A Shameful Legacy…, The Irish World, December 11, 2009

A Shameful Legacy…

The Irish World
December 11, 2009

http://www.theirishworld.com/article.asp?SubSection_Id=1&Article_Id=12241

The recent allegations of child abuse in the Catholic Church casts a shame on all of Ireland, not just the clerics, writes Don Morgan - 11/12/09

The Murphy Report on child abuse in the Dublin Diocese has revealed almost as much in the actions of some in its after math than within its pages. Apart from the ongoing emergence of Diarmuid Martin as being the shrewdest church operator since Cardinal Richelieu, few people, be they friend or foe of the church, have helped the dignity of the victims of abusers from the clergy. The fallout instead has been an offensive mix of lynchmob and the keystone cops.

I want to cause offence. I want to offend every idiot baying for blood, every fool looking for someone to blame, every cretin who thinks that if we can get our fix of easy retribution, we can find instant closure and everything will be solved. The fact is that the institutions of our state colluded with the church who had done little to earn its position of pre-eminence, and who were busy running rings around government officials when they were, occasionally, put on the spot.

The most stupid of all questions to arise this week was what the role of the Pope was in all of this. The Pope, no doubt, expected his bishops in Ireland to sort out the mess they made, guided by Diarmuid Martin, a Vatican functionary, as efficient and as businesslike as any ‘enforcer’.

Martin’s done all the running. He’s exposed the absence of a coherent response by his brother bishops, and in doing so has begun a sordid process of clearing the deadwood from the Irish clergy and starting again. I also note that Cardinal Brady hasn’t been seen or heard during all of this either. I’m only saying.

Whilst the hiererchy is exposed as being no more than clowns in cassocks, the public have taken part in a grotesque circus: radio shows wonder if this is the end of the church (no), pundits wondering why people are religious at all (because they are outside of Dublin 4), why they go to church (because they want to).

Others wonder why the Bishop of Limerick hadn’t resigned as yet. All of which makes not one whit of difference to the fact that the church, the state and the rest of us ignored the suffering of children who had the right to expect they could be part of their church in safety and dignity.

The great crime we’re about to perpetrate is to avoid awkward questions. Why did the Gardai, for instance, ok investigations with individual bishops first? What right did they have to play a role in a criminal investigation by the state? Absolutely none. Who allowed it? We did. Our leaders did. The same goes for caving in on state education, sex education, state school management structures.

Most mystifyingly, compensation paid to victims of abuse, do so on our dime, not the church’s. Perhaps it embodies a certain grain of guilt the state might feel.

Wasn’t it terrbile? But, sure, it’s in the past and no-one who was involved is around anymore. Effectively, that was the Gardai line. The same for the rest of us. It was sad but a long time ago. No-one asks why families let their children suffer, why people didn’t believe those who spoke up, why there was hostility to those who came forward. Was any of this right? And has there been any answer given to these uncomfortable facts?

I’m delighted this scandal has left the church in dissaray. I’m a regular Mass-goer, believe it or not, and I hold great store in my religion. But sooner or later an institution needs to live up to its duties. Surely they can be authors of a full and honest disclosure of what happened, warts and all. The Pope has kept out of it so far, because this issue is for us to sort out. If his officers acted in contravention of any moral or legal code our state has, then it’s up to us to sort it out.

By all means, let people resign. Let them be exposed for their incompetence and arrogance. If, however, all this comes to pass and no discussion takes place afterwards among us, then surely no such scandal need have been exposed in the first place.