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	Irish Catholic Church Shakeup Likely after Abuse Cover-Up By Philip Pullella National Post (Canada) December 12, 2009 http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=2332309 Pope Benedict expressed "outrage, betrayal and shame" yesterday at the sexual abuse of children by priests in Ireland, which Church leaders said would lead to a shakeup of the Irish Roman Catholic Church. Church sources expected some bishops to resign after a government report that said Church leaders in overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland had covered up widespread abuse of children by priests for 30 years. "I think that we are looking at a very significant reorganization of the Church in Ireland," Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin, said after he and other Irish Church leaders held an emergency meeting with the Pope. The Vatican said Benedict would write to the Irish people about the crisis and a plan for action, the first time a pope will devote a document solely to the clergy's abuse of children. "The Holy Father shares the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland, and he is united with them in prayer at this difficult time in the life of the Church," a Vatican statement said. Ireland has been in a state of shock since the publication of the Murphy Commission report two weeks ago. It said the Church had "obsessively" hidden child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975-2004, and operated a policy of "don't ask, don't tell". Several bishops who worked in Dublin during that period are likely to offer to resign, Church sources said. The Vatican statement alluded to this, saying the Holy See would look into "questions concerning the governance of local Church leaders with ultimate responsibility for the pastoral care of children." It added the report "deeply disturbed and distressed" the Pope, who expressed "his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims and their families, and by society at large." "I really think we need renewal," Archbishop Martin said, adding beyond "working very hard on the question of child protection," the Irish Church must renew parish life and get more lay people involved in Church organization. The report said all Dublin archbishops during the period under study had been aware of some complaints, but the archdiocese had been more preoccupied with protecting the reputation of the Church than safeguarding children's welfare. The Church's prominent role in Irish life was one of the reasons why abuses by a few priests were allowed to go unchecked, the report said. One priest admitted abusing more than 100 children. Another said he had abused children every two weeks for over 25 years. The Murphy report came six months after the release of a similarly damning and even more graphic report about floggings, slave labour and gang rape in Ireland's now defunct Church-run industrial and reform schools in the 20th century. That report also accused state officials and police of abetting a cover-up.
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