BishopAccountability.org
	Stirling Raises Clerical Abuse Issue Ballymena Times December 15, 2009 http://www.ballymenatimes.com/news/Stirling-raises-clerical-abuse-issue.5911786.jp COUNCILLOR Robin Stirling has never been a man to avoid controversy so it was hardly surprising that he raised the current child abuse scandal facing the Roman Catholic Church at last week's meeting of Ballymena Borough Council. He formally requested that Council secure copies of the Rowan and Murphy Reports on the history of clerical child abuse in the Republic so he could study their findings - and the political ramifications of the revelations contained in them. Cllr. Stirling contended that Ballymena Council was being deluged by requests from cross border bodies putting forward initiatives which he argued were cynically aimed at promoting the concept of a unified Ireland. "Yet under their feet was a vice-ridden republic. It was not only the Church which was mired in this issue .. it was the police, the educationalists, politicians in fact all organs of the state were involved. Now it has all come home to roost," he said. Cllr. Stirling was anxious to have the documents for study so he could bring a motion on the topic before full Council sometime in the new year. Referring to his previous forays into the subject of clerical child abuse, Cllr. Stirling reminded members that the sources he had quoted upon those occasions, notably the journalist John Cooney, had been dismissed as 'spurious'. "Now it seems that Cooney's story was not spurious at all," said Cllr. Stirling, producing a copy of the journalist's controversial volume entitled "John Charles McQuaid. Ruler of Catholic Ireland." This book referred to the part played by Archbishop McQuaid in supressing details of various sex scandals within the Church down through the years. "I have been followin this issue avidly in the press but I want to do my research in-depth and it is for that reason that I would like a copy of these reports," he said. It was agreed that these documents would be provided. Speaking after the meeting, Cllr. Declan O'Loan said: "Councillor Robin Stirling is quite entitled to ask the Council to obtain copies of the Ryan Report into institutional abuse and the Murphy Report on the Dublin archdiocese. However the tone of his comments suggests to me more of a desire to attack the Catholic Church than a real concern for the victims of abuse. " We would all do well to note the comments of Dominica McGowan, Director of Nexus which counsels abuse victims, that no church has any monopoly of abuse. Serious lessons must be learned from this appalling episode. That may include criminal investigations and further inquiries including enquiry into the experience in Northern Ireland. There must be guarantees that current protections for children are robust. But all of that should be guided by rational analysis and not vindictiveness. "I have been saddened by the slow response of the Catholic Church leadership to the Murphy report. It was very well indicated in advance that the report was going to be very critical of that leadership so there was every opportunity to prepare. Any church leader who is the subject of serious criticism should resign. The failure of the Apostolic Nuncio to reply to two requests to cooperate with the enquiry was also totally unacceptable and should have very serious repercussions."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.