BishopAccountability.org
	No Joy for Survivors of Abuse after Pope’s Discussions Kilkenny Advertiser February 18, 2010 http://www.advertiser.ie/kilkenny/article/22584 Once again the Catholic church has disappointed and this week’s Vatican visit by our bishops has proven to have been a ball of white smoke to sufferers of clerical abuse. Survivors had hoped that something more dramatic than the condemning of sexual abuse of children as a heinous crime might come out of the meetings with the Pope this week, however, this was not to be the case. Hopes of an apology or an acceptance of responsibility were dashed as the Pope went on to claim that the ‘weakening of faith has been a significant contributing factor leading to the sexual abuse of miners.” Does that mean that if everyone believed more in God that this scandal would never have happened? I don’t think so, Pope. He also urged the bishops and priests to address the problems of sexual abuse ‘with determination and resolve’ and to face the present crisis with ‘honesty and courage’. That could really be seen as a cop-out by many and I think that the survivors of abuse have a right to be angry. The Pope’s comments are vague and abstract and basically amount to nothing. He might have a good PR officer to help him with his publicity, because nothing solid has come out of his meeting with the Irish hierarchy for the people who suffered under bogus priests who abused children. They did not get any solace from his comments, but I don’t understand why anyone would want anything from the Pope after what they suffered at the hands of frustrated and sick priests. Surely it is time to move away from the need to reconcile with the church. Terrible things happened and little children suffered. They have now become adults and the suffering they endured lives on in their minds - but in order to be at peace and to be happy is it not better to move that part of your life from the forefront of your mind by leaving the Catholic church to one side also. Why look for something from the Pope when he is not ever going to admit liability by his institution? It was hard enough to get the Catholic church here to admit wrong-doing, let alone the Pope. Survivors are the bigger people in this situation. They have survived through the worst form of horror imaginable and they should be proud. They need nothing more from the church at this stage. They need to move forward as singer songwriter Jimmy MacCarthy says in his interview on page 29. In his song Christian Telephone, which is about clerical abuse, the lyrics ‘Tongues of Fire, Hearts of stone, No reply on the Christian telephone’ ring true for many.
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