ireland in 1976. He was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1981 He served in several parishes in the Archdiocese of Dublin, including Aughrim Street and

Valleymount Valleymount ( or ''An Chrois'') is a small village in western County Wicklow, Ireland. Location and transport Vallymount is located approximately 32km from Dublin city centre. Valleymount is at an average elevation of 198m above sea level an ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered ...

until, in 1984, an ex-garda complained to the then Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, Donal Murray, about Naughton. He was then assigned to

Donnycarney Donnycarney () is a Northside suburb in the city of Dublin, Ireland, in the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council. It is mostly residential, around from the centre of Dublin. Dublin GAA's home stadium, Parnell Park, is located here. Location D ...

, where he was in charge of altar boys, some of whom he sexually abused. He attended a treatment centre in

Stroud, Gloucestershire Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Fiv ...

.Murphy Report Part 2
, sections 29.23 through 29.25, pp.461–462 Even though his counsellors believed that Naughton had limited insight into his offences, he was assigned to

Ringsend Ringsend () is a Southside (Dublin), southside inner suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the sou ...

, Dublin before being removed from there following further episodes of abuse. He was convicted of abusing an altar boy in Donnycarney and sentenced to three years in prison, reduced on appeal to six months. He attended a treatment centre at Our Lady of Victory in Stroud, which offers "therapy in a spiritual context", before his conviction.

Mervyn Rundle's 18-year battle for justice

In November 1985, Mervyn Rundle, then a 10-year-old altar boy in

, Dublin, came to Naughton's house. Upon returning home, he told his mother that the priest was "a queer". The boy offered his dishevelled clothes as proof, saying Naughton had touched him sexually. Mrs Rundle telephoned her husband and told him to come home from work immediately. Later, Mr Rundle, then an active parishioner, took his young son by the hand and went to the Archbishop's House to report the abuse to Monsignor Alex Stenson. Naughton was charged with indecently assaulting four altar boys between 1984 and 1988. He pleaded guilty and served the above-mentioned jail sentence.

Archdiocese response

Mervyn recalled the details of that Wednesday afternoon when Stenson asked his father to step outside while he was left alone with a senior cleric. Msgr Stenson denied an allegation that he had accused the boy of lying, and the Murphy Report makes no mention of such an incident.. Afterwards, the boy's father received a letter from the church explaining that Naughton's behaviour was caused by

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or deat ...

and a fight he had with his mother. Naughton, when challenged by the Archdiocese about the abuse, admitted what he had done. When further offences came to light in 1988, Naughton was returned to the clinic. From 1988 until his conviction a decade later, he lived in the headquarters of the St Patrick's order, caring for elderly members of the order. In 1995, Mervyn Rundle found out that Naughton had abused at least two other boys in Ringsend and was still saying

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

. He then phoned the Archbishop's House. At first he was told that the Archbishop was abroad but half an hour later, he was told he could see him the following day. Archbishop Connell was "apologetic" when Mervyn and his father found themselves back in his house for a second time. Mervyn was told that Naughton was in an enclosed order and that the Archbishop would put a stop to his saying Mass. The same day, he and his father went to Clontarf Garda Station to file an official complaint. Mervyn's father said that was the first time he heard the full truth of the abuse his son had suffered. The Rundles also initiated a

civil action - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...

against the Archdiocese, from which he received a settlement of approximately €400,000 in January 2003, 18 years after the offences were committed.

December 2009 conviction

In December 2009 Thomas Naughton pleaded guilty to five sample counts of indecent assault against an altar boy.Priest jailed for two years for abusing boy
Alison Healy,

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

, 17 December 2009 The abuse began in 1982 and continued for two years, when the victim was an altar boy in Valleymount parish and Thomas Naughton was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

. The judge described the abuse as "appalling, shocking and horrifying" and sentenced Naughton to five concurrent sentences of three years each, with the final year suspended in every case.

References

External links