By Ruth Gledhill
The Times (United Kingdom)
November 26, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6933773.ece
The 719-page report into child sex abuse by priests of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin is a shameful litany of secrecy, lies and cover-ups. It defies belief that ostensibly good, holy men turned their blindest eyes to the evidence in front of them, ignoring centuries of Biblical, Papal and Holy See documentation of clerical child sex abuse.
But they did. As evil piled upon unremitting evil, visiting the sins of the fathers upon generation after generation, canon law was ignored, allegations of abuse went unacknowledged and offending priests were moved around under the cloak of secrecy.
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| John Kelly of the Survivors of Child Abuse group speaks up. The Commission said it uncovered a 'don't ask, don't tell' throughout the Church |
Obedience was not to God or the law, but to the overarching policy of: "Don't ask, don't tell." As the report damningly says: "The highest priority was the protection of the reputation of the institution and the reputation of priests."
Although there are historic cases of abuse in Britain, so far, the Catholic Church in England, Wales and Scotland seems guiltless of anything on the scale of what we see reported in Ireland.
Under the leadership of the new Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, formerly in Birmingham, the Church has been commendably assiduous in instituting child protection procedures across the board, and publicising levels of complaints and allegations every year.
But there is still no room for complacency. An appeal due to be heard early next year will once again throw a spotlight on Father Christopher Clonan, a serial abuser in the 1970s who fled to Australia in 1992 and died in 1998.
The Birmingham archdiocese has already paid out up to £750,000 to Clonan's victims.
Earlier this year, the High Court in London judged that the Church was not liable for abuse committed by the priest against a boy, now 45, born with learning difficulties.
This was because the boy was not part of Father Clonan's congregation, but knew him through his youth work and helped him by cleaning the presbytery, washing his car and ironing his clothes.
In his judgement, even Mr Justice Jack recognised that his conclusions could on appeal turn out to be wrong and recommended damages of £17,500 should this be so.
Another report, published simultaneously with the Dublin commission report today, warns that no church in the UK can afford to be complacent about this issue. Research by the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service shows that two out of ten adults working in leadership positions across the country's churches have still not been trained in how to safeguard children from abuse. And shockingly, one in five of children's workers in the churches still believe physical punishment of children, even if just a smack on the hand, is acceptable.
Until that figure is down to zero, it is plain that Jesus message, "Suffer the little children," has yet to be fully understood. That the Holy, Catholic Apostolic Church should have so lamentably failed to understand it for so many years cannot be used by other churches, faith or secular bodies to evade their own responsibilities towards the next generations.
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