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	The Church Should Resist Mood for a Wider Inquiry By David Quinn Irish Independent March 19, 2010 http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/david-quinn-the-church-should-resist-mood-for-a-wider-inquiry-2104179.html Consider please, the vagaries of journalism. It now transpires that in 1997, which is to say, 13 years ago, 'The Sunday Mirror' broke the story that Archbishop Sean Brady -- as he was then -- had dealings with the Fr Brendan Smyth case 22 years before. Why didn't that story generate the same amount of outrage and publicity then, as it is doing now? Today, it is being treated as a stunning revelation, a bolt from the blue, an exclusive. Journalists could have picked up that story back in 1997 had they wanted to, if they were in the mood. But they weren't. The reason they are in the mood now is because of ongoing anger following the publication of the Murphy report last November. Such, then are the vagaries of journalism. Same facts, same story, but only now has the story developed legs, 13 years later, in 2010. This, of course, calls into question whether it is the facts of a given story that leads to headlines, or the mood of the moment. It suggests to us that it is the mood of the moment that counts, what interests journalists and the public at a given time. Other, equally important stories get ignored. In any event, such is the mood at present that there is a call once again for an extension of the work of the Murphy commission to the whole of the Catholic Church, to the 24 dioceses that have not yet been investigated. The call was given added impetus on Tuesday by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. Speaking to reporters he had this to say: What is very important in all of this is that the truth comes out ... I believe there'll be no healing until we fully address the past. I do not believe that extending the Murphy commission to every diocese in Ireland would be the best way to use money for child protection. But it may be the only way. He's right, the truth should indeed come out, but the truth about all child abuse in this country, and not just the truth about child abuse by priests and religious. Why is it that victims of clerical abuse are deemed more worthy of an official, nationwide investigation than those abused by other groups? The church, therefore, should resist any further inquiry that targets it and it alone. It should resist such a narrowly targeted inquiry in the same way the church in Germany is resisting calls for a similar inquiry there. The reason the church in Germany is resisting an official investigation that singles it out is because other institutions have also been guilty of widespread child abuse. Currently the focus of attention in Germany is on a number of Catholic boarding schools where some hundreds of former pupils say they were abused in the 1960s and 1970s. You will have read about this in the papers. But what you almost certainly have not read about is the fact that sex abuse did not take place only in Catholic schools. For example, it now transpires that there was similar abuse over a 30-year period in Germany's most prestigious progressive school. For over a century this school -- the Odenwald School near Frankfurt -- has led the way in fashionable teaching methods that buck and overturn traditional methods. But investigators now believe that eight teachers abused at least 100 students. The current principal admits that the school ignored complaints. In other words, this impeccably liberal school covered things up. In addition, the Lutheran Church in Germany has recently apologised for the widespread abuse that took place after World War II in children's institutions that it ran (actually, the industrial school system originated in Germany). This apology attracted no worldwide headlines, just as the fact of massive child abuse in state-run children's homes in Sweden attracted no worldwide headlines. There is currently an official investigation into these homes taking place. A preliminary report has already been issued. The final report is shaping up to be at least the equal of the Ryan report. This is why the German bishops are resisting attempts to single out the Catholic Church. It is why they have the backing in this of the General Secretary of the German Social Democrats, traditionally no friend of the church. The German bishops are undoubtedly also learning from what has happened in this country. According to a poll conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons, a very significant percentage of the public now overestimates the number of priests who are guilty of child abuse in Ireland. This is the result of a constant singling out of the church despite the fact that we should be concerned about child abuse no matter where it occurs. So under no circumstances should there be a national investigation of the Catholic Church unless that investigation covers more than simply the Catholic Church. Or are we not in the mood for that? Contact: dquinn@independent.ie
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