The complaint by Dolores Atwood against Nigeria-based Archbishop Richard Burke did not start yesterday. Mrs Wood first filed a letter of complaint on the web site www.catholicreport.org at 07:10 am on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. Her letter generated a lot of buzz on the web site and others, culminating in the resignation of Archbishop Burke. Mrs Atwood, a Nigerian, wrote as follows:

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 sister's 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 believe 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.