It is interesting to watch the firestorm unfolding in Ireland after the release of the latest government report on the massive sexual abuse cover up that went on in the Diocese of Dublin. Some of the formerly lesser auxillary bishops involved in the cover up hold higher office now and at least one or two high clerics are calling for accountability on the part of bishops - something that to this day has not occurred in the USA. The two calling for accountability are the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and to a lesser extent the Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Séan Brady. They - unlike so many in the Church hierarchy seem to understand that either the Church embraces accountability and reform or its days of influence and power in Ireland certainly once a bastion of Catholicism - may be gone forever. First, some comments from an Irish Catholic to a fellow blogger:*
The RC archbishop of Dublin has said this week that he doesn't want to go in to a meeting with fellow bishops this week until they have answered for their behaviour in dealing with priests who were accused of abusing children. There are calls that at least one bishop should resign ... the Bishop of Limerick for "inexcusable behaviour" in not following up on claims of abuse in a thorough manner. The church in Ireland really has reached a turning point where the old ways will not be tolerated any more but the future remains unclear. It could be a catalyst for genuine reform or it may also result in many giving up on religion completely. The single point of hope is that the current Dublin archbishop has for the most part dealt in an honest fashion with what he has inherited.
*
This archbishop says that there are now only two other bishops in the country who are on speaking terms with him! I think it would be fair to say that the continued existence of the Catholic Church in Ireland rests in the hands of the archbishop of Dublin, without him the institution would have lost all credibility and the jury is still out on whether the institution can regain any credibility in the future.
*
It goes without saying that the behaviour of the church in the Dublin diocese was typical of the behaviour in dioceses countrywide. A TV current affairs program dealt with a case in Donegal where a priest was transferred to a new parish within the diocese every time accusations were made about him and there were about 10 transfers made over the course or 20 or 30 years leaving that individual free to repeatedly abuse over that period.
*
Here's what the Irish Times is reporting on the statements of the Archbishop of Dublin - who in my view seems better for leadership that the current Pope who likewise engaged in coverups at the direction of the anything but saintly Pope John II:
*
THE ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said last night he was writing to the Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray and all other auxiliary bishops who served in Dublin and who are named in the Dublin diocesan report.
*
Dr Martin said he was “not satisfied” with some of their responses so far. He pointed out that those bishops named in the report, but no longer serving in the Dublin archdiocese, could not tailor their responses to people in their current dioceses.What they did and did not do failed people in Dublin and they owe them a response, he said.
*Archbishop Martin said he was not the leader of the Church in Ireland. “Only two bishops lifted the phone [to him in recent days] and asked ‘are you ok?’,” he said. There was “a need for strong leadership, Cardinal Brady and I are agreed on that,” he said. “I want answers that can stand up. This we have to see and I will have no difficulty in showing the answers I get.”
THE ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said last night he was writing to the Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray and all other auxiliary bishops who served in Dublin and who are named in the Dublin diocesan report.
*
Dr Martin said he was “not satisfied” with some of their responses so far. He pointed out that those bishops named in the report, but no longer serving in the Dublin archdiocese, could not tailor their responses to people in their current dioceses.What they did and did not do failed people in Dublin and they owe them a response, he said.
*Archbishop Martin said he was not the leader of the Church in Ireland. “Only two bishops lifted the phone [to him in recent days] and asked ‘are you ok?’,” he said. There was “a need for strong leadership, Cardinal Brady and I are agreed on that,” he said. “I want answers that can stand up. This we have to see and I will have no difficulty in showing the answers I get.”
*
“If I am unhappy with answers . . . I don’t want to be sitting at meetings with people who have not responded to a very serious situation. . . Everyone should stand up and take responsibility for what they did,” he said.
“If I am unhappy with answers . . . I don’t want to be sitting at meetings with people who have not responded to a very serious situation. . . Everyone should stand up and take responsibility for what they did,” he said.
*
Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Séan Brady has today called for accountability among bishops in the wake of the Murphy report into the handling of complaints of child sexual abuse by priests. Dr Brady said he would be travelling to the Vatican with Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin to discuss the findings of the report with Pope Benedict.
*
Asked what he would do if it were found that children had been abused as a result of any failing on his part, Dr Brady said he would stand down. “I would remember that the abuse of children is a very serious crime in civil and canon law. It’s also a very grave sin,” he said. "If I found myself in a situation where I was aware that my failure to act had allowed or meant other children were abused, well then I think I would resign."
*
Asked what he would do if it were found that children had been abused as a result of any failing on his part, Dr Brady said he would stand down. “I would remember that the abuse of children is a very serious crime in civil and canon law. It’s also a very grave sin,” he said. "If I found myself in a situation where I was aware that my failure to act had allowed or meant other children were abused, well then I think I would resign."
*
Accountability among the Catholic Church hierarchy. What a refreshing concept. I can only hope that the Church in Ireland shows more integrity than it has in the USA. Here, the Church deserves to be continually maligned and criticised for its failure to clean its own house.
1 comment:
The Church in Ireland is already showing more integrity than the Church in the US. We have in the US no Diarmud Martin. We have bishops who have blamed all priests and denied due canonical process to all priests, while never accepting responsibility for the transfer and continued abusive behavior of the small minority of priest who have engaged in this reprehensible behavior.
We also see in Ireland clear and unambiguous condemnation of the bishops' behavior by members of the national parliament. Have we seen such defense of the innocent or calls to accountability by members of the US Congress.
Post a Comment