Irish Bishops Have Asked to Be Forgiven for the " Failure of Moral Leadership" Identified by a Report into Clerical Child Abuse in Dublin Archdiocese.
BBC News
December 9, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8404995.stm
IRELAND -- Catholic bishops issued the apology as they met for their winter general meeting at Maynooth in C
ounty Kildare.
The bishops said all normal business was suspended on the first day of their two-day conference, as they turned their "full attention" to the report.
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| The Murphy report found church leaders had covered up child abuse |
The Murphy report found that church authorities had covered up child abuse.
Also known as the "Commission of Investigation Report into the Archdiocese of Dublin", the Murphy report stated that Catholic leaders had prioritised the preservation of the church's reputation above the welfare and safety of the children in their care.
Shamed
On Wednesday, the bishops issued a statement in which they said they were "deeply shocked by the scale and depravity of abuse" which was described in the report.
They also said that they were "shamed by the extent to which child sexual abuse was covered up in the archdiocese of Dublin".
The bishops added that they recognised the report's findings indicated a culture of cover-up was "widespread" in the church.
"We, as bishops, apologise to all those who were abused by priests as children, their families and to all people who feel rightly outraged and let down by the failure of moral leadership and accountability that emerges," they said.
At the Maynooth conference, the bishops agreed to ask the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church to engage with government departments and statutory authorities to ensure that the church's current policies in relation to safeguarding of children "represent best practice" and that allegations of abuse are "properly handled".
Painful situation
They will ask the board to work with civic authorities on both sides of the Irish border.
The bishops added that the Murphy report had raised "very important issues" for the Catholic Church in Ireland, including the functioning of their own conference and questions of how lay people could be "more effectively involved".
The statement said the bishops would give "further detailed consideration" to those issues.
The Pope has summoned the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady and the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, to Rome to brief him on the "painful situation of the church in Ireland" following the publication of the Murphy report.
They will meet with Pope Benedict on Friday.
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