By Dan Buckley and Garry O’Sullivan
Irish Examiner
January 24, 2009
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=82758-qqqx=1.asp
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EVERY Irish Catholic bishop has agreed to give a written commitment to implement new guidelines for safeguarding children.
Following an emergency meeting of the Irish Bishops Conference in Maynooth, the bishops also asked the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church to conduct an audit of present practice in each diocese.
The meeting followed damning reports by the board and the HSE on the handling of clerical child abuse cases in Cloyne.
The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin last night insisted that he will only support a review of practices if it includes a system of verifying that all other bishops and religious superiors are implementing the new guidelines.
As leader of the largest diocese, Archbishop Martin has the greatest risk potential as most religious orders have the majority of religious houses and their headquarters in Dublin. The archbishop also indicated the crisis is far from over. Asked as he left the bishops’ meeting if this was finally the end of the clerical abuse saga, Archbishop Martin declared: “I wish it was.”
In a statement after the meeting, Cloyne’s Bishop John Magee apologised to victims of clerical abuse, to those working with victims and to the public for the suffering and frustrations occasioned by the failures detailed in the report.
Calls for his resignation are expected to abate in the wake of yesterday’s decisions by the Bishops Conference.
Representatives of the board addressed the meeting on policies and procedures for best practice in safeguarding children.
The bishops acknowledged that victims of clerical abuse have once again had their wounds of abuse opened by Church failure.
The bishops agreed:
* To sign a written commitment to implement the new safeguarding and guidance materials soon to be published by the board and to co-operate fully with their ongoing monitoring.
* To invite the board to undertake a review of practice and risk in the safeguarding of children within their dioceses. It was emphasised that in order to restore confidence and credibility in the Church’s commitment to safeguarding children, every bishop, every religious congregation and every missionary society must implement all statutory guidelines in this area, as well as the agreed policy of the Bishops’ Conference, Conference of Religious of Ireland and the Irish Missionary Union.
In a statement last night, the Minister for Children Barry Andrews refused to be drawn on his own position regarding Bishop Magee’s hold on his job.
“I spoke at that time back at Christmas about the bishop’s position and I will leave it there,” said Mr Andrews.
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