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	Shocking Abuse Cover-Up by Catholic Church in Dublin Unveiled By Ruth Gledhill The Times (United Kingdom) November 26, 2009 http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/11/shocking-abuse-by-catholic-church-in-dublin-unveiled.html [link to the report] I quote: 'The Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The Archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the State.' Read the full report by the Commission of Investigation into the Dublin Archdiocese via the pdf links, below. My own commentary in The Times is now online, along with David Sharrock's news report from Ireland. On Twitter, Mark Williams-Thomas, presenter of To Catch A Paedophile, is pulling out some of the more shocking stats. Here are some of his tweets: '11 of the identified child sex offenders are being financially supported by the Archdiocese- why- how is this justified?' 'One peadophile priest belongs to a UK diocese and his whereabouts are unknown?' 'One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children - knowing how paedophiles minimalise offending this will run into many hundreds.' From the Irish Times The Commission of Investigation into Dublin's Catholic Archdiocese has concluded that there is 'no doubt' that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up by the archdiocese and other Church authorities. The commission's report covers the period between January 1st 1975 and April 30th 2004. It said there cover-ups took place over much of this period. In its report, published this afternoon, it has also found that 'the structures and rules of the Catholic Church facilitated that cover-up.' It also found that 'the State authorities facilitated the cover-up by not fulfilling their responsibilities to ensure that the law was applied equally to all and allowing the Church institutions to be beyond the reach of the normal law enforcement processes.' Over the period within its remit 'the welfare of children, which should have been the first priority, was not even a factor to be considered in the early stages,' it said. 'Instead the focus was on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members – the priests,' it said. In making its main findings, the report it concluded that 'it is the responsibility of the State to ensure that no similar institutional immunity is ever allowed to occur again. This can be ensured only if all institutions are open to scrutiny and not accorded an exempted status by any organs of the State.' Download Dublin Abuse Report Part 1 Download Dubline Abuse Report Part 2
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