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	Denial of and Inaction on Abuse Reflects Badly on Senior Churchmen The Southern Star December 3, 2009 http://www.southernstar.ie/article.php?id=1675 AT the time of the publication last May of the Ryan Report into systemic physical and sexual abuse of children in institutions run by various religious orders on behalf of the State – which made for terribly unsettling reading – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin hinted that what was to come in the report on clerical child abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin would be even more shocking. The publication on Thursday of last week of the Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, otherwise known as the Murphy Report, confirmed that the information that Archbishop Martin was privy to then was every bit as horrific as he had intimated and there is no doubt that it will be hugely damaging to the Roman Catholic Church at a time when the institution is already suffering from a huge drop in numbers attending Mass as well as a dearth of vocations to the priesthood. The vast majority of clergy still serving are good people and should not be tainted as guilty by association with those who abused their positions of trust over the years to defile innocent young people by sexually abusing them and condemning them to lives of self-doubt about their own worth, which in turn led them to abuse alcohol or drugs or even other people, or perhaps to inflict self-harm or attempt suicide. However, there are some men still in positions of authority in the Irish hierarchy who failed to do the right thing by those unfortunate members of their flock who fell prey to evil abusers and, as Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny correctly called for at the weekend, they should resign. Taoiseach Brian Cowen was somewhat ambivalent when asked what he thought of that call, saying that it was a matter for these people’s own consciences to consider and decide on. However, as former Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte stated, the members of the hierarchy whose actions – or lack of same – have been exposed and branded as inexcusable by Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report should not be allowed by the State to have any further role in patronage of educational institutions in their dioceses. Indeed, the process of secularising our school system at primary and secondary school levels is something that needs to be advanced with greater urgency, as the Church has had disproportionate influence in this area over the years. The advent of gaelscoileanna and other non-denomenational schools in recent times has not turned all their pupils into little pagan brats, because these schools have recognised and respected the co-existence of religious and cultural differences in a way that reflects the realities of modern Ireland. While materialism has been a factor in falling Church attendances, the main reason that people are turning their back on the once revered institution that they thought could do no wrong is the exposure of the abuses of the past, which have been exacerbated by the revelations of collusion and cover-up by senior members of the hierarchy in the Ferns, Ryan and Murphy reports of recent years. This has compounded the vileness of the abuse and exposed the Church authorities as hypocrites of the highest order, acting completely contrary to the Christian message they preach from the pulpit. As a result, people are voting with their feet and having little to do with the Church at a time when it never needed lay people more to help out, given the huge fall-off in vocations to the priesthood. This must be heartbreaking for older people whose faith in God and in the Church helped them stoically get through the hard times that this country endured in the middle years of the last century before it became prosperous – for a while, at least. Some of the priests they looked up to have been exposed as serial abusers and – now that there is no more denying or dismissing it – the cold, hard facts must be very difficult for them to take. The Roman Catholic Church needs to re-invent itself if it is ever to regain the respect it once had. In order to address the shortfall in vocations, it will have to revisit the debate on whether to allow women priests and the whole question of celibacy and whether it should allow priests to marry. Indeed, one wonders whether or not the vow of celibacy was a contributory cause of the sexual frustration of clerics, who then sickenly preyed on and abused innocent children. Before the Church goes about re-inventing itself for the modern era – and this must be done in meaningful consultation with its members, if it is to be true to its own philosophy – it needs to facilitate full and final closure for the victims of the dark era of abuse that has been described as the Irish Holocaust. And, if that means doing reports, such as those of Ryan and Murphy on every diocese in the country, then so be it, because it is the least that victims deserve. In just a representative sample of the abuse perpetrated in the Dublin Archdiocese, covering the years between 1975 and 2004, it emerged in the Murphy Report that ‘the Archdiocese’s pre-occupations were the maintenance of secrecy, avoidance of scandal, protection of the Church’s reputation and preservation of its assets.’ More shockingly, it adds: ‘other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to the priorities.’ The Commission of Investigation provides a damning indictment of the archbishops who presided over religious affairs in the capital dating back almost 70 years, especially the long-serving Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, whose authority was akin to that of an Ayatollah, as he took full advantage of the special position given to the Catholic Church in Bunreacht na hEireann in 1937, three years before he became archbishop for a period of 32 years. He probably exerted more influence on the cowed population in the early years of his tenure than the thenTaoiseach and, later President, Eamon De Valera, who gave the Church the special position it enjoyed in the Constitution. McQuaid’s successors as Archbishop of Dublin, the late Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara and the now Cardinal Desmond Connell, were criticised in the Murphy Report for varying degrees of negligence in their dealings with complaints of sexual abuse by priests. The latter’s main failing was cited as his slowness to react to the scale of the abuse and, of course, there was also his reluctance to hand over documents concerning abuse to the relevant authorities. In fact this reticence extended all the way to the Vatican and former Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, is quite rightly criticised in the report for ignoring written requests for documentation. To his great credit, the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has not been found wanting in this regard and seems to have co-operated fully with the Commission of Investigation, as well as strongly hinting that senior bishops criticised in the Murphy Report should consider their position. An Garda Siochana also comes in for some criticism for its inaction in relation to reports of child abuse by priests. While most instances were not reported to them in the early days, those that were were often dismissed by gardai, some of whom were incredulous that such a thing could happen and others who felt that the clergy were above the law of the land. Current Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, in apologising for this, admitted it occurred ‘at a time when a misguided or undue deference was often shown to religious institutions and figures by many in our society. Such deference can have no place in a criminal investigation.’ He has ordered an inquiry by an Assistant Commissioner into the matter and re-assured people that the current Garda approach to child abuse cases is designed to deal sensitively with victims and apply the best investigative methods to secure a just outcome in the courts, promising: ‘I want to assure victims that when they ask for our help they will receive it.’ Even though Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Eamonn Walsh is of the opinion that the Dublin diocesan inquiry, which is also currently preparing a report on alleged child abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne, should not be extended countrywide, we would beg to differ, because it is highly-likely that the culture of abuse was endemic throughout all the dioceses of Ireland and that there were cover-ups that need to be exposed also. He would prefer instead that they just implement the recommendations of the reports to hand and put in place the necessary civil and legislative structures to deal with what they have found. That this should be done is a given, but we still owe it to all the victims in all the dioceses throughout the country to investigate their cases and to give them the opportunity to achieve some form of closure in respect of what can only be described as the unspeakable evil perpetrated upon them.
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